Girl In Red Dress on La Rambla

I went to Spain once.  I loved the culture, the people and the paella! I came back with a paella pan, which is awesome by the way, and a lot of photos. My husband and I soaked in a lot of culture, art, architecture and history while we were  there, but my favorite days were when we walked down La Rambla.  The leaves on the trees danced with the pale blue sky and their shadows on the patterned walk way below and washed everything in shady, sparkling, dappled light.  My favorite spot for people watching and my inspiration for the oil painting posted here; Girl In Red Dress on La Rambla

Girl In Red Dress on La Rambla by Cheryl Harris White

Oil on canvas

24" X 36"
$300.00

Spontaneous Trees I and II on display now at the MCL Grand in Lewisville

Theses two bright square paintings were a successful experiment I did with india inks. The tree shapes and blue background were done by covering the canvas with water and india inks and allowing them to become whatever shapes they wanted.  After it was dry, I saw trees... and developed their forms with acrylic paint.  I like the abstract look of the branches and trunks in front of the tree shape instead of up inside the trees, partially hidden.  They are the star of the show.  These are currently on display in the the north wind of the MCL Grand in Lewisville.  Enjoy!

Spontaneous Trees II
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic and India Ink
20" x 20"
$150.00

Spontaneous Trees I
by Cheryl Harris White
Acrylic and India Ink
20" x 20"
$150.00

10,000 hours of painting

I am currently reading an interesting book about success.  One could apply it to business, or sports, or art, or anything you want to be good at really.  The name of the book is Outliers by Malcom Gladwell and it is based on the premise that to be really successful at any one thing, it takes practicing it 10,000 hours.   It's daunting to imagine painting for 10,000 hours.  I often feel robbed of my art time, now that I have to work 40 hours a week.  There was a season in my life when I only worked part time and I had so many more hours in my week to spend painting.  But even working full time, I can still find precious art hours to invest each week.  My plan is to just be thankful for the hours I have already spent painting, and build from there without stressing about it. Even if I start on a canvas and gesso the whole thing over to start again, according to this book, it is time never wasted.  The hours were spent practicing... so they do matter.  They make a difference, and they count.  So I continue to paint. 

“Practice isn't the thing you do when you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.” 
― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

Courtney's Tree Collage Video

A Tree For Courtney
Acrylic Collage
3' x 4'
by Cheryl Harris White

My daughter wanted a large collage of a tree and one of her favorite poems by Robert Frost to decorate her bedroom.  She wanted it to be whimsical.  This video shows the steps as we progressed through the project.  I painted the background and the basic sketch of the tree and she chose words from magazines that she liked.  The words she chose were... 

"Learn,A fresh start, Brilliant, Friends, New, Sport, Bloom, Green, Original, Unleash, Fairy tale, Sweet, Fresh, Dream, Love, Fun, Together, Life, Imagine, Your moment, Hearts on Fire, Adored, Rhapsody, Real," and of course, the poem itself.  The tree is a collage of both scraps from magazine and dried acrylic paint.  This was the result. Enjoy!

All Together Now! Four Trees Series

Autumn, Spring, Summer, Winter (left to right) 
Four Trees Series
Four canvases 12" x  24"
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
by Cheryl Harris White
Not For Sale

Autumn Tree - Painting 4 of Four

Autumn Tree
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White


The words inspiring this tree are worthy, love, beautiful, color, believe.  Strong sturdy long lasting autumn words. I love the different colors of leaves I found for this one and all the red I found for the trunk. This one is my favorite one out of all four.  Which one is your favorite?

Summer Tree - Painting 3 of 4

Summer Tree
Acrylic Collage on Canvas
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White

For Summer Tree, the colors on the tree are much warmer at the top and cooler at the bottom.  The words of summer are... Magic, Experience, Home, Gift, Abundance, Design and True.  The dark purples and blues at the roots  invoke the feeling of laying in the shade of the tree on cool damp grass .   As your eye follows the branches upward toward the top, the crimson, red and hot pink leaves set the tree afire, glowing in a blaze of summer heat.

