Header, Cheryl White Art,

Author: Cheryl White

Oil Painting

A Study of Springtime by Claude Monet

Completing studies of paintings from favorite master artists is an excellent practice.

I have not done this for several years but is such a wonderful exercise. I plan on doing more of these soon. The benefit of doing this every so often is that the artist has already set the composition and chosen the subject matter which are very time-consuming steps. I try to follow that as closely as possible when I do a study and imitate the same color palette as much as I can. Then, I let go and have fun. It’s not important to stress over every brush stroke and detail because I’m not doing this to sell it and the goal is not an identical copy. The process of doing this does teach me so much and the experience is learning and growth as an artist.

Monet’s painting is pictured below.

Springtime by Claude Monet, 1886 26″ x 32″ Oil on Canvas Fitzwilliam Museum (University of Cambridge), Cambridge, UK

My copy of his painting is pictured below.

I first tried this with acrylic paint in 2016 and just did this same painting again with oil paint this week. I even found a fun frame for it from a local thrift store to set it off. It’s going in my laundry room which I just had painted pale pink!

study of Monet's painting called springtime, 16"x10" Oil on canvas

Study of Monet’s Springtime by Cheryl Harris White 16″x20″, oil on canvas, framed.

I used my own style for the brushstrokes and painted as loosely and freely as possible. I love the two women reading together in light. They are surrounded by color and life which is something I love to celebrate. It’s not exact…It’s not identical…but it is beautiful to me. That’s why I love it.

What I learned from completing this study.

I can get a reasonable likeness of a painting and feel the pressure or constraint of having to make it perfectly identical to the original.

Freedom comes from painting similar to the painting I’m copying, but not exactly like it. This type of painting loosens the flow of creativity I have within me and it is enjoyable.

Ultramarine Blue and Yellow Ochre are my hero colors. They add such richness and depth.

I like painting hats.

Palate Knife Oil Painting

Inspiration from Psalm 23:1 for Grazing Sheep Painting

Sheep in pasture painting, oil on canvas, paintonmywalls, cherylwhiteart, art, artist, paint, painting sheep grazing
Grazing Sheep, 18″x18″, oil on canvas, $125.00

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalm 23:1-3

David was a shepherd. As a boy, he cared for sheep and kept them safe, fed, sheltered, and together. He led them where he knew fresh grass and water would be and fought off their enemies for them. When they were injured he cared for them. When they were lost, he found them. However, years later when he wrote this psalm, he was the one in need of care, protection, and safety. He was comparing his relationship to God in this Psalm. This time, he was the sheep and he is acknowledging that God is his Shepherd. At a time in his life when there was not anything peaceful, he wrote this. What a beautiful example of a heart that is completely dependent on and trusting in God our Heavenly Father. He was this gentle, safe Shepherd for David and He is that for me too.

A heart in a posture of peace is a choice. It’s a place of safety and flourishing and rest and I’ve found myself in that place. Thinking about this was the inspiration for this painting. I think I’ll need to paint more of these and if I do they will be here on my Art For Sale page. Here’s a one-minute video of the process. Enjoy!

Palate Knife Oil Painting

Turtle Lake Sunset

Inspiration

Turtle Lake Sunset was one of my favorite paintings in this series so far. I loved celebrating the beauty and color of nature during this journey. The inspiration for this painting came from this photo. We were on a long evening boat ride and witnessed this stunning sunset. I just took this photo with my iPhone and couldn’t believe how well it turned out.

who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

Psalm 65:7-8

The Painting

Sunset Painting, Paintonmywalls, cherylwhiteart, oil, oil painting, sunset
Turtle Lake Sunset, 12″x24″ oil on canvas, $150.00

The Process

Here’s a quick one-minute video showing the process I followed when painting it.

Palate Knife Oil Painting

A Meadow for Patra

The Inspiration

The inspiration for this painting came from a photo I came across online of this beautiful field full of flowers. It seemed crisp and clean and sunny and the perfect subject for a painting.

The Palette

For this one, I used my typical palette, Ultramarine, Alizarin, Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, and Cadmium Yellow but I left out the Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna and added in Rose Red for the lovely pinks.

The Painting

This is Patra’s Meadow, 30″ x 24″done in oil with a palette knife on gallery-wrapped canvas. After working on small pieces lately, it was so fun to explore this larger canvas and fill it with color.

Patra's Meadow_Paintonmywalls_cherylwhiteart_Oil_oil painting_Palette knife_meadow
Patra’s Meadow 30×24 in. Oil on Canvas with a palette knife

The Peace

Last week I had the opportunity to witness a wedding in a beautiful field with mountains in the back ground. The air was perfect. It was like music my lungs could breath and I remember noticing the complete peace I experienced there waiting for the ceremony to begin. There was nothing lacking, nothing needed, no pressure… just peace. I have tried to create space in my life for that to remain the posture of my heart lately and when it happened, I was still surprised. This passage from Matthew puts peace in perfect perspective.

Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

When I came home from that trip, I was inspired to finish this painting.

