"Passed" Profilist of the Day

"Profilist" ~ sometimes used to refer to one who cuts silhouettes. We learned this in my son's Art curriculum this week. We also learned more about the talented Mr. Charles Peale in the last of this Early American Art unit.
Not only was Charles an extremely gifted painter and fathered a legacy of talented painters, he also could wield a pair of scissors! He captured sitter's likenesses not only with paint and brush, but with scissors and paper too. Here is a silhouette attributed to Charles that resides in the Library of Congress.

I haven't tried to cut a silhouette out of paper, but I have become interested in these little treasures so much that I did have to try and paint a few...I have 2 completed and several drawn and ready to paint.
One of the two I have painted will be available on the 1st of October on a website I've recently joined: TDIPT Mercantile
(so I have to wait to show you that one), but here is one I've just completed and will put in a simple black frame and offer it for sale on my website this weekend.

Speaking of weekends, I hope you have an enjoyable one.




Here are a few websites to visit to learn more about silhouettes, as well as, Charles as a profilist.
http://antiquesilhouettes.blogspot.com/
http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v18/bp18-07.html
http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=189

"Passed" Painters of the Day~Oops!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Ours was cold and rainy, the perfect "stay inside and play on the computer, read, paint, do schoolwork that we didn't finish during the week" kind of weekend. (and you know how popular I was when I suggested that last activity!)

The second part of the Peale Family painters has been in my "edit post" page for a few weeks now and I didn't realize I hadn't posted it until last night! Has anyone done that before? Or am I "showing my age" by not remembering when and what I've posted! :)

~Peale Family Part Two~

Charles Peale not only had many talented children who were painters, he also had a brother who was known for his paintings as well. James Peale had children who were gifted too, and spent time in Charles' studio learning with their cousins and from Charles himself.

Sarah Miriam Peale was the youngest of the nieces and she showed a lot of promise and interest in making painting her career. Her father, James, taught her and two of her sisters how to mix color and paint backgrounds.
(The photo on the right is a portrait of Sarah painted by her father James.)

In the 1800's, a careers as a painter was not seen as "proper" for a young lady. But Sarah moved to Baltimore and set up her own studio and became a well-known portraitist. Sarah, along with her sister Anna, (who painted miniatures), were sought after for their talent and often shared clients, painting two different portraits of the person.

(Two Children by Sarah, 1835)

Sarah had a long painting career, painting portraits and eventually following in her cousin's footsteps, painting still lifes. She never married, instead devoting her life to her painting career that lasted more than 50 years.

(References: my son's home school curriculum!)

My Past Life

I don't have a "Passed" painter chosen for today, so I thought I'd be the painter and show you my "past" work. A few years ago when my boys were younger and we weren't home schooling, I had a "word-of-mouth" small painting business. One employee, (me) and occasionally I would hire a partner for a really large mural or faux job. My husband was easily train-able, because he has an artistic eye, so he was usually my hired extra-hand. Here are a few photos, and no, they aren't very "Early American"! And, now that I look at them, I realize I was more interested in the artistic process, rather the artistic preservation....I took terrible photos!

The first photo of the rooster is the entry door to a little country decor and furniture store.


The two photos of the blue door are the back and front of a flat door, the only "real" thing on the door is the handle....the rest is painted to look as if light is coming through a six-paned window with "lace curtains" and cross boards are
painted on the lower half of the door.


In the photo of the potted bromeliad, my husband cut out the arch in MDF board, and then I painted the rest....this way it wasn't painted on the wall and the home owner could take it with them if they moved.



For the fireplace in this client's home, I painted the "tiled" arch and fauxed the granite surround and columns.

She also had me use the same tile/ granite technique for the message center in their home.

This was one half of a very large room with arches over huge wood columns. This room took awhile! Parts of the ceiling height were over 12 ft high and it had a living room, dining room hallway and foyer. She wanted a "rich tuscany" look. Well, that is a little sampling of what I used to do....I hope these load up and there aren't too many!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Working, working, working.....

