Showing posts with label oil painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil painting. Show all posts

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Gentle Spirit Mixed Media Wall Painting

GENTLE SPIRIT

MIXED MEDIA WALL HANGING

Gentle Spirit

When I finished the first in a new series of moss type women painted with the Renaissance Oil method and embellished with moss and ferns, I knew I was on to something. My good customer and friend, Mystic Crone, purchased her right off the bat.

I decided to create smaller ones that would fit into a niche or altar and I am pleased with the results. Here I present Gentle Spirit. Notice that her ears are pointed. Could she be a fairy or possibly a garden nymph? It is for you to decide.

Close-up

GENTLE SPIRIT

The seed pod opened-a woman child emerged. She was not yet complete…still in the process of becoming finished. She was innocent, having the quality of one who has not yet been injured by life. No soul searching, no vision quest, she was just content to be here and to be a living part of the great mother earth.

~Cheryl Dolby~

View of Frame

Gentle Spirit is 6” wide x 13” high and I have priced her at $68.00. You can contact me by e-mail or shop at Etsy. Thanks so much.

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Monday, March 18, 2013

ANGEL OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

ANGEL OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Angel of Unconditional Love

When I finished my latest angel, I thought of unconditional love. Wikipedia says: Unconditional love is known as affection without any limitations. This term is sometimes associated with other terms such as true altruism, complete love, or "mother's love." Each area of expertise has a certain way of describing unconditional love, but most will agree that it is that type of love which has no bounds and is unchanging. It is a concept comparable to true love, a term which is more frequently used to describe love between lovers. By contrast, unconditional love is frequently used to describe love between family members, comrades in arms and between others in highly committed relationships. An example of this is a parent's love for their child; no matter a test score, a life changing decision, an argument, or a strong belief, the amount of love that remains between this bond is seen as unchanging and unconditional.

Full View of Angel

Close-Up of Halo

Mosaic Dress

Goddess of Unconditional Love is 9”wide by 15”high and is $148.00 I painted her with oils using the Renaissance Oil Method. I gave her a halo reminiscent of the ones I learned to make while in Italy at my fresco class. Her dress is a mosaic batik. I Hope she speaks to you of unconditional love as she certainly did to me. I’ve placed her on my Etsy shop or you can contact me by e-mail.

Side View

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Saturday, February 9, 2013

FRIDA'S PAIN

FRIDA'S PAIN

Frida Kahlo

I’ve always been an admirer of Frida Kahlo and have created a few posts about her in the past. Click here to see. I wrote about the accident she had when she was young and how she had lived with her pain; her art being a constant source of diversion. When I wrote these things, I didn’t have a clue as to the effect pain can have on a person. I thought I could empathize with her because she was an artist like myself and I admired her for working in pain, but, I had never experienced very much pain in my life and really could not have known it’s effect over the long run. Until lately. It’s just my knee but keeps me from moving as quickly as I’m used to. The more chronic pain I experience, the more I admire Frida. A lot of her paintings show her in pain. She even had to attend a major art show held for her, by being carried in on a bed! Frida said “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” She also said I paint myself because it I know myself better than anyone else.” She created 143 paintings and of those 55 are self portraits.

Close-up

I am lucky, as most artists are, because when I am in pain, I can look to my art to pull me through. Just thinking about a piece in my studio, whether it’s a painting or sculpture, gives me a goal and before long, I am focused on finishing that piece. I believe if you continue to search for answers for your pain, you will relieve it somehow and I also have come to the conclusion that “wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.” Although I can’t take credit for coining that verse, ( I read it on Facebook, author unknown,) I certainly am going to adopt it as my own.

