Happy Halloween!

I dug this one out of the archives.  This was painted many years ago in a class with Earl Blust.  I believe it was a dreary day similar to this Halloween and the plein air class was confined to the Art Barn.  Earl set up this still life of seasonal objects.  That was a real human skull in the arrangement and told us the story of how he acquired it.   I can't remember the exact details, but it was spooky!

BOO!

 

 

 

Tie Dye wall

This was a fun project that I did today.

What 10 year old girl wouldn't love to have a tie dye wall in her room - created with neon paints for the full black light effect.

Peace!

 www.julieriker.com

Installation day

 

Today I installed the mural.

This beautifully carved oak paneling is original to the 1908 home and is the perfect frame for this painting.

The client was thrilled.

 

 

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

www.julieriker.com

 

 

 

almost finished

I think I am just about finished with this commission.

  I will be installing it in the client's home later this week.

I'll try to post a photo of it installed in it's new home.

www.julieriker.com

Vivi's Wheels

I took a break from the commission today.  My friend Vivian was so nice to invite me to paint around her lovely farm.  There were many beautiful subjects around the nursery and pond, but I've lately been looking for different things to paint that will challenge me....not necessarily to make a sellable painting, but to hone my skills.

I decided to paint her car.  It's so classic, so cute, so colorful...so very Vivi!

making some progress...

...So as you can see it is a sunset scene.  I am really trying hard to keep the warm glow on everything and to keep the values toned down so that the sun will appear luminous.  At the same time I don't want the painting to get too dark, so I am playing around with finding the right amount of contrast.

A friend let me borrow some books on the Hudson River Valley School of painters which I am finding helpful.  This landscape I am painting is completely imagined.  I am just using paintings of other artists as reference, but not really copying anything from them.

40" x 80" commission

I have started working on a new commission.  Here I am just blocking in some basic values.
I am not sure if this will be considered a large painting or a small mural (so much of my work lately has been straddling that line). The cat is posing to give you an idea of the size. 

 This commission is for a wood paneled room that has one large panel of empty wall space. It is being painted in the studio and will be installed in the client's home using a maroflauge process...basically pasting the canvas to the wall, like wallpaper.