New Artworks: Painting Across Age
This is the August 2023 Amy the Artist Email Newsletter. Sign up here to receive this in your inbox.
Summer is for biking woodland trails, harvesting the garden, bathing in the aqua of secret Floridian beaches, drinking violet cocktails, and impressing festival crowds with new hula hoop tricks. It's peak extrovert season and as a solar baby, it's hard for me to sit alone in my art studio during my favorite time of year.
I did manage to finish 2 art commissions and finally sit down to write this newsletter to you.
Saint André Bessette
oil on wood panel
12" x 16"
August 2023
My commissioner is related to Saint André Bessette and shares his last name. A Catholic saint, Saint Bessette was born in Quebec on August 9, 1845. Many people experienced physical healings after praying with him. "I do not cure," he said again and again. "Saint Joseph cures." He was deeply devoted to Saint Joseph, and he eventually needed four secretaries to help him respond to the 80,000 letters he received each year. He became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal."
The second commission I completed this summer is a small painting of my dear friend's baby son:
"Noah"
oil on wood panel
5" x 7"
June 2023
Painting the young is a lot harder than painting the old. There is less information on the face of a baby - the cheeks are smooth, the forehead round and high. A baby's features are unpronounced. Life has yet to shape their individual character. They're soft, fleshy little balls of potential!
Painting older people is a lot easier. The face of the elderly is etched with wrinkles, giving an artist many points of reference to work with. A bumpy nose, a laugh line, or bushy, expressive eyebrows reveal character. An older person's appearance has been forged by the life they have lived. The face becomes a record of a person's existence, of their mannerisms and unique persona.
I re-did the painting of Noah twice, while the painting of Saint Bessette seemed to flow out of me.
I enjoy the challenge of painting both the young and the old
You can find art prints of my paintings in my online shop. Use the code ART to receive 10% off any purchase!
I have several painting commission slots open for this fall. Find my rates and request a commission here.
If nothing in my shop tickles your fancy right now or you don't have a commission idea, I always appreciate donations to support my work via Buy Me A Coffee.
To summer,
Amy the Artist