When I have trouble thinking of blog ideas, I have a Word document list of about 50 blog ideas. Friday’s can be a bad blog writing day for me. Perhaps I am too excited or tired to be creative on Fridays. For this blog article, I am going to use blog idea #35 and write about a series of work I created. I created this art series my senior year of college. On the first day, my teacher announced that all artwork produced for the class had to have a connecting theme. I immediately decided to have all my art projects be about my grandfather who died several years before.
The Vikings
The Vikings
The first painting in my grandfather series is an oil and acrylic painting I called The Vikings. My grandfather was very proud of his family history. Being of English and Scottish descent, he was especially interested in the Vikings. I wanted to paint a profile of a Viking warrior but due to time restrictions, I had to come up with some modifications. Removing the warrior’s profile I added the fire style font in acrylics. The rest of the painting is in oils and the end result looks rather like a book cover or film poster.
The Woodworker
The Woodworker
The second painting in my series is an oil painting called The Woodworker. In addition to being an artist, my grandfather was also an amazing woodworker. He built cabinets, bookcases, chests, clocks, headboards, and more. For this painting, I decided to paint the hands of a woodworker using an old-fashioned plainer. At times, my grandfather did use hand tools in his work. The panting was somewhat tricky to complete. One struggle was to paint the metal fixture between the hands. I am still not sure the exact purpose of the fixture and think it might have been better to leave it out of the painting.
Franconia Notch
Franconia Notch
Taking a break from oil paint, my third item in the series is a drawing. My grandfather was a native of New Hampshire. One of his favorite places to visit in New Hampshire was Franconia Notch State Park. In the park, there is a flume (a channel with a stream running through it) that has a covered bridge at the top. This covered bridge was constructed by my grandfather’s father and a team of workers. During his life, my grandfather made an ink drawing of the flume’s covered bridge. I also decided to make a drawing of that same covered bridge. The drawing is my least favorite of the series but it was a good exercise in working in black and white.
Sunapee Morning
Sunapee Morning
My final painting of the series is my favorite. One unique requirement of this final painting is that it had to be panoramic. I decided to paint my panoramic in Photoshop with my Wacom pen and tablet. Lake Sunapee is one of the most popular lakes in New Hampshire. My grandfather spent time around Lake Sunapee as a youth. When he was struggling with the pain of cancer he stated that he would like to soak his feet in the cold water of a New Hampshire lake. I love this painting because it is such a peaceful scene. Just something that would cause relief to someone’s pain. Prints of this painting can be bought in a variety of sizes. If interested send me a message on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/kendylramseydesingandfineart/
I had the best time making this series of art pieces. Actually, it was not hard to make a group of paintings with a similar theme. I also consider it a bonus that these four pieces can be viewed as individual works of art. Let me know in the comments below if you enjoy these more personal blog articles. As always have an artful week!