My Last Post?

The Flower of Lucca

Another Saint Portrait for the Series

It's finally done. I started this portrait back in February 2022 and haven't gotten around to finishing until now. I originally started recording this one - I only have footage of the face, the rest I just photographed progress pictures.

If you didn't know, this one is of Saint Gemma of Galgani - she was born near Lucca, a city in Italy. She's known for suffering the passion - that is why she's referred to as "Daughter of the Passion," but my sister will tell you more about her life and the many sufferings she underwent on her blog, Today with Miss K. She might even tell you about St. Gemma's Diary that was stolen and burned. She's even got a handy dandy "Saints Biographies and Portraits" tab on the home page that will take you right there.

But, I'm not here to give a biography post, I'm more here to tell you about the drawing. This one's a little interesting because I decided to go with a graphite drawing unlike my other colored pencil drawings. It went well as I was recording the face and then I just never got around to finishing. I'm hoping to video the rest of the series.

Without further ado let me introduce the progress photos...and the video.

This is the first photo after I started drawing again in December.

Her clothes darken here on the right shoulder.

I'm sure you can see the progress here. I don't need to point it out!

Ohh, we're getting closer.

And the final!

The Video

Let me know your thoughts on this portrait of Saint Gemma!

For those of you concerned, this is not my last post, just the last post of the year!

Thank you for Viewing this Blog

Please visit the YouTube channel, Sketched Drawn & Painted - YouTube to see all of the "Saints on 7.25 x 9.75 Paper"

"If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love." 

-Saint Gemma of Galgani

October is here ... well it was

Pumpkin Carving

Welcome back to the blog. 2022 is already gone and I've barely drawn anything but I do have a nice pumpkin carving to share. We went to Barten's Pumpkin Patch and harvested a few hefty pumpkins and drug them home to carve for the fall season.

And there it is, my pumpkin is the one closest to the camera. I began after I chose a carving idea.

And that is the finished product, the Blessed Virgin Mary. The mailman even complimented it as he delivered our mail.

And this is how it looks with a candle in it at night!

Thank you for looking at my pumpkin!

Pyrography

What is it you may ask?

Just as it sounds - pyro- comes from Greek, where it has the meaning "fire, heat, high temperature and the English suffix -graphy means a "field of study" or related to "writing" a book, and is an anglicization of the French -graphie inherited from the Latin -graphia, which is a transliterated direct borrowing from Greek.

Enough with the English, let's get right into it! You may be thinking, "He's done something with fire, this could be interesting. Fire Art!" And if you thought that, you are correct - some call it pyrography, some call it wood burning, but many others call it Fire Art! I will create a new tab on the web page for all of my fire art.

I've done many wood burnings in the past, but have never posted one for all to see. (actually I may have posted the Vikings wood burning last year) After I type a few more sentences you will see how the project came together.

The Story

It was August; August 9th to be exact, the county fairs were on the rise. I could smell it - corndogs, mini donuts, barns that smelled of manure, but most importantly the Steele County Fair was amidst the excitement! And I had four days to get some projects done. Sign me up I said and that was how it began.

As I pondered on how I was to finish two paintings, one drawing, a wooden craft, and two wood burnings in four days I came to the conclusion that yes...yes, they were, I already had two paintings, one drawing, and a wooden craft done. All I had left were the two wood burnings. And of course, I set out to tackle the wood burnings, or the Fire Art.

I set out to wood burn the great Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins - my brother Dominic would also be doing Fire Art of him. But as I kept looking for the perfect photo to transform into Fire Art another idea hit me.

I took the tape measure and measured a piece of pine board that had all ready been cut - it measured 13.50 inches by 21.50 inches. I smacked my head with the palm of my hand (no not really) and then remembered that I still had a license for Revu Bluebeam - What? All of you say who? Revu who? It's just a PDF writer/reader that architects and engineers use. But with that I created a sheet the size of the wood and pulled in the picture I was to use and was able to print the whole document with multiple sheets of 8.50 by 11 paper.

And now for the progress pictures:

Day One:

Tracing the pattern on to wood. As you can see in the next pictures, the tracing was done in six different segments, I just don't have pictures of each segment so you'll have to use your imagination. The top, middle, and bottom each had two sides.

Day Two:

More tracing.

Day Three:

The Fire Art begins.

Day Four:

The finishing touches.

Thank you for viewing my Fire Art!

And now off to the fair! What would you like to see next?

Painting the wall!

 I Painted the Wall!

No not literally - artistically! No...I actually created, no came up with an idea of a painting - but made a painting without painting. You may wonder if that is possible.

Can one paint without painting? I never thought so - I always thought you had to paint to paint, but it turns out you don't have to paint to paint. Now you're confused!

No need to worry. The only way is … if someone did it before you and then you frame it!

But before I explain any further on my painting without painting, let me explain how it came to be.

How it came to be?

Fast behind a couple of years to this blog post - Blog Link - It was January 10th, 2021 - so a little over a year - actually on my blogirthday. I had created a picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with pastels and framed it on a big wooden frame and hung it on the north wall of the dining room.