Close-up of Seven Antique Jewels

In honor of Frida, I have created this Renaissance oil and mixed media painting with gems and jewels of every type. I wanted to make her glitzy as she appears in a lot of her pictures. She liked to wear dangly jewelry and flowers in her hair. I have used some very old earrings and some even older pins. (some may be worth a lot more than the painting!) I guess you could always snip off the valuable jewel and add a costume piece in place of it. LOL. She is 8” w x 10” x h. and 1 ½ “ deep for easy hanging. I also created a crackled background. I have priced her at $145. You can check her out at Etsy since I just placed her in my shop or you can also contact me directly at my e-mail

Picture of 1 1/2 frame

Also, I placed a Frida necklace on Etsy for you to look at.

Thanks so much.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

'SHI" "I AM NOT THE BODY"

“SHI”

“I AM NOT THE BODY”


Sold. Thankyou Deb!

I love the effect I get when I use earthy, woodsy materials along with the Renaissance Oil painting method I use for my faces. It seems to produce a rich quality that I can’t get with acrylics or other methods I’ve used.

The story I gave her comes from my book, “Grandmother Tree.” The book is out of print at this time but I will soon combine it with my “She Who Whispers” book to create a 3rd edition. “Shi” seemed appropriate for this original mixed media painting. Here is the story:

“SHI”

“I AM NOT THE BODY”

She so bravely bore her illness. Knowing there were those who would miss her in the end and being selfless beyond compare, she spoke these words. “Grieve not for me, for I am not the body. I am the green, fertile earth, the waves merging with the sea. I am the silence of the Himalayas and the eternal vibration of Om…know that I will live forever..for I am not the body….I am the soul.” The word Shi in Zen, written by calligrapher Hakuin, means death…anyone who sees Through death becomes ageless, deathless and Immortal..

~Cheryl Dolby~

“Shi” is 11” w x 14” h and 1” deep. I have priced her at $235.00 and she is available through me at this e-mail or you can purchase through Etsy. Thanks so much for viewing. This is definitely going to be a new series for me.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

SUNFLOWER COLLAGE

SUNFLOWER COLLAGE

Close-Up of "Blooming Spirit"







The other day, I was perusing through my favorite blogs and came across MsElenaeous Rants and Rave’s, which is the title of a blog created by a friend of mine. Elena is a very talented writer who moved here to Roanoke, Virginia a few years back. Although she has made our mountainous area her home, she speaks of missing her life in NYC. I thought about her dilemma. Having lived in many different places after graduating from high school, I can sympathize with her. I think we all tend to compare our new surroundings with the area in which we grew up.

Full Length "Blooming Spirit" 12"x24"

In response to Elena, I immediately thought of a poem I wrote, titled “Blooming Spirit.” Coincidentally, I was working on a renaissance oil collage of a girl with sunflowers and after I read Elena's blogpost, I thought it would be serendipitous to name my sunflower girl after my poem. Here is the poem and details about my painting.

Side View

Close-Up of Poem printed on the Highly Textured Cloak

Just in case you cannot read the wording on Blooming Spirit's cloak, I have included it here.

“Blooming Spirit”


Her home was far away and she longed for the roots that had for so long held her life together; friends, family and familiar surroundings. Time passed as she quietly endured her sorrow. Finally, she rejoiced, for her soul, who knew far more than she, revealed a great truth: “Change is growth, you must bloom where you are planted.”
~Cheryl Dolby~

I do believe that it is important to “Bloom where you are planted.” If you choose to make the very most of the area or even situation you find yourself in, you will truly find that before long..you will be home again.

Blooming Spirit is an original oil and acrylic collage. I distressed her by using a crackle solution. I used the Renaissance Oil Method and collaged the background.

Blooming Spirit is for sale. I have priced her at $175.00. She is 12”w x 24”h x ½” For shipping prices to Alaska , Hawaii, or other countries, please e-mail me.


