COMMISSIONED PORTRAIT

oil on linen

11x14

This is the first portrait I've been commissioned to do in forty years. It was done from an excellent photograph by the toddler's aunt. I enlarged the photo and "gridded" it. The enlarging and gridding distorted the photo a bit, but it still kept me on track and helped with placement of the features, colors, values, etc.

Besides rendering a decent likeness, I was concerned with depicting a soft, baby-like skin and complexion. I wanted to show some sculptural forms and planes without harsh lines or strong contrasts. I vividly recalled the paintings of early artists, whose children have elderly heads on childlike bodies.

I worked long and hard on achieving this baby look, making constant observations and corrections. Even when I thought I had finished, I kept looking at the painting on the easel, hoping I would not see another area for improvement. I kept noticing other faults. I even got up at 4 A.M. one morning to check on something and started painting again. I derided myself for obsessing and finally turned the easel around so I could not see the painting.

As soon as it dries, I'll bring it to the gallery, and hopefully, the aunt will like it.

6 Comments

Debra Kreiger said...
Awesome Cecelia! You've captured the wonderful innocence of youth.

June 18, 2011 10:11 AM

Taryn Day said...
You did a really nice job! Wonderful expression and very youthful!

June 18, 2011 11:54 AM

Bertie Brown said...
I think you have achieved your goals..your client should be well pleased!

June 18, 2011 3:24 PM

AutumnLeaves said...
This is absolutely stunning and that is one gorgeous little man!

June 19, 2011 8:11 AM

Claire Beadon Carnell said...
You've done a phenomenal job on this, Cecelia! Please let us know the response of your client - I know they are going to LOVE it.

June 19, 2011 8:36 PM

Ron Donoughe said...
Yes, very warm and sincere. Nice job. I liked how you described getting it right.

June 20, 2011 1:08 PM



[

STAGE THREE

I have added some acrylic underpainting--need to adjust the eyes

--am waiting for some new oils to arrive--

SECOND STAGE

I'm starting to add an acrylic underpainting. The painting will be finished in oils, but acrylics are more accommodating in these initial stages, because they dry rapidily and corrections can be made immediately. I still have drawing adjustments to make
.

THE BEGINNINGS

Today I started a commissioned portrait of an adorable 18 month old boy. I began by copying the photo I will be working from, printing and gridding it to ensure the right proportions and placement on the canvas. I always find things that need correcting when I photograph and view my work on the computer. It's all a part of studying your work in progress in different ways --looking at it upside down or in the mirror--just unusual ways to really see your work. There is still much correcting and drawing to do on this, before I begin painting it.

PLEIN AIR OR STUDIO By Cecelia Lyden

SOLD

at the Camp Hill Plein Air Event

on a perfect early spring day

PINK HOUSE ON MARKET

Plein Air Oil on Linen

[ painted on a cloudy day]
8x10

http://www.cecelialyden.com/

I have been grousing about the weather this spring since we returned North in March. At first I know I was comparing my plein air outings here with those in Florida, which were rainfree, with beautiful skies and warm pleasant weather. But it is May now, and with temperatures below normal and endless rainy days and cloudy skies all March and April, my weekly plein air ventures have been most uncomfortable. My last straw occured this past Thursday, May 5th. I had arranged for a paintout at my neighbor's beautiful yard. The overnight rain had stopped and the sun was shining; and with clear blue skies, it looked like a perfect day for outdoor painting. Until you stepped outside. The wind was blustering and the temperature very cool. I stupidily chose a spot in the shade, thinking the sun might desert a warmer area and would start shinning down on me later in the morning. It never did.

