New Portrait

Hey guys, here is one of the newer portraits I have been wrapping up. I did not want to display the full painting because this had been commissioned for a wedding gift and I do not want unwanted eyes seeing the full piece before its time "but it should be ok." I enjoyed working on the man's face and the couples hands. The guy had a certain warmth in his gesture that I tried my best to convey even though I only had a pic to work with. It is my knowledge that the couple both passed away, that always evokes a different feeling when I'm working on a piece. I still have not gotten around to painting my father's portrait and he died years ago. I guess I have to get in a certain mindset to work on that one.

More Portraits

Hey you Guys,

I've decided to post a couple more of the portraits I've been working on this week. We have a girl with child and a dog named "Eddie." Eddie was quite enjoyable to paint because the whole time I'm laughing at the pup's expression. The girl and child was more of a challenge. I had a tiny picture to work from that did not have the best lighting and had to make it a 16x20 painting. It is always tricky to paint teeth and smiles, one centimeter off and the person looks deformed. I've got another little girl portrait I'm working on in Baroque style which I'll be posting soon. The Baroque period is by far my favorite in terms of style. I'll be attempting to concentrate on dramatic lighting and expression with this next one, we'll see how it goes.

Oil paintings

Hi guys, been very busy in the art field these last couple months. I've decided to post a portrait of a dog named Sky that was commissioned for a Christmas gift this year. This dog was painted with oils on canvas panel. I'll try to keep posting the other portraits I've been working on because I have been slacking with my posting!

finished mural

The last three days I've been working at The Harvesters church off of Transit and Seneca completing a Children's themed Noah's Ark mural. Just finished this mural yesterday and still washing the airbrush paint off of my body. This mural was created with acrylic and airbrush paints and was designed to match the original mural that was destroyed when the room was renovated. I have to say this was a fun mural, it didn't take too long to complete and it should makes some kids happy. I also got to paint a little portrait of my parrot Smeagol in the design. The funny thing is he is the only animal in that whole mural that does not have a partner. If you know Smeagol, he doesn't get along with many things and would never board a ship with another parrot of his kind. If you are looking for him he is on the up most top of the giraffe's head on the left.

new Halloween mask

Here is a new edition to my Halloween costume collection. This mask should be finished soon and will be for sale in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/jdhorst in the next few days, if I don't decide on keeping it for this Halloween. The little pumpkin guys on top light up with tea lights. I still have to name the mask.

back to oils

I had a long run with acrylics and found some great advantages with the dry time of the paint and the ability to do washes and layers. Recently I just ordered over 100 tubes of some really good Grumbacher pre-tested oils to divert away from acrylic and go back to my roots in the oil paint world. I just finished a portrait which was the first oil painting I've done in about 3 years. Now that I have worked with the oils again I don't think I'll go back to acrylics.

Erie County Fair Plein Air painting contest

Thanks to all that came to visit me while I was painting at the Erie County Fair in the Plein Air contest. I had between the hours 11-4 to paint something on the fair grounds. I was going to paint the midway, but thought there may be too many people painting in that area, so I painted the cows. I really never painted cows before so I thought this would be a nice change. I made some nice farmer friends and got to learn a little bit about the behind the scenes of farming. It was way too hot of a day and even a few of the painters dropped out. I battled through the heat and finished a pretty decent cow painting. After all was said and done I placed 3rd which was fine I guess. The painting will be displayed in the creative arts building till the fair ends.