Progress of Bev's Humming Bird

Progression of a painting.  

Have you ever wondered what goes on in an artists head?

Day1, hiding the white and laying in the first color

Day 1

     For this painting, the first step was to get some color down and do with style.  I toned my board with a earthen reddish color - I like to get rid of the white right away.  For the completed painting, I knew I wanted yellow as my strongest color so from this first thought my pallet of colors are all chosen, yellow - orange- reds with a bit of blues and purples. I see these colors in my mind.  It probably sounds like I'm choosing all the colors in the rainbow but green but there's more to it than that.  The purple is key.  Purple is an opposite to yellow so the more soft purple I have the more vibrant and beautiful my yellow will seem.  This is color theory 101.  The blues compliment the purple, the reds compliment the yellows.  Now to put the colors on with style.  Well, there wasn't really much style going on, It was just me and my pallet knife.

Da1, getting the color nailed down on the background.

     Here you can see me start to bring in the yellow.  At this stage it is actually a very dirty yellow, it just "looks" like nice yellow because of the colors around it.  If I would put a blob of this yellow color on a white back ground though you would think I was painting with the fancy kind of mustard -the kind with little bits of whatever floating in it.  Yep, not very pretty on the pallet.  To help me judge this yellow I drop in the beginning of the flower in with blues and purples.  This image is actually at the end of the first sitting, maybe 2 hours into the painting - if that.  But I see where it's going and I'm happy with it so I let it set up over night.  I do use an alkyd white and alkyd yellow to help the painting set up faster than normal oils.  The alkyds and the earth tones are key to getting oils done quickly.  Do you see the spot of bright yellow near the top right of the flower?  It looks bright Huh? Keep your eye on this spot.

Day 2

Day 2 blocking in humming bird

     Back at it.  Now I start to bring in hints of the humming bird, I add more to the flower and am constantly adjusting the background.  In the background adjustments, I am balancing richer color with what I expect the hummingbird to look like - as seen in my mind.  Do you still see that bit of yellow next to the flower? it is beginning to look less bright, right?  The cool pinkish color added next to it did this along with the lighter colors on the flower.  These additions make the yellow less intense.  Other things to see - the shadows from the flower pedals, the color on the birds belly.  I'm almost an hour and a half into this days work now.

Day 2, almost done.

     Here we are at the end my painting session for day two.  For the day, I'm little over 3 hours in, not long at all.  I still have lots of tie to work on other things.  But this painting is complete, except for the final highlights and last minute adjustments.  I just want to let it rest and get my mind off of it for a couple of days.  Do you still see that spot of yellow near the top right of the flower?  It used to be the brightest spot on the painting.  I haven't touched it.  It's still the same color as when I first touched paint brush to canvas. The brightest yellow now, up and to the left of the hummingbirds head, is a spot of pure yellow.  To tie everything together, I have put a lot of little color bits all over.  The orange from the hummingbirds neck is also to the left of the flower, in the background.  The red on the hummingbirds neck mimics the red in the flowers center and appears in the background as well.  Controlling this type of color is fun.  It's what keeps me coming back for more.

Day 3

Beverly's Hummingbird, 11x14, Oil on Wood Panel

Final shot of Bev's Hummingbird taken with my camera (not my phone) just before it was wrapped up for shipment.  This little guys home is in Oregon now.  He brightens up the room on all the cold, overcast, rainy days up there.

Larry

A little Friday Flash Back

3 little mice find a tasty treat.    Mixed media on illustration board

Here's an old one.  Originally I painted this and one other image for a counting book for HarcourtBrace.  The job was given to another artist since the art director thought my mice didn't look like mice and they weren't cute enough...  Can't win them all.  

I did use this image for years afterwords and got a lot of additional work because of it.  I guess it paid off in the long run.  It's also one of my favorite pieces from the past.

Hope ya'll had a good Friday.

Larry

The Time is Coming, What does this painting mean?

The Time is Coming 36x48 Oil on Canvas

I recently found out that my painting The Time is Coming won the Galleries Choice Award at Contemporary Art Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland.  I feel extremely blessed to be able to paint as I do and share my art with everyone.  At first glance, a lot of people may not notice that a lot of my art is Christian based.  I like to keep my Christian thoughts subtle in my work but this particular image is one of the more direct paintings.  Study the image a bit and come up with what you think it means then read on to learn what I was trying to convey:

Ready?  Here we go...