The wind kept blowing. My hands got icy cold. I began to shiver--the kind of shivering that starts deep inside you and is hard to control. I put on gloves, trying to keep my arthritic hands warm. After three hours of this, I came to a momentous decision. As much as I love painting outdoors, I am, from now on, only attending paintouts in friendlier, more comfortable weather. Having turned 70 this past February, I am keenly aware of my physical limitations and of time rapidly slipping away. For that reason, I will not be "biting the bullet"for the sake of painting plein air. I will not spend another moment of my precious time on earth, being miserable while I am painting. I paint out only when there is no threat of rain and when the weather warms up, but not too hot. There are so many amazing benefits to painting up close, enjoying the feel and smells of your surroundings, seeing all the colors and values, the shapes and textures. But the comfort factor has now weighed heavily in my decision. And you can not beat the comforts of home.

/div>

A TREE DIVIDED, OVERLOOKING THE BATTLEFIELD By Cecelia Lyden

oil on stretched canvas

http://www.cecelialyden.com/

lyden1819@comcast.net

The 150th anniversary of the Civil War has begun. A war that took 600,00 American lives, mostof them killed on American soil. Soon famous battle re-enactments will take place on battlefields such Gettysburg and Antietam , where 23,00 men were lost in a single day. Re-enactments, where men will pretend to be killed by fake cannon explosions and Civil War souvenirs will be hawked to the crowds.

Although I live close, it took me many years to finally get to the battlefield. It took only a few somber seconds of overlooking the battlefield to feel the misery suffered there. I have come to feel that the re-enactments and the commercial hoopla every year keep the resentment between many from the north and the south alive. Why should this horrid period in our history be relived year after year? For commercial reasons? For remembering? The Harrisburg Patriot in an editorial, echoing my sentiments on this very thing, asked,"..how do we make sure that we're not just watching a period costume drama, but instead remembering blood spilled and spilled and spilled again. How do we make sure that all the anniversary events over the next four years are not just about nostalgia, but about war?"

This was my first trip to the battlefield and will be my last. I will honor the lives lost by not visiting the monuments of past generals or reading plagues, describing who died where, by not marvelling at the re-enactments of men dying on the batllefield. I have only to read the daily newspaper or to watch a newscast to be reminded of people's pain and sacrifices in the here and now.

A fellow artist, Ron Donooughe, when he saw my painting and read my sentiments on the DPP blog said; "That's an interesting comment about not wanting to paint there. But something about this painting speaks to me. I wonder if that tree placed right in the middle is symbolic of the civil war. It is almost a mirror image, divided down the center. Maybe it's because I just visited the battlefield last summer for the first time and I was shocked by the effect. It appears you had a positively moving experience that is reflected in this painting. To me you captured how it felt. That is what makes this painting special."

I mulled over his words for a couple weeks and decided his observation expressed my feelings and was inspired to retitle this work.

LIVING WITNESSES, The COPSE OF TREES AT GETTYSBURG By Cecelia Lyden

oil on stretched canvas

16x20

http://www.cecelialyden.com/

lyden1819@comcast.net

I paid my first visit to the battlefield at Gettysburg this past Thursday. I had passed by it many times on my way to visit my cousin who lived nearby. I went there to paint with my fellow plein air painters, but I did not get much work done. Armed with my camera, I was just like the many tourists there that morning, snapping one photo after the other.

It was a cloudy, chilly morning, which lent itself well to the somber setting. Many have told me what a beautiful , serene landscape it is--how spiritual and peaceful it is, worthy of great reverence. I felt all of these things and yet I also felt profound sadness. The Civil War has always been, to me, the saddest of wars. Six hundred thousand Americans dead in battle, from poorly treated wounds or from disease. Americans fighting Americans and still the Civil War continues in today's politics and in the reenactments of the violence of the North against the South.

I finally settled on the Copse of Trees to paint, learning about its significance later. They are aged, but still standing, protected and revered as living witnesses of the violence that took place there. My depiction of the trees was determined upon learning of the fierce and bloody hand to hand combat that took place around them in July, 1863. Also my son, who was watching me begin the painting, commented that he had read of the great amount blood spilled there . My canvas had a red underpainting, which had bled through. I then decided not to surround the old trees in a peaceful , quiet setting but, to show them as writhing, twisting and agitated and to depict the violence by using more red in the sky and ground. I felt this rendering more closely expressed my feelings about the Civil War and all wars.