Christmas cards
In 2009 I made our first Christmas card painting. I didn't paint much back then and this was a good excuse to practice at least once a year.
I thought it would be nice to share with you the ghosts of Christmas cards past;-)
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2009
My first painting depicts our house, painted on a 5"x7" piece of cardboard because that's what I had on hand. The painting is a bit gloomy and that's how I felt that year. I had a hard time adjusting to rural living and didn't deal well with cold and snow.
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2010
I painted our house again on a 9"x12" canvas, this time from a different angle. I worked mostly from photo's and made up the snow. We posed holding a broom which I changed into a tree. Here you can tell, hopefully, that I was a little happier. I still didn't paint much, which I think, shows.
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2011
This still life was painted on a 8"x10" canvas. In the ornament you can see our reflection. During that year, I painted a little more and I realized that I liked it more than I thought. This painting is very warm because I was excited about a possible new career in art! It was January 2012 when I made the decision to give painting a serious try.
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2012
This was a very exciting year as I'd been painting full time. I painted the 11"x14" Liberty street scene depicting some houses and the bank. I tried to capture and enhance the charm and Christmas spirit in town. I chose this scene because I'd been painting outdoors a lot that year and I came to actually enjoy painting outdoors in the snow and freezing cold too! How things can change!
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Finding a scene for a Christmas card painting can be challenging. In November, when I usually start thinking about the subject for the card, I'm just not feeling the Christmas spirit yet. Also we don't often have snow until or after Christmas. Last week we had one day of snow and I missed it! So I'm left to using photographs.
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For this year's card, I found a picture of our house in the snow from a different angle than I've painted in previous years. I like our cards to in some way represent us or where we are in life. I pulled up the shadow farther towards the house, inspired by paintings of artist Peter Fiore but also because I want to emphasize our current happiness (house is in full sun- promising but unclear view on the horizon).
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I blocked in the main shapes on an 9x12 gessoed board I had laying around. There are some light lines shining through of a different painting I attempted but that will be covered up.
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Working on the background and accentuating dark areas.
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Finishing the trees in the background and defining the light on the white pine.
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Putting some snow on the white pine, adding sunlight to the siding of the house.
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More pics will follow, unless it snows this weekend and I decide to do a different scene.
Will let you know when that happens!
What type of Christmas cards do you like?
Best regards, Bibi
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