Spring Tree...Number 2 out of 4

Spring Tree
Acrylic Collage
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White

This is the second in a series of four pieces illustrating the seasons.  All four will be trees with the words that inspired my creativity worked into the roots and trunk.... Paint, Garden, Replenish, Everlasting, Journal, Understanding, Imagination, Artistry, Transformational, Creating, Tree, A symphony you can see... these are the words and phrases that really spoke to me about spring.  

The next one will be Summer... and I can't wait to share it with you.  

Winter Tree ... One of Four

"Winter Tree"
Acrylic and Paper Collage on Canvas
12" x 24"
by Cheryl Harris White
Not For Sale


This piece is one of a set of four I just started.  It was also a specific answer to a prayer for inspiration.  I combined words and colors from magazines along with acrylic paint to create this one.

"Of all the moments we gather in our lives, Those we cherish are the moments shared." is on one of the roots.  Wonder, Color, Lush are on the others.  Spreading up the trunk are the words Kindred Spirits and Understanding.  I liked the idea these concepts are the foundation of something lasting and beautiful and that is what I tried to re create in this painting.

Stay tuned for the next three.  Each one will illustrate a different season.

June Forest Progression DAY FIVE

More warmth...I wanted it to feel like the sun is shining...

This was my color palate for today's work
deep yellow, raw sienna, blue violet, and white

I used small brushes and gave the tree edges some shadow, lines and texture. You have to look close to see the changes I made today, but they do make a difference. Almost done.

June Forest Progression Day 5

Two Sisters

Two Sisters
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 36"

This painting is based off the same pattern as Mary Did You Know that I had painted over  from the February 11th post but for this one I used fast long brush strokes and bold colors.  The older sister's (my) hair is also like a hand placed on her younger sister's (Char's) face.  This was inspired by my relationship with my younger sister Charlotte.  While painting this, I thought about all we had both been through together and this quote by Benjamin Disraeli.


Sweet is the voice of a sister in the season of sorrow. 
- Benjamin Disraeli

After Monet

In honor of the three daffodils that bloomed at my house today... I'm posting this painting.  It was my first attempt at a study of Monet's Spring.  I splashed this out about 5 years ago and I had so much fun with it.  

I love how the tree is bending over the girls like a shelter and everything fresh and new. The whole world seems so be bursting forth with new life, the trees…the grass and even the water is exploding with spring color.  And right there in the middle of all the excitement, two girls sit sharing a quite moment.  


I LOVE quiet moments... and there's nothing better than having a friend to share one with.

After Monet
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 36"
Not Available

My Matisse Friend

After Matisse
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 36"
Not Available

A friend of mine really loves Matisse...Our appreciation  of  art is just one of many things she and I have in common... but in my heart, I call her my "Matisse" friend because we went to see the Matisse exhibit  together at the Dallas Museum of Art when it came in town. 


This is a study I did of one of his paintings.  The particular painting by Matisse is called, "Odalisque with Yellow Persian Robe and Anemones" and is exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art . 


My version of it (left) is called "After Matisse " and is "exhibited" at my "Matisse friend's " house.  I gave it to her as a gift and every time I look at this picture of it, I am reminded of a moment when God's grace and forgiveness triumphed in our relationship. 


Many months after our museum day,  in a moment of weakness, she betrayed me.  It's not important what she did really . . . just that my trust had been broken and what happened between us hurt me very deeply in a very public way.  She was sincerely repentant when she realized what she had done, and wrote me the most beautiful letter of apology.  But at this point, the damage was done, and there was nothing either of us could do about it. I, however, had a choice...  I could forgive or not forgive, it was up to me.  I had been wronged publicly and I alone had the job of deciding whether or not to extend forgiveness. 


Forgiving wouldn't make what she did less wrong.  Not forgiving would not have made me more right. So why bother? Why not just write her off as a lost friend and move on?  I was entitled to be bitter and angry after all that had happened right? But,  I did choose to forgive. It was so humbling and hard, but when I did so, we shared a wonderful moment of reconciliation.  We hugged each other and we were both crying happy tears... We were friends again.  I know that it was not me who forgave her, it was God through me.  He alone enabled me to forgive graciously and freely without condition or requirement.  This is what GRACE is.  It is the same kind of forgiveness God extends to us.  


