Ogden Temple Painting Finished - (A few months ago)

The painting of the Ogden Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was completed a few months ago.  The client was very happy with it and gave lovely, glowing feedback at my Etsy shop:

"I wish I could give Patricia more than 6 stars!!! I've purchased many pieces from her. I love her style. This is such a meaningful piece to me that she custom created. This, along with many more of her beautiful pieces, will hang in my home and the homes of my descendants. What an incredibly talented and utterly charming person!!!"

Ogden Latter-day Saint Temple

36" x 24" ~ Oil on Canvas

Patricia Lee Christensen

My husband and I are now serving a full-time mission for the Church and large commissions such as this one will have to wait until our mission is completed in about 20 months.  I continue to paint small works in mostly watercolor and pen & ink to maintain my skills.  I have been creating memes with images of my paintings plus scriptures, quotes, and thoughts.  

The online dictionary definition of a meme is:  A cultural item in the form of an image, video, phrase, etc., that is spread via the Internet and often altered in a creative or humorous way.

The image below is an example on one of my memes:

_{We attended a day-long missionary zone conference today - lots of exciting events are coming up with the holidays in view.}  

_{Thank you for stopping by,}

_Patricia 

Update - Ogden LDS Temple Painting Process

Happily, my client was pleased with the rough colored pencil sketch posted in my last blog entry.  The next step was to coat the canvas with an undertone similar in hue to the Canson Mi-Teintes paper the sketch was on.  The canvas was coated with gesso tinted with burnt sienna and yellow ochre acrylic paint.

I then printed the outlined sketch on three 11" x 17" sheets, taped them together and attached them to the canvas.  Even though I did drawing corrections on the computer, by the time the image was blown up and taped together, there were distortions that needed additional revision with the large T square.  Next step was tracing the temple down with graphite paper and sealing each fine line with clear gesso, so I don't lose the drawing.  I normally do not need to be this accurate, but in painting a building this ornate on such a large canvas, (36" x 24") there is little margin for error.

Below is the beginning of blocking in with a light coating of acrylics. 

Although this is a meticulous process, I am finding it enjoyable.  Each painting is a challenge and a puzzle to be solved. I am happy I did solve many questions in my colored pencil sketch.  However, often along the way, in the process of applying paint, the painting sometimes can surprise me and tell me what it really needs.  ;)

Thank you for stopping by.

Patricia

Ogden LDS Temple Composition Sketch Completed

The completed sketch is ready for client approval -  He requested embellished trees, an autumn color palette and purple pansies - which are blooming profusely around the grounds right now!

Next step is to transfer the layout to the canvas, upon the client approval.

Hope you are having a wonderful week - It is sunny and bright here today in Utah!

My Work Process for Commissioned Painting

I shall share some pics here from a big project I have been working on. It is a commissioned painting of the Ogden Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The painting is to be 36" x 24" oil painting on canvas. The client has given permission to post progress/process updates on social media. He wanted more representation of trees and flowers, especially purple pansies, than are found in photos available of the temple. He also requested a Autumn color palette.

I must confess it is taking more work than I realized with the amazing detail of this structure! It gives me a heap of respect for the architectural design! Designing the fairly recent (as in a few years ago) remodeling of this temple would have taken incredible skill!

The first step is a sketch in proportion to the canvas - which was a challenge to simplify while keeping the integrity of the temple design. It was then scanned and corrected in Photo Shop -

You cannot 'sort of' draw this type of building, it must be accurate. I then printed the drawing on two sheets of Canson Mi-Teintes Art paper. I am in process of adding values and color. Trees and flowers will be added to the foreground.

My studio drafting table - covered with fun fabric and clear vinyl for protection...

Colored pencil coloring in progress...The placement of foreground flowers & trees

is going to take some 'artistic license' to add.

When the colored drawing is complete, and after the client's approval the drawing will be transferred to the 36" x 24" canvas.

I will keep posting the progress - It is definitely going to take longer than anticipated.  The challenge will be to transfer all the lines of the temple onto canvas accurately -  However, the end desire is to have a artistic painterly painting with feeling, not an architectural rendering.

Thanks for stopping by - I welcome any comments.
Hope you have a great weekend!
Patricia
 

Fine Art or Illustration?

My formal art education was in advertising art.  All mediums were taught; watercolor, pastel, charcoal, pen and ink, oil, gouache, acrylic and mixed mediums. I loved most of them.  It has always been a dilemma for me to land on one preferred medium or style as we were taught to please the client.  I am uncertain whether some of my art would be considered fine art or illustration?  It does seem to me that leaning toward illustrative art is more fun!  Who cares?  I love a quote by Andy Warhol,

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."  