Revelations 16:16 calls out a place with the Hebrew name of Armageddon.  It is said that this is the place where all nations will come together and battle Christ.  Armageddon is translated from the Hebrew word Har Megiddo which means Hill of Megiddo.  This was an ancient city in Northwestern Palestine, Southeast of Haifa in present day Israel.  This name is depicted above the front door to this building.

The building I chose to depict here is completely made up but in my design I wanted a building that felt solid, like a bank, older government building or something along this line.  Surrounding the building I have added a few symbolic items to help tell my story.  Here's what I included:  Above the door you can see a United Nations symbol to push the idea of one government to rule all nations.  The gold statue bust above the central portico is my depiction of a false idol, it is ambiguous on purpose.  The gold front doors have tarnished to green to symbolize the decay of the building has started from within and is working it's way outside.  The entry stairs and the column bases have not tarnished yet but when they do will it effect the buildings strength?  The time of the clock is 3:06, or three sixes, the number of the beast.  These numbers have been lifted up, but not in a Righteous way, but rather in a man made way with ropes. The clock is big and looms over the people below in a dangerous way.  The ropes holding it up don't seem too strong or placed just right.  Will it come toppling down on the people below?  From the rear of the building, the destruction of the war has started and is depicted by the first plumes of smoke.  The smoke is dark and thick to show it is man made synthetic items that are burning, natural items tend to burn with a white or grey smoke plumage.  We see that  people have begun to arrive at this place, possibly for help and protection, but the doors to this building are closed and must be locked.  Overall, this painting is about a beginning of a very turbulent end of days where it may seem that all hope is lost.

But hope is not lost.  To the right of the painting there is a statue of angels with the inscription of IXOYE near the base.  These markings depict the Greek word for fish.  It was this marking that was once used by a group of people to mark secret entrances to safe houses and places of worship.  Within these places is where groups of people first came together to worship.  They were the first Christians.  The Greek word for fish was eventually replaced by a symbol in the shape of a fish that is still seen today, often on the back of people’s cars.  I wanted to express that even in the direst circumstances there is always hope and maybe if you just open you heart, lift your eyes and look around the corner you just might find it waiting for you there.
Matthew 7:13-14  "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

That's a lot to think about and to put into a painting.  I would love to here what you all think.  Did your first instincts about the painting express a note of destruction or a tinge of hope?

On  a more personal note:  I like to hide a "7" in a lot of my work.  Can you find the seven in this painting?

Prints of this painting are available here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-time-is-coming-larry-reinhart.html  Many sizes are available and the prices start at only $17.

The Original painting can be seen in Riverside, CA.  Here is the link to the current show:  http://www.artscaperiverside.com/

Take care,

Larry

Flashback Friday - Steamed

Steamed.  Mixed Media on Illustration Board

03/11/2016

Here's my first flash back Friday for ya'll.  Here's a few things I remember out this piece:

    I used pictures of myself for reference on this image.  In a strange way, thats my face.

    The date of 2003 must have been a period when I was using this image for advertising.  I know it was painted before 2000.

    I painted this one while living in a single bedroom apartment with Raveen and Seven in Pasadena, CA.  I was attending Art Center College of Design at the time.

    I used mixed media to paint it.  I started with Acrylics, added water color, then a wash of purple oil that was rubbed off, followed by more acrylics, the steam was painted with Gouache and then finally detailed with colored pencils.  I was using each medium to its advantage so I could paint quickly.     

    This is a picture I would have / could have painted in a single day.  I was busy working two jobs, going to school and learning to be a dad, I had to use my time wisely.  - Maybe this was the inspiration for the image??

Check out the stuff flying out of the briefcase.  The old cell phone, the floppy disk, little calculator. Back in the day I didn't even own a cell phone.  I think I owned the calculator though and this was painted around the time I got my first computer with an external dial up modem for very early web access.  This image was before any knowledge of "Steam Punk."  Did I invent Steam Punk!!!

Ohhhhh, the memories.  Hope you all enjoy the art and have a good weekend.

Larry