I didn't forgive because my friend was really sorry or sincere.  I didn't forgive because she is an excellent writer and her letter was so beautiful.  I didn't forgive because she liked my painting or we had things in common or even because she deserved it. None of those reasons mattered.  The reason I forgave, is because Christ chose to die on the cross to pay for my sins and HE forgave ME of so much more.  Because I had accepted His unconditional love and forgiveness when I didn't deserve it, I was able to extend it to someone else when they did not deserve it.  It was such an honor and a privilege to be able to do that. So . . . when I look at this painting, I remember the joy of our reconciliation day and I am grateful for "my Matisse friend."

Everyone Has A Story...Artists Just Tell Theirs With PAINT.

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), modern Spanish artist.


I was asked if I only paint stories from the Bible.  The answer is no, but I paint what is interesting to me and what I feel passionate about.  This really all began when I was painting murals for children's theater, but because God has been working on me and is living in me, that is what comes out.  It's all part of my story.  


I'm getting close to the end of my "stained glass window style paintings"...This one was "The Holy Family."  I say WAS because I have to confess, I painted over this one also. 

The Holy Family
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 48"
Not Available

Coming up soon, I'll start posting some studies I've done of different artists. 

Loaves and Fishes Paintings

Matthew 14:13-21 

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹⁵ As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

¹⁶ Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he said. ¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹ The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Provision
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 48" x 36"
Sold

I did two paintings with this theme, and both of them are sold...This one with more blues in the background to the Crawfords and another with more greens to the Dollacks.  I continued working with lines coming on and off the canvas and using a palate knife.  At the center, the larger than life figure shows Christ holding up the 5 loaves and 2 fish before feeding the thousands of people who had come to hear His teaching.  There are 12 disciples each holding up baskets of food that were still left after everyone had eaten.  This is important, because it reminds me that God's provision was bountiful, above and beyond their expectations.  

Loaves and Fishes on Green

by Cheryl White

Acrylic on Canvas 48" x 36"

Sold

I found this to be true in my own life as well when my husband was on staff with Leaders Shaping Leaders.  He was working for a non profit mission agency and 100% of his salary came from donated financial giving.  We had two small children and it was a huge leap of faith to really trust that God could and would meet our needs through those years.  I am an extremely organized, detail oriented planner, so to trust our future to God in this situation was HUGE to me.  God would have to be larger than life in order to provide for our family's needs...and guess what? He was...He is...and He did...above and beyond what we expected.

The Original Prodigal

About this same time, I attended  LEAD training, an amazing training conference at the Howard Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership at DTS. The four main goals of this week long training were to:

• Affirm God's design and work in your life
• Discover or clarify your life dream
• Identify and address core hindrances
• Develop a game plan to facilitate fulfillment of your life dream

Basically, what I got out of this week was that, God would not have put this talent in me or this insatiable desire to create and be creative, if He didn't want me to do something with it.  Yes, it was difficult at times, and frustrating when I failed, but I could and should keep working at it.  The workshop leaders there strongly encouraged me to continue to pursue painting and see where it lead.  The result was this painting.

Original Prodigal
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas 24" x 36"
Not Available

I decided to try this same palate knife technique again with the theme of the Prodigal Son.  I made the father figure in yellow and formed his arms in a circle hugging his son, bent over in repentance and humbled by his fathers's unconditional love and forgiveness. I wanted it to look kind of like a stained glass window.

I love this theme because this story is at the core of how I myself relate to God.  I am continually humbled and amazed by the unconditional forgiveness extended to me no matter how hard I fall or or deep I plunge into my own prideful indulgence.  This is my first of many attempts at this theme and it turned out better than the last one which was somewhat encouraging.  I'll show you more Prodigal Son paintings later and more that look like stained glass as well.

Also at this time, I began to search for a painting mentor here in the area and became involved with VAL (Visual Art League).  I met some very talented artists and began learning as much as I could.  I actually brought this painting to my first VAL meeting and was so encouraged by that experience.  I loved having a group of skilled and experienced artists to meet with and learn from.  More to come.

