Catoctin Park 1, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches, 2013, Jodie Schmidt.Catoctin Road at Sunrise, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches, 2013, Jodie Schmidt.
and followers,
Its been a while since I have posted since I have been waiting for some new news to share with you. My artwork will be displayed at the GWC Gallery for the month of October as part of a No Theme Show. Gloria is a new gallery owner who is working on helping new artists to have a space to exhibit their art. Come on down and visit! Here is a link to her website: https://www.gwc-artwork.com/. These are some of my oil paintings on display at the gallery. They feature scenes from beautiful Catoctin State Park, based on photos I took during the autumn. The paintings are custom framed with a beautiful wood frame, so they are all ready to hang on your wall!
I have been adding some of my new miniature oil paintings to my Etsy Shop at https://www.redbubble.com/people/jsjschmidt2017, and the reproductions are available at my Red Bubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/jsjschmidt2017. The original oil paintings include some of my favorite subjects, Canada Geese, and water lily gardens and most of them, measure about 4 x 4 inches. They are priced starting at $25.00 each and make a wonderful addition to your bookshelf, desk, bedside table, or cubicle. All of my paintings come with a small easel for easy display. The first photo here gives you an idea of the scale of some of my paintings. Thanks for stopping by!
I am working on a new series of art inspired by the artist trading cards movement in which artwork is created on a 2.5 x 3.5-inch canvas or paper substrate. I’m hopeful that working more often will help me to improve my painting skills and help me to jump start my creativity again. The paintings will be based on photos I have taken and drawings in my sketchbook, Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way, by Julia Orkin-Lewis. My new painting is called, Canada Goose trio and was painted with artist quality oil paints on cotton duck canvas. I started this painting several months ago but stopped when I got to a part I didn’t know how to finish. The painting was inspired by a trip I took to a favorite local park, called Hagerstown Community Park. There is an abundance of wildlife there, including Canada Geese, Swans, and Mallard Ducks. A large lake encircles the art gallery in front of the park, called the Washington County Museum of Art. This newest painting is now available on my Etsy site for sale at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt.
Canada Geese Trio, oil on canvas, 4 x 4 inches, Jodie Schmidt, 2018.
Here is a painting of two mute swans that I recently completed using oil paints, alkyd, and cotton duck canvas. Reproductions of this work are available on my Red Bubble website in the form of prints, i-phone cases, mugs, acrylic blocks, etc. Here is a link to the website; https://www.redbubble.com/people/jsjschmidt2017/works/30920335-perfect-pair-of-mute-of-swans?asc=u. I am working on getting the original post on my Etsy site, but it seems to be having technical difficulties today. I will try again tomorrow, and if it works, I will post a link here for anyone who is interested in purchasing it.
Have you ever heard the saying, that writers should write about what they know? I am taking that axiom and applying it to the artwork that I create. This week’s offering features two acrylic mini-canvases of two scenes from a nearby park called Catoctin State Park in Thurmont, MD, just minutes away from my apartment. I have lived in the Thurmont/Sabillasville area in Maryland for about 10 years and have visited the Catoctin State Park many times with my husband, family, and friends.
About 4 years ago, I spent a day photographing different views of this park on a cool, Autumn day when Maryland had a genuine colorful, fall. It’s taken me four years to turn my photos into paintings, but better late than never right? In these works, I sought to capture the quiet beauty and colorful foliage of the park. As always, my work
These are two completed acrylic paintings on miniature canvases.
The painting of the week is inspired by my blog post, Why Artists Should Make Content-Based Art Work, and by the baroque artist, Georges La Tour, who specialized in portraits lit by candlelight. Self-Portrait with Oil Lamp, Oil on Canvas, 11 x 14 inches, 2013, $250.00. This item is available for purchase on my artist commerce site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt.
I am posting a recently completed, acrylic painting, Rooster, Hen, and Chick. In a manner similar to my commissioned work, I started with a three step process. First, I decided on the composition and reduced the color photo referenced to three values in black, gray and white. After that, I began painting in the local colors, or the colors that I actually saw in the photo. Lastly, I did some problem solving with the composition by changing the arrangement of the chickens and by adding a baby chick to balance out the composition and fill in the empty space. The painting is available for sale on my Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtofSchmidt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav. I will also be adding this painting to my Red Bubble site tonight so that it will be available in a variety of formats such as coffee mugs and fine art prints! Thanks for looking!
Stage 1: I began this painting by taking the reference photos into Photoshop and changing them from color to black and white. Then I started painting the acrylic painting in three tones: black, gray and white to simplify the image, and make sure that the values are well balanced.
Stage 2: I started adding in local color to match the colors I saw in the color reference photo.
Stage 3: I decided that the composition needed to be revised and I chalked in an alternative drawing with Rembrandt Soft white pastel. i also added the chick on the right hand side to bring in some lighter values and fill the empty space on the right.
Stage 4: I continued painting in the local color with Liquitex Acrylic paints until I was happy with the values and colors.
Art of Schmidt 