Painting with the season

Mark Branscum · 10-24-2002, 03:29 AM

I wanted to get some feed back about whether any of you, during holidays like Christmas, do any painting with a holiday theme?

Mark

Patti Del Checcolo · 10-24-2002, 08:55 AM

Hi Mark,

Good question. Hope we get some interesting replies. For the last five years I have been buying large frosted ornaments and painting a Christmas theme on them with acrylic paint and a sealer when they are dry. Usually a snowy scene or snowmen or something Christmas-like. I paint and date one for each family. Everyone seems to look forward to receiving and I enjoy doing them. Haven't started early enough this year, but next I would like to paint each of their homes on the ornament.

Chris Saper · 10-24-2002, 10:00 AM

Mark,

I suspect you are talking about whether others incorporate season-specific elements into their portraits.

Personally I think it is too "dating" of the portrait, and diminishes the timeless quality most people seek. However, there are other "milestone symbols" that can be very effectively incorporated, such as a First Communion or prom dress, a Bar Mitzvah Tallis, etc..

Leslie Ficcaglia · 10-24-2002, 06:41 PM

Funny you should mention that, Chris. For my son's bar mitzvah, many years ago, I did a pencil sketch of his head, from life, with a tallis barely suggested around his neck, and we used that as the cover to his invitations. We also printed up a smaller card with the same picture and a "Thank you" in his handwriting for the obligatory thank you notes.

Back to the original topic, I have a wonderful photo of my granddaughter at the age of three, being pulled on a sled, head flung back and arms extended, rapturously enjoying her first snowfall. She had just moved here from Las Vegas and had never seen snow before. One of these days I'm going to paint it. It's a profile and she's bundled up, so it's Every Child in the snow; gender isn't evident either. That's the closest I'd come to a seasonal painting.

Jeremiah White · 10-24-2002, 09:14 PM

Seasonal I think has merit in paintings. I'm of course referring to whatever natural season it is like winter, fall, spring, summer. I don't like holiday paintings though, unless it has to deal with a subject that's not usually touched on or is extremely unique.

Holiday paintings, as mentioned, are not as timeless as other subjects and may in fact deter people from the painting. For example, Christmas paintings may depress people that dread the holidays. Of course after Christmas is over, you would not want the painting still hanging on the wall. The painting would become more decorative than anything.

Enzie Shahmiri · 10-24-2002, 09:23 PM

I actually like seasonal paintings, especially if they deal with winter themes. I have painted a Santa in oils and did a Witch in pencil, which I dig out when I decorate for the season.

I have tried to entice people to have their kids painted with Santa, but without much success. I presume that you really have to enjoy decorating and be willing to change your d

Michael Fournier · 11-11-2002, 11:01 AM

How's this one for a holiday theme?
To be honest it was originally one of 15 Illustrations for a book this was the only full color image the others were smaller B/W images for each chapter heading page. My wife liked it so much though that it was cropped down to this.
It was painted on gessoed hardboard and is now 27x20 inches but there was more blue area at the top for title text and area at the bottom for credits and such. This painting was large for a illustration I was trying to get a NC Wyeth look and he painted large. After cropping it had a portrait look to it and we hang it over the fireplace ever holiday season. It is not my best painting but I am not totally dissatisfied with it. And for the assignment was great fun.

It is to bad that I do not get much chance to paint illustrations anymore. Because of what they pay and the usually tight deadlines I use Painter, Photoshop and other computer graphics apps more then paint and brush nowadays.

Oh to have worked in NC Wyeth's day if you correct for inflation the pay that NC received for the treasure island series was like getting over $100,000, He bought a home and built a studio with the payment. (who know's it could have been just used as down payment but he did get a substantial payment.)

But here is the quote from the musume site.:

About the N.C. Wyeth House and Studio

In 1911, with the proceeds from his illustrations for Treasure Island, the artist N.C. Wyeth purchased 18 acres of land on Rocky Hill in the village of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Possessed of "the most glorious sight in the township," Wyeth built his home and studio overlooking the valley. Here he set down roots which for nine decades have nourished a family of extraordinary creativity.