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Monday, July 9, 2012

GYPSY MOON

GYPSY MOON

"Gypsy Moon"

GYPSY MOON

SOLD-THANK YOU ROSE AND JIM

A storm was brewing. The winds
of change were struggling to free
themselves once again. She knew
she had
been too long in one place. The roots
of that place were starting to wrap
themselves around her being, pulling
and tugging at her once more.
She knew it was time.
Moving on meant transformation. It meant
leaving possessions, friends and
sometimes family. She was no stranger
to farewells. And, with each move,she
knew she was leaving a part of
herself behind.
Even though painful, she knew that once
again she must pull back her shoulders,
as if she were an obedient soldier.
She then must wrap the blanket of
memories around her and begin her journey
as she had done so many times before.
She knew she was Gypsy Moon, strong,
vibrant, resilient and constant.
She must begin...again.


~Cheryl Dolby ~


Once in awhile, I get in the mood to create something extremely textural. When I started Gypsy Moon, I wasn’t sure of the direction I wanted to go but knew I wanted the end effect to be mosaic in feel.

I created a paper batik and then cut it up into uneven pieces and glued each small piece together on my design. I glued tissue paper onto her head piece and glued it onto the design. Then, I painted the background with several shades of blues and browns and then crackled the whole thing.

Close-up of mosaic design

Close-up of crackled background

Side View


Although this is a small painting of only 8x10”x1/2” deep, it was very time consuming. She is for sale for $125. You can e-mail me if you are interested in purchasing her. We can use Paypal. Even though I usually don’t use blues in my work, I love the way Gypsy Moon turned out. Hope you like her story as well. I think there is a bit of gypsy in all of us.


The Colors In This Photo are Truer to My Original Painting

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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

TCHAIKOVSKY CD COVER

TCHAIKOVSKY CD COVER

CD Cover by Cheryl Dolby

When I used my Renaissance Oil method to create a collage of Tchaikovsky last year for my son, Cameron, I had no idea that it would end up on the cover of the new CD by pianist, Anthony Goldstone of London. I was excited when Anthony e-mailed me asking for permission to use it in his upcoming CD. I think this goes to show you never know when some exciting thing might happen when you create a post.

I decided to create a Giclee of 50 Tchaikovsky prints. Number one is now available. For those of you who are not familiar with Giclee’s here is the definition that Wikipedia gives.

Giclée ( /ʒiːˈkleɪ/ zhee-KLAY or /dʒiːˈkleɪ/), is a neologism coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne[1] for fine art digital prints made on inkjet printers. The name originally applied to fine art prints created on IRIS printers in a process invented in the late 1980s but has since come to mean any high quality inkjet print and is often used by artists, galleries, and print shops to denote such prints.

Giclee is 18"w x 24" h x 3/4 d and is priced at $175.00

I added oil paint to the surface to create texture

If you are interested in purchasing my number one Giclee of Tchaikovsky, we can work through papal so just email me and we’ll go from there.

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Friday, February 10, 2012

CELTIC WATER GODDESS


CELTIC WATER GODDESS
COVENTINA, SHE OF THE COVENS

"Coventina-She of the Covens, Celtic Water Goddess"

If you have never experimented with encaustic or cold wax, you are missing out on a very sensual experience. Once you start working with it, you’ll want to try it on many of your art projects. I have used the wax on angel wings to instill age, on journal covers and boxes as well. Sometimes, I add the wax with oil to the faces of my paintings.

Closer view

Lately, I have preferred a smooth, life-like finish as seen on my “Coventina,-She of the Covens, Celtic Water Goddess." I ran a digital image of an original painting of her and then added wax and oil paints, fishnet and some small shells.

Close-up

I’ve given her the name of Coventina-She of the Covens-Celtic Water Goddess, but the story is the same one I use with all my ocean pieces. I wrote it years ago but it still applies to my feelings of the sea. You can e-mail me if you are interested in her. She has a ghost-like appearance, as though she just emerged from the sea. Perhaps she is a mermaid but for sure she is a water Goddess. She is for sale at $150.00 and is approx 10”x 14” I painted her on cradled birch board. Thanks so much.

Oceana

As she was standing at the edge of the ocean she
could hear the waves chanting
their familiar song.