.....on deadlines! And yes, some are self-imposed, but I need to get them done! So, just taking a quick break to say "Hi" and now I'm running back to the painting table (aka: dining room table) to work some more. Hope your week is going well!



(thank you Lana for the vintage photo)

Ava Grace Auction

Bidding has begun on the

Ava Grace Silent Auction

(please click on the words above to visit)




starting: Sunday, September 16th 
(Eastern time 6:00am
)
and ending: Saturday, September 22nd
 Eastern time: 9:00pm....

Thank you to those who have visited and bid already!
Here is a sampling of some the beautiful items a few of my friends have donated:

Cathy Nash is offering one of her sweet creations...an angel bunny, "Celebrate Life"!
Isn't she so cute and whimsical?

Lana Manis of Honeysuckle Lane has made this sweet "Dear Dolly Collage":
Wouldn't this be adorable in a little girl's room, or as a gift for a doll collector? I love the background color Lana used.


Sylvia Anderson has created this beautiful Angel Collage...this angel is so serene. Sylvia painted the textured background and used a beeswax technique to seal it. What a lovely keepsake!



Lorraine Gerbi of PieCake Primitives made this pretty and prim angel....she could be displayed year-round or would make a nice Christmas angel too!


And there is SO much more to see....
So hurry on over and see ALL of the goodies that were donated!

New Admiration: Vintage Postcards

Recently while searching for inspiration for painting, I became instantly taken with vintage postcards, more specifically Holiday Greeting Postcards. The images on these little treasures are so sweet and each one is a work of art. The style of painting for these cards; cherub-faced children, little girls in aprons and dresses, little ones in bonnets and mary janes, young boys in trousers and two-toned shoes, is so endearing,..... I just had to paint one, or two. Holiday Greeting Postcards were printed in the 1930's and many artist from all over the world contributed their talents.


Here is one of my paintings using these vintage cards as inspiration. This one (on the left) has a new home, but
I've painted another that will be available on The Primitive Gathering the 15th of this month. For now, here is just a peek.






(Vintage prints courtesy of Dover
Publications)

"Passed" Painters of the Day

In my son's school art curriculum we are studying Early American Art. It has been fun to learn about all of the forms of early art, not just portrait painting. Early Americans were creative and resourceful when it came to making and creating art.... But this weeks lesson was on painters, more specifically, the Peale Family of painters from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The head of the family was Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), and in his family of painters, Charles had a brother, sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews that were painters.

Charles was known for painting realistic, or representational portraits of his subjects and was commissioned to paint George Washington 14 times. He went to Europe to study with well-known painters of the era and came back to the states to set up his own studio.

Charles and his 1st wife gave some of their 10 children names of famous artists. (Rachel died in 1790 and Charles remarried in 1791 and had 6 more children!)

Raphaelle Peale had his father's gift for realistic painting, but did not paint portraits, instead, he painted small still lifes. He paved the way for this style of painting in America. His painting of fruit is on the left.

Rembrandt Peale, another son, was a gifted portrait artist and his talent was nurtured by Charles at an early age. (One of his portraits is on the left, entitled "Three Little Faces"). Charles would allow him to sketch an important person who came for a sitting. In my son's curriculum, there was a cute story of a time when Charles was sketching President Washington. He asked if the president would allow four of his children to come in and sketch Mr. Washington as well. They all sat around the president and sketched. Another artist friend came to the home to pay his respects and saw what was going on, and said, "Oh goodness, the president is being peeled!" Whether this is true or not, it makes a funny story.
Charles had some very talented nieces too and I'll write about them next time.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend.

And here is a sneak peek of my offering (Blessing is her name) for Ava Grace Silent Auction September 16-22.

Ava Grace Auction

This weekend I worked on my offering for Ava Grace Angels Unaware.
The auction will be held Sept. 16-22 for Ava Grace, a little one born prematurely with Pfeiffer Syndrome. Please visit the website to learn more about this by clicking above on the words or on the banner to the left in the sidebar.
And for a peek at the auction website, please click here: http://www.avagraceangelsunaware.com/