Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Commission completed!

48x48
oil on stretched canvas


I am happy that I finally completed this client project and it is now at the framer's.
This was a new challenge for me and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It is good to step outside your comfort zone sometimes.

If you would like to see more of my work please visit my website
www.julieriker.com

Friday, August 12, 2011

Wildwood Lake

Last Friday I painted with Mary Beth Brath and Patricia Griffin of the Daily Painters Blog.  Patricia travelled to Harrisburg so that we could spend the day painting together and we had a great day.  We painted at Wildwood Lake which is a nature preserve and marsh area on the edge of the city.   I  painted there a few days earlier and loved seeing all the lotus blossoms and loosestrife  blooming.


8x8 oil

 8x10 oil

Yesterday I went to paint at Wildwood again with some members of the Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters and was shocked to see that the weekend's heavy rain had knocked off all the flowers and the rising water level had left brown mud over everything.   All the color was gone.  It reminds me how fleeting natural beauty can be.  I am really glad that I took the time to capture it when I did.

If you would like to see more of my work please visit my website

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Turning a problem area into a focal point


Pretty ugly right?  This concrete pad was found under 4 layers of floor during a kitchen restoration project.  There are no clues as to why this was here - maybe remnants of an old hearth or porch?  My guess is that the flooring was used in part to cover up the ugliness, but the customer removed the flooring down to the original hardwood and now needed to deal with this concrete mess.


First order of business was to clean the old concrete, removing the residual glue, and then skim coat the entire area with a cement mix, filling all the pitted areas.  After that was dry I applied Loxon to prepare the surface for painting.


 I sketched out my design to show the client.  I was originally planning to do a portrait of their bulldog in the center medallion, but the client requested a monkey in fancy clothes....OK, I can do that....thought it was a bit odd at first, but now I like it.




If you would like to see more of my work please visit my website www.julieriker.com