Check out more landscapes here! Enjoy! Let me know what inspires you?

Palate Knife Oil Painting

Quick Limited Palette Demo

Here is a quick demo using a limited palette of six tubes of paint.

This is to show that while the color mixing demonstrations in the previous three posts (Mixing Greens, Mixing Purples, Mixing Oranges) are all great practice exercises, we don’t really need all those colors to complete one painting. The colors in this demo are Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White, Ultramarine, Raw Sienna, and Alizarin Crimson.

Limited Palette Demo

Here’s the Result

I just did this very quickly on an 8×10″ canvas pad with oil as a quick study. I like the hazy look that happened by adding some pinks into the sky and lots of yellow light in the distance.

Quick Landscape with a limited palette on canvas paper pad. 8×10 inches

Give it a try!

I’d love to hear if you try this or are interested in classes like this in the future. If you are new to oil painting, check out my post on paint supplies here.

Classes

You Can’t Go Wrong with Mixing Orange

Mixing Orange Demo

When it comes to mixing oil colors for orange, there are so many beautiful combinations of reds and yellows. It is pretty hard to go wrong. Here is a quick one-minute demo showing the combinations you can get with Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Red, and Rose Red.

The Alizarin Red and Rose Red combinations look pretty similar. Where you will see the difference is later on if you add white to the mix. Enjoy the Demo and when you are done, try it! You will have the perfect palette for a gorgeous sunset painting.

Colors Lean

Leaning colors was really important when mixing purples. However, with oranges, you really can’t go wrong. If you do end up with too bright or “loud” of an orange, you can always dip into the complementary color which would be cerulean blue to dull it a bit. Cerulean is going to grey down your orange, but in the mixing greens demo, it is a star!

The Color Wheel

Most color wheels you buy from art supply stores are not going to have the actual tube paint names on them. They are helpful for understanding color theory. However, I prefer to just keep this “leaning colors” idea in my head while I am painting.

If you like the color wheel above, I actually got it for free in this disposable paint palette pad! I purchase the Grey Matters Paper Palette pads to mix my paint on and believe it or not this color wheel is on the inside cover of the pad. These are a great size for mixing paint on and toned grey to help you get the correct value in your mixes. I love the convenience of just being able to throw away my page from the pad when I am finished. Or, if I’m not finished, I can fold it up into a ziplock bag and save it in my refrigerator until I’m ready to paint the next day. You can find these at your favorite art supply store or in the link above on Amazon. It’s a great product with the perfect color tool included.

For more posts about classes or how to create art click the Classes tab at the top of the page. Be sure to subscribe and follow for more color-mixing demos coming soon!

Classes

How to Mix Vivid Purples

Mixing Purples Demo

Red and Blue make purple….or do they? Do they always? Check out this quick one-minute demo below to find out. It shows the vivid purples resulting from mixing Ultramarine Blue with either Alizarine Crimson or Rose Red. And, (spoiler alert) it also shows the dull muddy color that results from combining Cadmium Red with Cerulean Blue.

Colors Lean

Ultramarine leans toward red on the color wheel and Cerulean leans closer to green. Alizarin Crimson leans toward blue and Cadmium Red leans away toward orange. Both Cadmium Red and Cerulean have a bit of yellow in them. On the color wheel below, it shows that yellow is complementary (or opposite) to Purple or Violet. Complementary colors tend to subdue or dull the mix. There are times in a painting this is needed, but if you are trying to get a vivid, deep, vibrant purple, you are better off with Alizarin and Ultramarine.

color wheel

Most color wheels you buy from art supply stores are not going to have the actual tube paint names on them. They are helpful for understanding color theory. However, I prefer to just keep this “leaning colors” idea in my head while I am painting.

If you like the color wheel above, I actually got it for free in this disposable paint palette pad! I purchase the Grey Matters Paper Palette pads to mix my paint on and believe it or not this color wheel is on the inside cover of the pad. These are a great size for mixing paint on and toned grey to help you get the correct value in your mixes. I love the convenience of just being able to throw away my page from the pad when I am finished. Or, if I’m not finished, I can fold it up into a ziplock bag and save it in my refrigerator until I’m ready to paint the next day. You can find these at your favorite art supply store or in the link above on Amazon. It’s a great product with the perfect color tool included.

If you liked this, check out How to Mix A Variety of Greens.

Palate Knife Oil Painting

How to Mix A Variety of Greens

Mixing Greens Demo

We all know that yellow and blue make green. But what type of green you want determines which blues and yellows you will start with. The demo in the video below is done with oil paints, but it would hold true for acrylics as well. In this video, I show the different greens possible using 5 paint colors: Cerulean Blue and Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue, and Lemon Yellow.

