Original Whaling Scene, Maine, Post 3

The Whale from Curtis Light 

Thanks for looking at this blog entry.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you are interested in your water scene being illustrated! 

This post is going to represent several days worth of work.  I think it's better than dragging it out.  

The color is starting to be added a little at a time. 

I like to paint around things instead of painting from the back of the painting to the front.  I feel that the image pops more using that method.

In this picture, you can see how the grass has a warmer feel.  

After the painting was about finished, I added the script.  Often times, I write little sayings in the grass or sky or water.  This painting was no exception.

The colors are not correct in this picture, however, look at the guy falling off the ship into the water! 

In the original painting (where you will see below),  the colors are not as 'antiqued' and the water is not as red/blue.  However, I wanted to show you the writing in the water.  In case you cannot read my writing, it says THE WHALE FROM CURTIS LIGHT.

WRITING HERE READS,
SHE GUARDS PENOBSCOT BAY 

I love the little guy up on the tower.  I read that this light can be seen for 6 nautical miles.  I think that is very cool.

On this page you can clearly see the folky bricks as well as my signature.  

The red really pops on this painting.  I like it.  The customer may want it toned down.  We shall see!

The colors are about correct in this shot

I always like to show what I am working on along side one that I have laying around.  I do this so that you can clearly see how this painting will blend with any piece of my original artwork that you might own.  I really enjoyed painting this one!  I think you can tell! 

Here is the painting in its entirety BEFORE antiqued...  

The question for me is this.  Should I antique this more? 

I welcome input! 

So ***today, November 4, 2016, I decided that the sky was too washed out.  I brightened it up a bit.  That doesn't mean that I won't go back and tone it down some, but here are a few changes. 

See the difference?  It makes the lighthouse stand out instead of blend in! 

Again, the ship stands out from the sky being darkened in the background 

I think this is done... 

Enjoy :) 

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Original Whaling Scene, Maine Post 2

Starting To Add Some Color! 

A likeness of Curtis Light 

There are many lighthouses in Maine.  This painting is centered around Curtis Light which is just outside Camden Harbor.  This painting is not meant to be 

an exact copy but rather a gently likeness.  

My customer loves whaling and ships.  Like many of my paintings, this is a fictional rendition of a time back in the mid 19th century.  

I started to draw and realized that I didn't want the painting to have pea sized buildings so I went BIG with the scale.  You can sort of get an idea of HOW big in the picture below. 

The buildings are larger than I had drawn out on my thumbnail sketches, but I felt it was necessary.     I think it makes for better composition, especially when viewing from any distance. 

This could be a painting just as it is featured in the above cropped version.  However, it is just a snippet of  a larger piece.  Tomorrow, if I have time, I want to show you some more 

pictures of what I have completed.  If I don't post tomorrow, it will be Monday! 

As I paint, I will add layer upon layer until the oversized folky bricks sort of disappear and are not as obvious.  This is the very start of the painting.  

Tune back in for more... maybe tomorrow!

Enjoy! 

What a view! 

Thanks for looking today and spending a little of your day imagining what life might have been like back in the 1840s...

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VERY large scaled whale painted on a reclaimed wood type surface

He felt like a fish out of water! 

This poor guy was too big for the body of
water he found himself in! 

I love to paint big folky whales and this project was so much fun.  I purchased an old painting that happened to be on some  balsam wood.  Figuring that I could never buy the wood this inexpensively, I decided to purchase it.  Because of the fact that  light weight balsam wood was used, I could easily hang this over my dinner table with no fear of damaging the drywall or it falling on someone's head.  Plywood would have been too heavy.  

The finish on this piece turned out great with the alligator cracks, etc.  I had a time forcing the paint down into the slats, but in the end, I was pleased with my efforts. 

This gives you a good idea of the size and scale of this painting. I didn't measure it, but it is easily 5 feet wide and 2 feet wide.  

Here it is over my buffet.  LOOK at the scale. I thought about painting a ship in the background but then thought, nah, I always do that.  I like it simple! 

I decided that the edges need to be painted too.  This piece has sort of a bread board edge look to it.  I grained it to look like tiger maple, something that I LOVE. 

You can see that it needed the edges painted.  This piece would not be complete without the graining.  In the end, I decided that it needed to be hung over my dinner table! 

Thanks for looking!  

Enjoy your JULY4 holiday! 

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Decorative Butcher Block Whale, Part 2

The cutting board painting!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/488937921/kolene-spicher-original-whale-cutting?ref=shop_home_active_1 

I don't know what was more fun, designing this whale or painting it.  Let's just say, it was a fun project.  I have yet to decide if I will leave it 'shine.'  I think that the semi-gloss may be too distracting.  

https://www.etsy.com/listing/488937921/kolene-spicher-original-whale-cutting?ref=shop_home_active_1

This cutting board is large.  You can easily serve cheese or grapes or both on it!  You can see the scale very clearly when you compare it to the stove.  

I softly drew it out with colored pencils first

Actually, not only did I paint this cutting board to be functional, but I also used the same identical design and started a water color painting.  More about this on a later post! 

I love the sweet expression on his face! 

I have said it before, nobody wants to hang a mean or scared whale.  This whale was designed to be happy and self-standing.  If you look at it straight on, you can also see that I painted the sides. 

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Have to admit, I thought this was funny.

I loved the way the whale looked sitting on this sofa table.  Because you can see my whale light, I thought that I would also include a picture that as well.  

https://www.etsy.com/listing/488937921/kolene-spicher-original-whale-cutting?ref=shop_home_active_1

This was an inexpensive lap that I picked up at a thrift store. 

I am really into re-purposing things.  I love the idea of making something beautiful and useful out of something discarded.  

The whale stands because it is about 1 1/2" thick.  

The back of the whale is very well done.   The walnut is beautiful.  

Thanks for visiting my Blog today! 

Enjoy. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/488937921/kolene-spicher-original-whale-cutting?ref=shop_home_active_1

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