Oil Paintings

Painting of the Week: Dad and Phyllis

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Here is my completed oil painting of the week. This work features a portrait of my dad and his first wife, Phyllis when they were newly married in the early 1950s. It is based on an old black and white photograph that I found when I was cleaning out my dad’s house while he was in the Assisted Living facility back in 2011. I used the photo as a jumping off point for the composition and drawing but used my imagination when choosing the color palette, to create a color harmony of complementary colors of orange and blue, and yellow and violet. My painting is based on a series of oil paintings that I completed about my father’s life, based on family photos from different times in his life from childhood to young adult, to older adult to help process my grief during his series of strokes and hospitalization. I found that painting could provide a safe refuge for me when most days were uncertain and chaotic as I waited to get text messages, emails or phone updates on my dad’s health from family members, and tried to “keep it together” so I could get on with my daily life activities, like cooking, cleaning, going to work, and just getting out of bed every morning. The painting, Dad and Phyllis, are available for sale on my Etsy page: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav. Dad and Phyllis

Title: Dad and Phyllis

Medium: Oil on Canvas Panel

Size: 9 x 12 inches

Item has been custom framed so it’s ready to hang on your wall!

Abraham Lincoln Portrait: Available for Sale on Etsy

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Hello Friends,

As promised, I am posting a new painting every week that will be available for purchase on my Etsy shop,  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav. Here is a portrait that I started a few years ago, back in 2012 to be exact. However, a few weeks ago I looked at the painting and I felt it could use some touches of thicker paint to add interest to the painting, which had been painted fairly thinly at the time.  I also toned the background down to a blue-gray color so it wouldn’t compete with the portrait of Abe Lincoln.This is the finished result, from left to right. Thanks for looking!

Abraham Lincoln Portrait (Before)
Abraham Lincoln Portrait (After)

Abraham Lincoln Paintings (for sale)

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Hello Friends,

I have added two new portraits I made of Abraham Lincoln, my favorite United States President to my Etsy Shop at https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/ArtofSchmidt. These two paintings are pictured below. I was inspired to create these pieces by a day trip to Gettysburg, PA several years ago, when I happened upon a gallery owned by Gettysburg, Pennsylvania artist, Wendy Allen. Wendy Allen has dedicated many years of her life to capturing the likeness of Abraham Lincoln in a variety of fun and colorful incarnations from Andy Warhol pop art inspired to the tonal art of Pablo Picasso. Also, because Lincoln is one of my favorite Presidents, I knew I wanted to capture him on canvas.

He is an inspirational figure to me for so many reasons and he never let any obstacles stand in his way. Although he had a limited formal education and very little encouragement from his father to discover his potential and unique talents, he went on to achieve the American dream we all aspire to achieve. His step mother, Sarah Bush,  provided emotional support, and books, such as the Bible, Aesop’s Fables, The Pilgrim’s Progress, and Lessons in Elocution, to help Abe with his self-guided education. It just goes to show what can happen when someone believes in you, and you believe them!

In the meantime, I am also working on some acrylic paintings of Civil War Soldiers in watercolor and acrylic. I will be posting progress photos of these paintings this week. Stay tuned!

Abraham Lincoln portrait (with green)
Abraham Lincoln portrait (with purple)

Work in Progress: Frederick Coffee Company Art Show

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Hello Friends,

Here are some progress photos of the small landscape paintings I have been working on in preparation for my art show at Frederick Coffee Company in Frederick, MD in October 2017. These paintings started out as acrylics, but I was unhappy with the result, so I painted over the acrylic with Winsor and Newton oil paints yesterday. Now I am much happier with the more vibrant colors that I achieved this second time around. I used some paint chips from Lowes paint center to help me decide what color scheme to use for these paintings and I tried to match the colors as closely as I could to the paint chip samples. It was a big help so that I didn’t get sucked into the photo references I used and was able to make these paintings my own. Thanks for stopping by!

Exhibit at the Frederick Coffee Company

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Frederick Coffee Co Exhibit
Photo of Jodie Schmidt’s oil paintings at the Frederick Coffee Company.
I (Jodie) am showing my artwork at the Frederick Coffee Company at 100 N East St., Frederick, MD 21701.  They will be up from February 1st to the 28th. They have coffee, food and live music, too.  All of  my oil paintings are for sale, unless otherwise marked. I also have art cards if the paintings are not in your budget.  They are going for $12 a pack.  For directions, menu or calendar of music events, go to their website, www.fredcoffeeco.com.

The Artists’ Gallery Box Show

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Jodie and I have each submitted our own pieces to The Artists’ Gallery 11th Annual Box Show and Silent Auction.  Opening reception is March 3rd, 5 – 9 pm.  They will be on display until March 31st, and bidding ends at 8 pm sharp on March 31st.  We will be donating 50% of the sales to the gallery.  They provided the 8″ x 8″ x 8″ wooden boxes, and we turned them into art.

The picture’s aren’t great, so I encourage you to see them in person if you can.  Jodie did five copies of master artworks, self-portraits of Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and Edgar Degas.

Copy of Master Artists' Self-Portraits
Copy of Master Artists’ Self-Portraits (SOLD)

Here is my sculpture, a jumping spider made with the box, river stones, steel wire and dried grape vines.

Jumping Spider
Jumping Spider (SOLD)