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is "Umbrella."  I have always loved umbrellas!  My favorite, covered with a Monet style painting, was purchased in an umbrella shop.  I loved that umbrella - but forgot it one rainy evening, after giving a demo to an art club in a nearby by town.  I did go back later to retrieve it, but it was gone.

I did this painting some time ago and is sold.  I will let you decide if it's good or bad, if you love it or hate it.  In the meantime I am making more art. (Of course I do hope you like it.) Prints are available at my Etsy Shop

"Autumn Rain ~ Yellow Umbrella"

A Story Behind a Painting

Many years ago when we resided in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, I took some young students for a plein air painting outing in an area they had requested.  They lived close by and were intrigued by and desired to paint a signal light at Brown's Point at the edge of the shoreline.  They called it a lighthouse.  However, it was not an actual lighthouse as I expected, but signal light mounted on a stand for sea-going vessels.  We sketched and painted a few hours until late afternoon.

When we turned to leave, I was astonished to see the most amazing scene behind us!  It was a stunning view of a collection of eclectic homes perched on a steep hill on the edge of the shore.  The warm late afternoon sun cast wonderful light and shadows.  The tide was out, exposing the shoreline.

I have sketched and painted this scene repeatedly both when the tide was in as well as out - using multiple mediums from soft pastels, pen & ink, watercolor and most recently oil.

"Brown's Point ~ Tide Is Out"

Patricia Lee Christensen

Oil on Wood Panel 12" x 9"

"Brown's Point"

Ink on Paper

Patricia Lee Christensen

Pastel in progress using pen & ink sketch as reference.

"Brown's Point Sunset"

Patricia Lee Christensen

Pastel on Ampersand Pastel Board

10" x 8"

"Brown's Point - Tide Is In"

Watercolor, Pen & Ink plus Gesso

Patricia Lee Christensen

I think the moral to this tale is to take a 360 degrees look around your surroundings!  You never know what you are missing!

I hope you see the amazing views around you today!
Patricia

"Scoop" Prompt for Illustration Friday

"Scoop" is the prompt of the week for Illustration Friday.  The most obvious image that comes to mind may be the scoop of ice cream in a cone.  Or perhaps if you are a responsible pet owner, you carry those little plastic bags to scoop you-know-what when your pup needs to pause along your walk together.

I wanted to reach for something a little less obvious, and first thought of a news scoop with an old-time newsboy hawking newspapers.  I researched the clothing they wore and found the newsboy caps are quite in fashion for both boys & girls even now!  I decided to create a "newsgirl" in place of a boy - and instead of knickers, I put her in rolled-up overalls - which I loved to wear years ago. She does sport a newsboy-style hat and some Converse-influenced high tops.

I have posted my thought process, palette choices and the finished image.  I highly recommend checking out Design Seeds at https://www.design-seeds.com/ for what they call "Your daily dose of inspiration." The Design Seeds palette I used can be seen in the 2nd photo.

"Get The Latest Scoop"

Watercolor / Pen & Ink

9" x 6" - 140 lb Arches Cold-Press Watercolor Paper

Hope you enjoy this little moment of whimsy!  Feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you!

~  Patricia

Illustration Friday February 3rd Prompt: "UP"

 What can be better than to be "UP" high in a tree

to survey lands below as far as you can see?

"Tree Dreams" 

Prints Available at My Etsy Shoppe

New Year, 2017 ~ New Blog with a Healthy Serving of Greens!

The beginning of a year can be time for new ventures!  My last blog was under my former domain name which expired without my awareness, but mostly due to my neglect.  This gives an opportunity to begin fresh with a squeaky clean new outlook, right?

I find my work is going through a "green period".  Probably influenced by the wonderful greens I am missing from the Northwest.   My artist-child spirit needed to purchase four ivies for my studio!  It was an obsession I had to fulfill!  Now I am carefully tending them to keep them healthy and alive. 

My drafting table is covered with a lovely green floral print, covered with clear heavy vinyl.  Also sitting on the top of the corner hutch is a gorgeous 55+ year old Christmas cactus that belonged to my fraternal Grandmother!  It bloomed profusely over the holidays!

You can see items that were set up on my table for a very green still life, too!

                                     

The picture below shows the kind of winter we are having here in Utah...

Actually it's been a beautiful winter, however most of us are looking forward to Spring.  I have been taking workshops and enjoying sketching, doing pen & ink and also watercolor.  The little painting on the side of the blog was influenced by a quote on the LDS Church Instagram feed.  It said

"Think small and simple." 

It struck a chord with me - Not wanting to copy it directly, I looked it up in French...The French language makes everything sound prettier, don't you think? 

"Penser petit et simple"

7" x 5"

Watercolor on 140 lb Arches WC Paper

I was happy to read that Green is the color of the year!  I have no idea who calls the shots on that, but it works for me! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Patricia o x