“Come to me, I am greater than you, I am wiser than
you..I am the one.”

She resisted once again. How long could she
continue to resist…How much longer before she
embraced her larger self,
her destiny,
her soul…
..the sea….




~ Cheryl Dolby~

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Friday, February 3, 2012

INSPIRED BY MEXICO

INSPIRED BY MEXICO

Mayan Journal Page

My Mexican trip this year was uneventful except for the fact that it is the third year in a row that I was unable to get out of the Roanoke airport. First year it was the snow, second the wind and this year it was the fog that forced me to drive to an International Airport two hours away. It's a lot of work these days to have fun, especially with airline travel being what it is. I might add, it's worth it in the end.

I stayed at a hotel in the Maya Riviera area. This year, the year 2012 end of days year, according to the Mayan calendar, found Mexican vendors selling all sorts of end times souvenirs including 2012 chocolate candy and calendars galore. I personally don’t believe our world will end on December 21, 2012, even though I agree that things are quite a mess right now on our planet. I am hoping that mankind wakes up and sees what a glorious place in which we live. At this time we have plenty of water, clear skies, golden soil and bounteous countryside. It may not always be this way. Overpopulation, over warming and over indulgence threatens us all.

Frida Journal Page

It seemed appropriate that since I’ve started journaling this year, I should present my Mayan journal page and another one of Frida. For the first one, I printed one of my original faces on organza cloth, which can be purchased as 8x11" printing sheets, and placed it over the top of a Mayan picture I had taken years ago.

On the Frida journal page, I used a close-up copy of my original painting of Frida,which can be seen here. I did nothing else to it except destroy it with my atrocious handwriting..LOL…Anyway, I’m off to a good start with journaling this year and find it to be very addictive.

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Monday, November 14, 2011

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Number 1 brochure

Those of us who grew up in the 50’s remember a special time of freedom. There are many nostalgic e-mails going around about how we, as children of the 50’s had an ideal kind of life back then. We would leave the house in the morning with our parents calling out to us,“be home before dark.” This was entirely true. Not only did we leave for the day but our parents couldn’t even reach us. Phones were attached to walls in those days. We were free! Often they’d ask us to lock the doors when we came in at night. Our door was a screen with a little hook latch.

Number 2 brochure

We bought ice cream drumsticks at our local Italian market, Joe’s, for .04 cents and rummaged through the basically unwrapped nut topped ice cream cone, peeking inside the thin, open paper and sometimes even feeling inside, to find the largest one. We would then hand Joe 2 glass ‘pop’ bottles for our refund totaling 04. cents.

There were no TV’s because, because even though they were just invented, most families could not afford to own one. We opted for the radio with programs like, The Green Hornet and Sky King or even, if we dared, The Shadow.


Number 3 brochure

The decades flew past and before we knew it, we landed in the year 2012. That’s a long stretch from graduation in 1962!

The reason for all this lamenting over the past is because our class of 1962 is about to have our 50th reunion in August of 2012. I must tell you, this is not just any class but a very special one, held together by a very special woman, Virginia Nagy Hall. She created a class newsletter which is comical as well as informative. In the newsletter, which she sends out once a month, she lists class members who are having special health problems and gives encouragement all the while filling us in on current events of classmates. She even started a facebook page for all of us to follow one another. She holds a ‘girl’s’ annual Christmas party and through her encouragement the ‘fellows’ have followed suit. We are all so thankful for Virginia.

Virginia Nagy Hall. Doesn't she look fiesty in her 50's garb?