Now fast forward many months to when my brother started throwing bouncy balls continuously, nonstop at the wall, specifically the north wall.

Now fast forward a few days, maybe a couple of months. Somehow a rubber object kinda shaped like a sphere was hurled through the air uncontrollably, some might say controlled, others might not, and then imagine glass being shattered. (pause here to imagine the glass being shattered. Or if you are super interested/bored/over achieving click here to see glass shattered.)

But it doesn't stop there. The picture hung there for a few more weeks or days until it was struck again and finally the back of the frame gave out and the picture fell out.

Now just for a moment imagine an empty frame hanging on a white popcorn textured wall. Yes? You have that in your mind, now look below at the photo - were you close?

Yes. That is how it came to be. I call it "Popcorn" others call it an empty frame hanging on the wall.

Happy Easter!

A Little Behind

It is still the 16th day of Easter as I type this ART-icle (haha) So I present you with 2022's painted egg. Here is the link to all the egg paintings I have done. Painted Eggs Link

I chose to do a Bob Ross painting this year. It's actually one of Ross's outdoor landscape scenes - (If you're not familiar with Bob Ross's paintings, all of his paintings are of landscapes - unless I'm mistaken?)

This year I started off with a white egg, not that I haven't any other year, but it was one from a carton, I didn't even look in the chicken coop in the backyard in the morning I just grabbed one from the egg carton in the fridge - now that I'm pondering on this a bit more I don't recall there is a chicken coop in the backyard.

Next I gave the egg a sky, a blue sky that is. No clouds...just sky!

And finally I gave the egg a stream, grass, and a few happy little trees.

I hope you like the final egg, but it is okay if you don't like it.

Happy Easter!

Thank you for reading and viewing this ART-icle!

More art on the way! (Woo-hoo!)

It's here - a new painting?

 A rainy day? A highschool graduate?

The rain pounded on the grass and splashed against the patio. It soaked the tables that had been set up the night before - wait or were they set up a week ago? Could be, the graduate was early to everything. Whether it be a final exam or an optional something or other, she was there hours ahead of schedule wondering why everybody was late. Anywho the tables were soaked and the poster boards full of baby and child photographs we're hurriedly taken in side, "What are we going to do!" she screamed. It wasn't really a question, more of a scream for help disguised as a question.

"Inside." That's all she said. One word and she went off the walls - "Inside! But have you seen inside. It's chaos in there, floors are scattered with toys - it's a mess.

"It's our only choice!"

That was the end of question. The party was held inside and everybody had a great time, even the graduate.

That was how it started - maybe the events that played out and the diolouge that was exchanged was a bit different, but you get the just of it.

But there was one moment when a guest looked about the room and said, "Wow!" Her eyes were fixed upon the walls, jumping from one to the next in a manner of admiration - she was awestruck.

But I will tell you one thing, it wasn't the walls she was admiring, but rather something on the walls that drew her attention along with a few others around the room.

Yes, you guessed it - artwork, she loved the artwork on the walls, almost every wall had a piece of art strung upon it, or rather nailed upon it - no hung upon a nail. But one piece in particular drew her attention the most - my first oil painting I've ever done - the painting of Our Lady of Grace. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I painted her again.

Take that bottom dollar that you just bet and bet it again that below this paragraph the painting will be before your eyes once again, just as an identical one was there two years ago.

I'm beginning to feel like I'm writing a book - on a phone clicking the little letters on the little keyboard, so below you will find the painting and probably less letters than above this sentence. 

.

And here's a side by side look

I hope you readers have enjoyed reading this post and viewing the artwork.

Have a nice Morning, Afternoon, Evening, or Night - whichever time you decided to read this- Farewell dear viewers.

- There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather - John Ruskin

A New Year and I forgot...

 Happy New Year Fellow Readers

The year of Twenty Twenty Two - Woo Hoo! Two Thousand and Twenty-Two! What are we going to do! There is a nice little rhyme to get started.

I've got a New Year's drawing for all the viewers - although I missed the first day - it's still going to be the New Year's Drawing since it's the first drawing of the year. (For instance - 2017 and 2019 were drawn in February and March) I actually was painting on January first! So I didn't miss the first day.

On with the drawing!

For those that don't know - I have a series of drawings I've done on the New Year called "New Year Sketch" - I started the series a while back and started posting them on this blog for quite some time - maybe even a whole year ago.

Link to the New Year Drawings Page - New Year Drawings

2022 Drawing - 

The waves are getting rougher, quick get to land! Wait were in Italy - get to a house before we capsize!

There you are! A building from Italy and a guy rowing a boat - May all who view row through the New Year!

What Have I Missed?

Yes It is, no was my Blogirthday on January 10th of this month - two days ago - this blog is now 2 years old! Congratulations for your continual showcasing of artwork and entertaining dialogue to go along with it blog of Esteban Barnes - Happy Blogirthday! Please join me in congratulating this blog dear viewers/readers!

Thank you for Viewing this Blog Today - Stay tuned - A Painting is on the Way!

"Be so busy loving your life that you have no time for hate, regret or fear."

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." - C.S. Lewis