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Steve's paintings (1 Viewer)

steveMc

steveMc

Well-known member
Hello All,

I have actually been a member here for some time but just found this sub-forum from a link I saw on another forum! I can't believe I missed it all this time. I've been looking through the work here and it is incredible, some really great artwork!

I did some painting while a teenager and into my 20s, then life got busy with marriage, kids, etc.. |:D| Now as the kids are getting older, I have returned to painting in the last couple of years.

I see folks are encouraged to create a thread and then just keep adding their art into it, so in the spirit of that, I thought I would start my thread with a recent painting I did after a week of spring birding here in Ontario with my kids. My daughter managed to get me some great reference photos of one of my favourite birds, the Orchard Oriole, catching him with the light just right. When we came back from our trip I came up with this painting. It's 8"x10", acrylic on hardboard.

All comments and criticisms welcomed!

Thanks,
Steve
 

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steveMc said:
Hello All,

I have actually been a member here for some time but just found this sub-forum from a link I saw on another forum! I can't believe I missed it all this time. I've been looking through the work here and it is incredible, some really great artwork!

I did some painting while a teenager and into my 20s, then life got busy with marriage, kids, etc.. |:D| Now as the kids are getting older, I have returned to painting in the last couple of years.

I see folks are encouraged to create a thread and then just keep adding their art into it, so in the spirit of that, I thought I would start my thread with a recent painting I did after a week of spring birding here in Ontario with my kids. My daughter managed to get me some great reference photos of one of my favourite birds, the Orchard Oriole, catching him with the light just right. When we came back from our trip I came up with this painting. It's 8"x10", acrylic on hardboard.

All comments and criticisms welcomed!

Thanks,
Steve
Click to expand...

welcome aboard- that looks really smart

there's a fair few on here who are returning from short or long lapses from brid painting-the next thing is to start feeling guilty if you haven't painted/posted anything for a week or two...
 
Thanks for the welcome Ed! I will try and keep up with posting new work!

Thanks Mark. The appearance of the board in the scan is odd, it doesn't look that way in person. I didn't sand this one to the extent I normally do, just to see how it would come out. In person it looks much as my other boards that I sand heavily, but in the scan it appears rough which is strange. I guess it picked up the texture as shadows or something.

I may try taking a photo instead and see how it looks.
 
ed keeble said:
welcome aboard- that looks really smart

there's a fair few on here who are returning from short or long lapses from brid painting-the next thing is to start feeling guilty if you haven't painted/posted anything for a week or two...
Click to expand...
Indeed.
Welcome to the arty bit of BF Steve - and what a way to announce your presence. Terrific piece.
 
This is really incredible work, Steve. I thought I was looking at a photo. What a beautiful bird, too. I've never seen an Orchard Oriole. Can't wait to see more. tbbilbo.
 
Hi Steve, welcome aboard!

Love the Oriole, nice natural light in there. Don't leave it too long to post more. I, for one, will look forward to it.

Mike
 
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and the kind words!

I am working on my first ever entry in the duck stamp competition here in Canada. First competition entry anywhere for me actually so a little concerned but figured it was worth a try.

Once I complete it and mail it off, I'll post it here.

Steve
 
Hi again folks. I finally got my website up off the ground and thought I would share it in case anyone had any comments, feedback, suggestions,.. I would love to hear them. Still need to scan/photograph quite a few paintings and get them up there, but it's a start.

http://www.stephenjamesmcallister.com

One of the requirements of the national contest that I am entering here was to point the judges to your website, so it gave me the push to finally finish it off and get it out there!

Steve
 
Thanks Mark, appreciate you having a look.

Do you not like the appearance of the frames (too dark, etc..) or just not like them being there at all? I struggled with the best way to display a group of paintings of all different dimensions on a page. I wanted the page to look fairly uniform but without major cropping it would have been difficult. So I thought using same sized frames and then sizing the picture within was the best solution, maybe not!

Steve
 
steveMc said:
Thanks Mark, appreciate you having a look.

Do you not like the appearance of the frames (too dark, etc..) or just not like them being there at all? I struggled with the best way to display a group of paintings of all different dimensions on a page. I wanted the page to look fairly uniform but without major cropping it would have been difficult. So I thought using same sized frames and then sizing the picture within was the best solution, maybe not!

Steve
Click to expand...

interesting question about the frames: since you ask, and looking at this line of three

http://www.stephenjamesmcallister.com/Gallery_Birds.aspx

I would vote for

- having the actual images all the same size (or at least the same longest dimension, if they have different proportions)

- keeping the frames, but with frame quite narrow and confined to a standard margin of x pixels around the image

- that way when you scan across, you see three same-size pictures horizontally aligned and with same amount of visible frame

just a thought: others may have better taste, wiser counsel!
 
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