Working on a #copper vessel, getting close to done on this one! #artstudio #art #painting #realism #oil #oilpainting #artist #lindamerchant #artforsale #buyart #art #stilllife #studio #artistsofinstagram #traditionalpainting https://www.instagram.com/p/BEo6m5uyEYX/

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Blue Heron - Work in Progress Painting

Tiger - Work in Progress Painting

"Brothers" Lion Painting - work in progress

Works in Progress

Here are several paintings currently in progress, all oil, and all except the iris are 24x36".

More Tile Paintings

Sleeping Wolf, Oil on Stone, 3x6 inches

Lorikeet, Oil on Granite, 4x4 inches.

Egret on a Rope

Egret on a Rope, oil on stone, 4x4".

Here is a brand new tile painting - oil on cream-colored marble.  It is 4x4", and has a gold border.

Mini Paintings

Here are 2 more miniature paintings finished, these will be varnished and wire-wrapped as pendants.

The tiger is approx. 1 1/4" x 1 1/2", and the egret is 1" x 2 1/4".

More Pendants

More pendants are coming!  The unwrapped paintings are still in the underlayer stage, and still need 1-2 more painting sessions to finish.  The pendant blanks have all been sanded and are almost ready for painting.

Most of these are 1-2 inches in size.  I'm using Golden Open Acrylics for this project and the wire wrap is silver-filled.  My usual brushes and a penny for size comparison.  :)

Tile Paintings

Redtail Hawk, oil on pink, grey, and black granite, 4x4 inches.

Soaring - Great Egret, oil on cream marble, 4x4 inches.

Jay, oil on white, grey, and black granite, 4x4 inches.

Sapsucker, oil on cream marble, 4x4 inches.

Here are more tile paintings, all of these are 4x4 inches and have a gold edging. 

Tile Miniatures

I've finished up a few more of the granite and marble tile paintings, these are all 4x4 inches, painted in oil.  They have been edged in gold, and can be displayed on a tile easel or framed.

Cougar, oil on pink, grey, and black granite tile, 4x4 inches.

Tiger, oil on black grey and pink granite tile, 4x4 inches.

Night Owl, oil on black, grey, and white granite tile, 4x4 inches.

Egret, oil on white, grey-striated marble, 4x4 inches.

Egret Tile Miniature

Egret miniature, oil on marble, 4x4"

Here is another tile painting finished - this is 4x4 inches on a white marble tile with grey veining.  The polished back side of the tile is left visible, and the edges have a gold border. 

Marble and Granite Tile Paintings

"Jack" - Oil on granite, 4x4".

Here are a few more tile paintings - these are mainly study and practice for me, doing some still life and animal studies, but I'm really enjoying how they are turning out as well.  I'm finding it really enjoyable to explore different types of surfaces to paint on, as each imparts its own unique texture to the painting.  These three are varnished and ready to go! 

"Yale" - Oil on marble, 4x4".

Shell - Oil on marble, 4x4".

Tile backs, left to right: "Yale", "Shell", "Jack"

Fine Wood Pendants

Thanks to everyone for the great response to the handpainted pendants!  It's been quite an adventure putting 3 distinct techniques - woodworking, fine wirewrapping, and miniature painting - together to make these. 

Because some of the reclaimed hardwood pieces I have are so intriguing by themselves, I am also starting to make some unpainted pendants that will show off the beauty of these wood pieces.

Each has been finely sanded and is bordered by a silver-filled wirewrap. If you are interested in purchasing a pendant, please feel free to contact me directly.

Pendants

Lion and Tiger pendants, oil and acrylic on exotic wood fragments, framed with silver-filled wire w

rap.

I've finally settled on a design for the pendants I've been working on, and here are a couple of the first examples - these are handpainted fine art miniatures on exotic hardwood fragments, with a silver-filled wire wrap.  Now to make more of these!

Jewelry design copyright L. Merchant

Evolution - Sneak Peek

A time comes, periodically, for an artist to put down the usual work and go in a completely different direction. It doesn't mean that the old work is finished, necessarily, but that for the work to improve new skills need to be learned.

I seem to do this over New Year's every year, and this year it happened again. I had an idea for a project, but lacked the skills to pull it off. I wanted to paint miniatures and make them into jewelry pieces. Painting small isn't really a problem for me, but what about making the actual jewelry fittings? What about the substrate, how could I make the piece unique and special? With a little help from my gallery friends (Thank you, you know who you are!) I learned a bit of metalworking, and a bit of woodworking.

These aren't done yet, and I haven't posted in a while because I wanted to improve on the idea first - but at least you can see where I'm going with this. Hopefully soon I'll have some awesome pieces to show. :)

Oil paintings in miniature, on repurposed hardwood offcuts, framed in copper and silver.

Norman Rockwell Exhibit

I went to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum and...wow.  The guy could paint.  Here's a list of observations about his paintings and technique (note, these are my own personal observations from memory and have not been fact-checked.)

The paintings are much larger and way more textural than I had thought.

On some, he appears to have used a thick gesso prior to starting the painting.

He used a variety of canvas weaves - some were miniscule, others were nearly as heavy as burlap.

He really varied the amount of detail used in each painting.  Some areas of lesser importance were left nearly as underpainting washes, while other areas such as faces were much more finely rendered and also had more paint.

He used paint thickness to advantage.  On white highlights, he built up the paint. The miner's light in "Mine America's Coal" is especially thick.  Also, in The Art Critic, the paint on the palette is built up as it would be on a real palette.

He uses a wide variety of colors to draw the eye.  In Girl at Mirror, her dress is made up of light blues, yellows, and pinks.  There is a tiny dot of cadmium red (?) at the join between her shoulder and the dress, apparently solely to draw the eye.  This is again seen in a couple other areas of the painting too.

Several of the paintings had dedications in the corner, apparently to people he presented the paintings to?

There was a certain blue-green color that he used in paintings over and over again.

Often the charcoal lines were very visible and added to the final impact of the painting.

In one painting, a newspaper's lettering was rendered so small and so finely that I wonder if it was done in ink rather than paint?

Shell

Shell #1, 4x4", oil on stone.

Here's another shadowbox painting on stone, from life.  I wanted to get the fine detail on this shell, so I took 2 sessions to finish this one.

Filigree Ornament - Green and Gold Egg

Green and Gold Filigree Ornament, 5x7", oil on panel.

Here's another of the filigree egg ornament paintings just finished - I have one more of these yet to finish and that should be all for this season.

Eggs and Pitcher

Eggs and Pitcher. 11x14", oil on panel.

Available

This is a painting I started nearly 3 years ago as a still life setup.  I agonized over it for quite a while, and then finally gave up and put it away.  A few weeks ago I brought it out, saw how it could easily be completed, and had it finished within half an hour.

The moral - don't give up!  Learning painting skills takes time.  What seems impossible now will be a piece of cake in a few years.  Painting requires a lot of motor memory, study, and learning techniques.  There are no shortcuts to putting in the studio hours.  However, time and practice will eventually pay off, if you put in the effort.