Leaning Colors

That is not a typo. I’m not talking about “learning” colors, but “leaning” colors. If you visualize a color wheel, there are several blues, several yellows, and several reds and each of them leans a little bit more to the analogous color or the color next to them. In the video, I mention that some blues will lean more toward either purple or green. Those are the two colors adjacent to blue on the color wheel. If I want a very vivid pure green, I’m going to select a blue and a yellow that lean toward green. If I want more of a dull green, like olive, I’m going to select a yellow and or a blue that leans away from green. The reason for this is that they will have more red in them which is a complementary ( or opposite ) color. In the color wheel below, the complementary color combinations are Red and Green; Cadmium Yellow and Violet; Orange and Pthalo Blue; Yellowish Green and Magenta. If I have a tube of Ultramarine Blue and a tube of Cerulean Blue and I want to make a vivid pure green with Lemon Yellow, I’m going to choose the blue with the most green in it…or the blue that leans more toward green which is the Cerulean. However, if I’m trying to make a dull more olive green, I’ll go with the Ultramarine. This is because the Ultramarine has more red in it and leans in that direction instead.

Out of the colors in the video demo above, Cerulean Blue and Lemon Yellow both lean toward green. Ultramarine Blue leans in the opposite direction toward Violet. Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue leans in the opposite direction toward Orange. Yellow Ochre leans toward Deep Orange or Brown away from green as well. If I am painting and I want a duller or olive or almost brown-green, I’ll use blue and yellows that lean away from the green. If I want a vivid, pure green, I’ll use colors that lean toward it.

color wheel

What if I want a beautiful vivid purple? Which tube of blue leans more toward red? The ultramarine. I’ll cover that in a different post.

The Color Wheel

Most color wheels you buy from art supply stores are not going to have the actual tube paint names on them. They are helpful for understanding color theory. However, I prefer to just keep this “leaning colors” idea in my head while I am painting.

If you like the color wheel above, I actually got it for free in this disposable paint palette pad! I purchase the Grey Matters Paper Palette pads to mix my paint on and believe it or not this color wheel is on the inside cover of the pad. These are a great size for mixing paint on and toned grey to help you get the correct value in your mixes. I love the convenience of just being able to throw away my page from the pad when I am finished. Or, if I’m not finished, I can fold it up into a ziplock bag and save it in my refrigerator until I’m ready to paint the next day. You can find these at your favorite art supply store or in the link above on Amazon. It’s a great product with the perfect color tool included.

For more posts about classes or how to create art click the Classes tab at the top of the page. Be sure to subscribe and follow for more color-mixing demos coming soon!

Oil Painting

Cool Color Palette Cabin At Turtle Lake Painting

The Place

It’s hard to decide which is more fun, visiting our friend’s cabin at Turtle Lake or painting it.

We love getting out of the Texas heat and driving up to visit them. The sweet fellowship, cooling lake water, excellent fresh-caught fish, and pine-scented air set the perfect backdrop for rest, relaxation, and renewal. There is no road to this cabin. You can only get there by boat. There is no internet or wifi or social media. There is a TV, but for some reason, while we are there, there’s no time to watch it. It is truly a place of rest. There are no schedules, stress, distress, deadlines, fear, hurry, worry, or anxious hearts. Clocks and calendars become insignificant as I align my internal rhythm with the rising and setting of the sun each glorious day. Just being there embodies the verse I love so much from the Psalms below.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.

Psalm 23:1-2
Photo, cabin, Turtle Lake

The Painting

For this small painting, I stayed with a cool color palette. It was done in oil paint on a small 11″x14″ canvas board in a very loose style. I love the way the deep darks captured the shady serenity of this spot. As I moved towards the shore, I warmed up the greens a bit.

Cabin At Turtle Lake, Oil painting, Paintonmywalls, CherylWhiteArt, Art
Cabin At Turtle Lake, 11×14 inches, Oil on Canvas Board, $75.00

This painting and others in this series are for sale on my Art Gallery Page! Check it out!

The Process

The colors in my palette this time were Alizarine Crimson, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, Lemmon Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Hue, and Titanium White. I started out painting the darkest shapes first and mixed the lighter colors into the top layers.

Palate Knife Oil Painting

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake Inspiration

Turtle Lake is in Northern Minnesota and summer visits there always include lots of fishing. This photo below is of one of our friend’s favorite fishing spots. Its shady bank is a haven for fish and the water’s surface is littered with lily pads. I didn’t catch fish, but I did catch the perfect inspiration for a lovely lily pad painting.

For the actual painting, I zoomed in to just focus on the lily pads for this one. This is done on an 11″ by 14″ canvas board. The palette included Blue Grey, Ultramarine Blue, Rose Red, Burnt Umber, Titanium White, Veridian, Yellow Green, Hansa Yellow, and Cadmium Yellow Hue.

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake Process

My process starts with mixing the darkest paint first and laying that layer down very thin, As I build color, each layer I add gets thicker. I begin painting with a bristle brush and toward the end of the painting am applying the paint with a palette knife. Enjoy this video of the process below and I hope you catch a little inspiration for yourself as well.

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake Painting

Here is the end result. Check out my Art for Sale page for more available artwork and contact me if you are interested in buying this one.

Lily Pads on Turtle Lake, 11"x14" on canvas board, framed. $100.00
Lily Pads on Turtle Lake, 11″x14″ on canvas board, framed. $100.00