With the upcoming reunion, there are many things that must be done. Securing facilities for our almost 500 class members and guests is no small chore. There are monies to sort through and a variety of other jobs. Among them, the task of creating a brochure listing all of the class members, including children, grandchildren, hobbies, world travels etc. Jennifer Anderson McGarry was gracious in volunteering for the job. This is a tedious undertaking which involves compiling a lot of facts. Now, finally, the purpose for this posting. Jennifer has asked me if I could come up with a cover for the brochure. My immediate response was a “Yes.” Of course, I am honored to help out with this. But now I’d like to ask a favor of my dear blog buddies and followers. I’ve come up with 3 samples so far for covers which I feel are descent but I’d like your opinion as to which one would be best suited. (Our school colors are red, white and black) I was thinking it might be a good idea to create one with a layered digital effect. By this I mean the misty, surreal look that digital artists achieve. Quite frankly, I don’t know how to do this! The effect might look good on the one with the female in the middle. She is supposed to be looking like she is remembering our time back in the 50’s. Then again, maybe I should have a male in that picture too? I’m wondering if I can give them a ‘ghostlike’ effect, sort of like they are going back to their past.

I look forward to your much needed and appreciated thoughts and advice on this subject. Thanks so much!

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Thursday, October 27, 2011

THE GOLDEN SILENCE

THE GOLDEN SILENCE

Close-up of collage/painting "The Golden Silence"

It never ceases to amaze me what can be accomplished in life if we learn to follow our intuition and just go with it. What follows is a true story. Where it leads is a good question but so far it has been an amazing and magical journey.

It started with my sculpture school last summer. The 4 students came from all walks of life and areas of the country. We were in tune from the moment we all met. By that I mean we all seemed to be in sync with what we wanted to accomplish as far as the sculpture goes, but there was something else almost indefinable that happened during the week. We all started to feel a strong bond to one another that lasted far beyond the week long class. It was not a happy gathering when we had to say our good-byes.

"The Golden Silence"

When everyone got home. We felt like something was missing in our lives. All seemed anxious to continue the class next summer but there was something else we felt we needed to do. Finally, after many group e-mails, we knew what it was. We decided to write a book together.

At first I thought it may not turn out to be much, just a bunch of women talking about their week in the class. I kept asking everyone what in the world could anyone possibly want to read that happened during that simple week. But then, all of our intuitions kicked in. The creative force and our special bonding had us writing away. Our new book is all we have been able to think about for months now.


Symbolism hidden in painting

The Golden Silence collage I have just finished is my interpretation of something that happens in the book. I can’t tell you any more about it until we finish but I have my hopes up for a book/movie to materialize sometime next year. (I’m an optimist) There is symbolism all throughout the painting.


Another hidden image

This is the story I have given the "Golden Silence" and an excerpt from the book, which we haven’t named yet.


The Golden Silence

She was inhaling pure energy through the Golden Light, which was part of the Golden Silence. It was as though her mind was being downloaded, as a computer program might be, from one folder to another. All of her memories were being pulled by some unknown power and the destination was to another realm in time. This download, of which could be called her soul, seemed to be accelerating at tremendous speed through what could only be described as a portal from one place to another.


~Cheryl Dolby~

Below is the method I used to create this piece. She is for sale and priced at $400. Natually, I will take plenty of pictures of her so that I can use in my quilting, journals and other artwork. Please email me if you are interested in her and we can go from there. Dimensions are: 22w x 28h x 1 1/2" deep. I take all credit cards, checks and Paypal.

Cutting aluminum foil for orbs seen throughout painting, rough in of face

Attached laces and other textured fabric and paper for background

I used oils for face and background paints are acrylic

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Friday, October 14, 2011

OIL MOSAIC COLLAGE


OIL MOSAIC COLLAGE

Oil mosaic collage

I realize that the title could make you think there should be a comma in-between each medium listed in my title of this post but it really is a description of a new method I have invented.

Close-up of face

Method:
I painted a face onto a wooden board I happened to have in my studio. I used the Renaissance oil method. Next, I collaged mosaic tiles onto the surface, giving the piece a rustic, yet rich look.

Close-up of tiles added

I just love the way she looks as part of this chair

She is not for sale at this time but I’m working on one I call “The Crone” that I will be posting soon.

The Crone

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