Rufus Porter Mural in Connecticut by Pennsylvania artist Kolene Spicher

A Restful Place 

This was a very fun project.  The house was magnificent where I painted this mural.  

The first step was to create the finish.  When I say finish, I am talking about the surface and not the end product.  You can see the crackles and dabbling that occurred in the surface.  These marks were deliberate.  

Rufus Porter was known for his stylized trees.  I don't know if his were as crazy as mine, but hey.  I think this tree could exist.  

The flower pot is pretty stylized, as well.  I wanted to create a very primitive atmosphere but I wanted to update it to our current century.  I did this with colors that pop. 

The water was magical.  

Look at that tree!  And those boats! LOOK* at that tiger maple desk.  Everything was gorgeous.  

Speaking of gorgeous... 

I love to paint garden gates.  Do you see the fence along the water?  I think it, too, is magical. 

The wall adjoining the mural was painted a complementary color.  The warm tones in her furnishings really made this jump off the wall.  You really can get a great look without painting all four walls.  

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.  CURRENTLY, I am painting pottery to match this look!  I will be taking it and artwork, that is one of a kind and framed, to the #wiltonhistoricalsociety show that takes place the first weekend in November 2018.  

Here's a glimpse! 

Enjoy! 

Kolene E. Spicher 

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Rufus Porter Project

Painting a Mural 

Rufus Porter Style 

Part of one of my paintings 

I am getting ready to travel to Connecticut to do a mural.  It's one large wall, but I felt it was manageable, so I agreed.  One of the things that helps tremendously when embarking on a project like this is good reference material.  My customer liked one of my paintings and wanted it to be executed larger, so this makes it easier for me because I am essentially copying myself.  

This is the painting that she liked.  My ideas are to paint it very closely in composition and color to the original; however, for my "mockup" I changed it a little, I made it slightly brighter.  I thought that the mural might be easier to do if I had the painting.  The painting is too large for my vehicle so this is the next best thing.  

This is painted on a light weight panel so that I can easily truck it across the country!  

I am going to place a grained tiger maple frame around it!  

Tune back in later for more photos, probably next week or the week after! 

Enjoy! 

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Rufus Porter Style Wall Panel, Post 2

Painting In the Trees and Getting the Detail Correct 

Another day is gone, and I am no where near finished. My back doesn't enjoy working on the floor :).  This is a large painting, and it has to be done on the floor.  You get the idea, time isn't on my side, it's slow going.  

My goal with this is that the colors are bright and current but the technique, I want to look old and historic.  I plan on painting in some sailboats and ships.  I am thinking that some of the boats will have red sails.  (See picture directly above). 

As stated in yesterday's post, I want some birds in the painting, too.  They will be executed very much like the painting on the bottom left.  I love the flying bird and also the stationary ones!

I am getting closer, but no solo, yet! I love the stylized trees and the sunset/sunrise color scheme.  This will look perfect on my grey walls until I am ready for something new or it sells. 

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Look at my mess, actually, this is rather tidy for me ~ smile. 

For now, here is what is completed.  By tomorrow, I should have some birds in the painting as well as some ships.  The panel has sort of a breadboard edge on it, which I intend to grain.  

Here is an example of some of the graining that I believe could look really cool on the edge of my mural painting 

Thanks for looking today.  Enjoy your weekend! 

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Rufus Porter style landscape

Stylized Train Scene 

A reproduction from the mid 1800s ~ 1835-40

As I have said before, I really love the mid-19th century, specifically primitives.  

A little about  myself, I live near one of the biggest train yards in the north east. I love hearing the "clangs and bangs" of the cars as they hit one another, connecting one train to the next.  To me that is the noise of commerce and prosperity.  

Recently, I was looking thru one of my old folk art books and noticed a primitive painting of a train scene.  It was actually an old sign for a hotel, New Hampshire.  I LOVED IT and thought it would make a neat painting ~Kolene Style!! 

Things that stand out to me, the red!  Also, you should see all the wonderful cracks on this painting.  To me it looks like it was pealed from a wall.  This is what I call my RETRIEVED Wallpaper look.  

In the original painting from the 1830s, there was some very large prominent lettering across the bottom.  While I liked this, I didn't want to do an exact reproduction.  My trees and coloring are painted differently, yet it has the same look.  

The resolution is a little off on these.  I think it is because they were photographed in the evening.  This is always a bad thing.  The lighting is not great and making it difficult to get the clarity, even with an Apple IPHONE!! 

The frame material didn't arrive as of yet, so I cannot include what the finished product will look like. The frame has a burl look to it.  The piece will have a museum look (hopefully) when it is finished.  I plan on floating the mat.  

Before the Frame 

ENJOY

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