Stonehenge, England

Stonehenge at Dusk, original by Jennifer Richter (acrylic on board): On the 10th I went to Jennifer Benson's house to paint and took along a 5" X 7" canvas. I found a great photo of Stonehenge on the internet. I chose this image because we traveled to England this fall with my in-laws and had a great time.

Contact: jen.richter@gmail.com

I learned:

• That I REALLY like acrylic for a quick painting that can dry. BUT, I think oils would have blended sunset colors in a smoother, silkier way. Cherilyn encouraged me to do it again, but bigger, in oils. That many artists will do a small practice painting to work out the problems of a new piece. I just may do that!
• Cherilyn let me borrow some of her gold acrylic paint to sign my piece. I wrote it out in red first...didn't like how bold it looked. Painted gold on top of the red to mute it and loved the effect. I added a glaze of the sparkly gold in the skyline as well.
• This painting only took two 2-hour sessions. The lion share of the work got done in the first sitting. Fun and very fast! Loved it!

Christmas Ornaments, by Jennifer Richter (4"X4" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas)
Contact: jen.richter@gmail.com

• I learned that even though this was a pre-gessoed canvas, I decided that I prefer the look of additional gesso which can leave thick brush strokes behind to create a nice texture to paint on. Will do that next painting.
• Liked painting small; a fun change. Took about 4, 2 hour sessions to complete this. I went slow to capture the look of the crystal ornament. Fun study. Also enjoyed the quick drying effect of acrylic for this piece that was due a few weeks after I got the invitation to submit a piece to the Repartee Gallery.