Sketches in Blue Store

The original Owl Photo by Jeroen Stel is on the right. I wrote Jeroen and asked for permission to use his image in a painting. I explained I needed to remove the telephoto distortion but other than that his shot was perfect. The image to the left is the same owl after I removed the telephoto distortion caused by the zoom lens.

Pencil Sketch

Photo reference of barn

Each painting starts with a sketch using the faithful blue pencil. I prefer to work from my own photographs but this was a beautiful shot by Jeroen I could never get.

Fence post reference

Color study done with an ipad

The background is of a barn I shot while in Lake Placid NY. The image to the right is a color study I did in a digital paint program on my ipad. This helps me with my color, composition and lighting. It also showed me I needed a target for the owl to focus on so I added the fence post using the reference image to the left.

Above are detail shots of the final painting below

After the preliminary color sketch I started on the full size painting. I spent a lot of time and put a lot of detail in this one and had fun. Unfortunately, I could never sell the original painting for enough money to compensate me for the time I put into it. Because of this, I haven't painted in 15 years but now, enter the new digital world of Giclee's. (canvas reproductions)

With a digital file in hand I head off to the printer. I could have printed it any size but the original Owl is 36" wide so that's what I printed the first reproduction at. With a digital file I can print 50 to 100 pieces of one piece of art. This has made painting a viable reality in my life again. Painting comes from the soul and I really missed it. Glad to be back!

I build my own frames. This is a deep frame known as a "Gallery Wrap"

I stretch my canvas by hand using the canvas stretcher I've had for over 20 years. I staple the canvas to the back of the frame which leaves the sides nice and neat. Here I am trimming away the excess canvas. Once trimmed I spray the backside of the canvas with water and rub it in. This shrinks and tightens the canvas.

Here is another in the Bird series my, "Ibis in the Surf".

The gallery wrap gives you nice clean sides allowing you to hang and display these pieces with or without a frame.

I am offering these in 2 different sizes, a 36" wide version and a 24" version. Each Canvas Reproduction is signed and numbered and is a limited run of 500 pieces. Once they sell out, there are no more!

$50.00 FRAME

Now suppose you want to frame your beautiful owl but like me, you don't have that kind of budget. Here's what I did!

I went to Loew's and bought some baseboard moulding and wood along with some nails, putty and hardware, around $50.00 worth, (if that).

I nailed and glued the moulding to a narrower piece of wood. I then cut the wood at 45 degree angles and nailed them together into a frame. A little sanding and a little wood putty and I was done.

I decided to get a little fancy and make this frame two toned to match the owls wing. I started by staining the center strip of the frame with a light colored stain. Then I put a coat of clear on top of the light stain and let it dry. (Fast drying because I'm impatient).

Once the clear coat was dry I masked off the stained area with painters tape. With the tape protecting the light area I applied a dark stain to the rest of the frame.

After touching up and smoothing everything out with a brush I let the stain dry. Once dry, I removed the tape and coated the rest of the frame with clear. (Fast drying of course)

After the clear was nice and dry, (well almost, remember, I'm impatient!) I brought the frame in and mounted the Owl painting to it. To create a moisture barrier to protect the cloth canvas I glued a piece of brown paper to the backside of the frame.

Next comes the hardware. I screwed an eye bolt into one end and wrapped a wire around it. To make sure it didn't unwind, I put a piece of tape over the end.

Repeated the process on the other side but left a little bit of slack on the wire. My beautiful Owl was ready for hanging! The picture of the Owl that is, not the owl, don't be hanging any Owls out there.

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Without seeing them in person it's hard to really appreciate the detail and quality of these pieces. I've put in a lot of time creating these paintings and thought I would give you a tour of the process and a closer look at the quality.
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