Guest Bathroom Status

"Guidance"
by Wendy White

While painting theater scenery and sets, I was encouraged by my sister-in-law Wendy White, an amazing artist in Vail,Colorado to try some acrylic pieces, painting with just a palate knife. She is such an inspiration to me and so gifted. Wendy's work can be seen at http://wendywhitestudio.com/ . She gave me this painting to the right in 2005 titled, "Guidance" inspired by Isaiah 58:11.  On the back she wrote, "And the Lord will continually guide you...And you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."  It is hanging  on the first wall you see when you enter my house, in my living room.


My first attempt at this type of painting was the Mary Did You Know painting posted previously (2 days back).  I tried making the lines come onto the canvas from one direction, do something or become part of the picture, and go off in another.  I liked the style, and splattering and layering the colors was a lot of fun. I wasn't happy with the composition though, and the small mistakes began to really bother me.  If you look at it long enough, you will see the crooked lines and maybe notice some things wrong with it, and maybe you won't, but the problems I saw with the lines really nagged at me.  I went ahead and hung it up in my guest bathroom, but knew someday I would need to go back and fix it.

My guest bathroom is the room in my house where I hang paintings that I am not really thrilled about.  You will never see one of Wendy's paintings in there, that's for sure. Those walls are reserved for pieces I don't want to look at every day. A painting with guest bathroom status is kind of like a "time out" for art work.  If you ever come to visit, and need to use the bathroom, you'll have to look at them while you are in there...and I'm so sorry.  Right now there are 3 paintings hanging in there that have been demoted to the walls of the guest bathroom, and their future is very uncertain.  Anyway, Mary Did You Know hung in there for about a year or more. One day I was so frustrated with a few things I kept noticing in the painting, that I just painted over the entire thing! Yes, I did, and now it's gone forever except for the photo of it.


I began to wonder if I should just stick to painting scenery.

Theater Scenery - Actors Conservatory

The Actors Conservatory Theater in Lewisville is where my kids began acting. I painted sets there between 2006 and 2008 for their productions.  The backdrops were all between 9 and 12 ft high and approx 40 ft wide.  It was a huge undertaking before each show, to get the scene painted on time, but I really enjoyed covering the wall with a scene that would set the stage for each show.  I used ordinary interior flat house paint and a really tall ladder!  My favorite scene was Wind In The Willows, which is not in the movie, but photos are on the Theater Scenery page.  More info about the Actors Conservatory can be found at http://getintotheact.org/.  Credit for the large panoramic photos goes to Joyces Photography http://www.joycesphotography.com/  

Mary Did You Know

Mary Did You Know?
by Cheryl White
Acrylic on Canvas, 24" x 36"
No Longer Available

I painted this one next. Mary Did You Know?  This is Mary and Jesus obviously.  I'm a mother, and thinking about her life just amazes me.  This captures the moment Jesus would be telling her good bye before he left home and began his public ministry which would ultimately lead to His crucifixion. He knew the price of what was coming, but still chose to do it... because He loved us.  

I know this moment between them isn't written in the Bible, but I decided to paint my version of what it would look like if it did.  

I begin with paint on my walls.

I have paint on my walls. Everyone has paint on their walls, I suppose.  My home has walls painted several different colors and our front room is washed in a nice pale sunny yellow, but that's not the kind of paint I'm talking about here.  The yellow room is my studio where I set up an easel and just paint, large canvases with acrylic paint mostly.  The walls are full of paintings I've finished and partially finished and paintings done by other artists as well.  And, in the corner near my easel, there are splatters of color that did not make their way onto a canvas.  Green, blue and red little spots that eventually should  be covered up with the fresh sunny yellow to match the rest of the walls, someday. But for now, there is still paint on my wall. I've decided to leave it there because I like it. I see it and it says to me, "go ahead and paint some more...you already have paint on your wall. "  If I cleaned it up, it would seem like I'm not free to make a mess.  Not a good feeling for an artist. But, putting paint on a wall is a very good feeling.  My goal with this blog is to share that with you. Enjoy the paint on my walls.