Portrait of Poet Carl Dennis

A while back I attended a poetry reading given by Pulitzer Prize winning American poet Carl Dennis, and I had the foresight to bring along a sketchbook. During the reading I was entranced by his emotive voice and body postures, so found myself taking the opportunity to capture the moment. I enjoyed the entire artistic experience.

   "Carl Dennis Poetry Reading" by Tree Pruitt

  For fun recently I used that sketch to paint this small portrait of the poet onto 5" x 7" canvas board, (signed as T. E. Pruitt), using Liquitex Artist Paints. I'm glad to show it to you and I hope you enjoyed your visit. Thanks!

*About Carl Dennis 

 

"Carl Dennis Poetry Reading" by Tree Pruitt © 2011. Contact the artist prior to ANY use.

 

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Whispering Buddha

 Yesterday, I sat before the easel with an empty little canvas panel to give brush strokes the freedom to create a design from within. It could have become anything it wanted, yet what my inner self chose to portray was a serene image of the Buddha; I like that just fine. The canvas size is just a wee 4" by 5".

Whispering Buddha, by Tree Pruitt

I began with a pale parchment colored acrylic paint in lazy crossed strokes with a half inch paintbrush. The design has no symmetry, with everything being slightly out of balance to add the feeling of motion when standing in front of the painting; This also expresses the spiritual concept of individual portions creating a balanced whole. I moved to using Titanium White paint, without wiping the brush, and picked up a tiny bit of Thalo Blue (blue shade) to allow natural mixing. Using smaller brushes, I added a tiny bit of Purple and acrylic gel medium for blending. Areas of acrylic paint that do not have gel medium added will drag and sort of pull on a brush loaded with straight acrylic paint. Adding a bit of the gel medium will make the paint slide over previous layers and more translucent, depending on the amount used. The slight shade of yellow to the Parchment color mixed well with Titanium White and the Thalo Blue to create a soft Blue-Green Turquoise for the deepest shadow areas. To play off of that Blue-Green, and add some more warmth, I used a touch of Cadmium Red for the bindi spot over the third eye, and softer still in the cheek bone shadows. Thick strokes of Titanium White add a further sense of motion and greater depth overall for a small painting that glow from all the way across the room.

It's been terribly difficult for me to capture the brightness of this painting in a photograph. This is one of those pieces that really does look better in person. Perhaps I'll try shooting again on a day with better light. I really enjoyed painting in these subtle tones though, so I will likely continue despite having a hard time showing them to you at best.

Visit my Fine Art store for this and other new paintings.

*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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Purple Poppies Painting Method

Purple Poppies is an original small floral painting from acrylic paint and watercolor pencil. Loosely rendered purple poppy flowers and buds, in various states of open, rest in a sunny flowing landscape created by carefully controlled drips and thick wet brush strokes of paint. The composition was first sketched in with watercolor pencils. For this method I prefer using Faber-Castell's Albrecht Durer pencils because of the smooth flowing texture of the lead, which is a bit softer than other brands, and the rich pigments; In particular, a certain blue and an orange will stain a canvas and won't rinse totally away with water washes. I apply heavy wet strokes of acrylic paint, allowing the brush to dig slightly into the watercolor under-drawing. Then added drops of water will naturally follow a path through the thick paint to the watercolor, creating drips that cut through layers while coloring the exposed canvas surface underneath. When thinned acrylic paint dries it can often look chalky, but it's easy to remedy the lifeless surface with a coat of acrylic varnish (I use Liquitex brands) which brings out a glossy richness. It's an exciting, fast paced way to paint that always yields results with character.

"Purple Poppies", 5"x 7" canvas panel board.

This somewhat rare flower was historically used in hallucinogenic rituals by the "Minoan" civilization on Crete and represents the Greek God Morpheus, overseer of visions and dreams.




*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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Contemporary Obama

When I finished this small portrait painting of the US President I wondered about the expressions it may reveal to individual viewers. Introspection aside, I enjoy painting and drawing faces in this Cubist sort of style because of the expressive tension it seems to offer. This new piece is painted in artist quality acrylics on a four inch by five inch canvas board. Warm, rich colors create the face while the ebony hair holds a touch of cool grey for a painting dynamic enough to speak out from a small size format. Signed as ,"Tree" in the lower right corner.

*The original painting is no longer available, but please check my links for print options.

 Geometric Cubism applied to a portrait of the United States President Barack Obama. Original 4" x 5" acrylic paint on unframed canvas board, by Tree Pruitt.


*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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Celtic Goddess Epona

The goddess Epona is particularly a goddess of fertility, but is well known as a loving protector of horses, donkeys, and other animals. She is also a goddess of sleep, dreams, hope, ambition, and is helpful in manifesting dreams into reality. Epona is known as a good protector when venturing on a new path in life and indeed the leader of the human soul in the after-life ride. Although originally a Celtic goddess, she was accepted by the Romans and eventually incorporated into the Imperial cult by being invoked on behalf of the Emperor, as Epona Augusta or Epona Regina.



Celtic Goddess Epona Mini Statue Sculpture

I've recently finished making this miniature statue of Epona, depicted sitting side-saddle on a horse. It's an original design based upon an authentic ancient relic, sized at a wee 1 5/8" tall. It's sculpted in Paperclay® modeling material, which is a great product that dries very hard. I glazed it with a wash of thinned acrylic paint and sealed it with several layers of durable clear varathane varnish. The colors are the natural cream beige of the clay and brown umber.

 It's a one of a kind. Check store links for availability.

*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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Dance with the Moon ACEO Painting Series

I've been enjoying painting a series of ACEO's (miniature art cards) based upon the theme of dancing naked in the moonlight. One of the first things new neighbors will ask upon learning that I'm a Pagan is, "Are you gonna dance around naked under the Full Moon"? I generally reply with a chuckle, and explain that not all Pagans or Wiccans skip around nude (though I might) and usually don't do it at all in open suburban backyards. Each time the question is posed I get the sense that folks might wish -- just a little bit -- that they could be so open as to dance naked with the Moon, so I began this series of quick little paintings in honor of letting that wild spirit break free!

Shown above is card #1 Dance with the Moon, which features a long haired woman stretched back in motion. She's shaping energy for magic between her hands, while a naked branched tree watches from a hill in the landscape background. The painting is almost abstract in style, with thick brush stroke texture, which lends to the sense of motion in dance. Each in the series will have a similar style with a dancing figure, the Full Moon, and may or may not have a tree in the scene. Each painting should stand well alone as an individual, but a group together would create a coven of dancers in motion; should be cool!

I'll be adding card #1 to my fine art store soon for purchase. Each card is made with acrylic paint on quality Strathmore water color paper. They'll come with a clear protective sleeve and also a black edge top loader frame. I hope visitors enjoyed viewing this peek at the first Dance With The Moon painting and will come back again to see the next two cards in the series.





*Original art images ©Tree Pruitt, unless otherwise indicated. Contact the artist prior to ANY use or for purchase information.

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