Thursday, April 11, 2013

Plaza Mermaid Fountain

Plaza Mermaid Fountain
Oil on panel, 9x12
Today I paint one of the two white marble mermaids at the fountain in front of Eddie Bauer's on the Country Club Plaza.  These beautiful mermaids date back 300 years and were originally placed here in 1930.  They were restyled in 1968.  Each one shoots a single water spray into the large basin between them.  Fountain day was this week, which is when all of our wonderful Kansas City fountains are turned on for the season.  I would love to paint each and every one!  I am finishing this one late tonight, as we celebrated our second son's birthday going out to a late dinner.  I am SO glad he made it home from Guam to spend these 2 weeks with us!  I have used a limited palette here - only sienna and turquoise to tint the grays with just a touch of cad yellow medium for that sunlit glow on the mermaid.  This painting makes 97 in 97 days :)

15 comments:

  1. wow, amazing painting....love the depths in the background and how the water lights up the painting. Happy PPF

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    1. Thank you, Corrine! This was a fun one to paint - and it gave me an excuse to pull out my turquoise :)

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  2. Beautiful painting! Working with a limited palette can be extremely difficult but you have done an amazing job. Happy that you got to spend time with your son.

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    1. Thank you, Deanna! It was fun using turquoise with burnt sienna - it is kind of a strange combo. I rarely use these colors, so it was fun to experiment!

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  3. Oh Tammie, this is beyond fantastic!!! I thought it was the photo of the statue and was about to scroll down to see the painting. Beautiful application of shadows and light.

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    1. Thank you, Faye! The hardest part for me was the shadows in the "waves". It was just plain tricky to get them to read right. I'm glad you liked it!

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  4. This is a fantastic work using such limited colours, great subject too, I love fountains and classical architecture.

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    1. Thank you so much! Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains - so I am going to try to paint as many of them as I can find! I have always loved fountains, too :)

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  5. Love the light in this painting. The fountain feels solid, yet has a lightness to it. What a gorgeous sculpture it must be!

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    1. Thank you so much, Cat! There are actually 2 mermaids facing each other across a large basin. It was hard to find just the right composition for this painting. I ended up zooming in, with the mermaid as my focus, instead of capturing the whole scene. Maybe I will one day paint them both, shooting their water spouts clear across the basin :)

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  6. wow 97 paintings in 97 days..........however do you do it and produce such fabulous work........Happy PPF, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. Thank you, Netty! Some days I do feel like I post paintings that are not completely finished. I am normally out of time, and just have to post them anyway! I'm so glad you like it! Happy PPF!

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  7. gorgeous gestural paint strokes... love the perfect form you have captured ... sorry I am late getting here for PPF but figuring I am just extending the fun... well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it ...xx

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  8. This is an amazing piece. Wonderful colors and depth.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  9. Amazing painting, love how you construct the background structures and the strokes of the brush or whatever you use!

    Happy belated PPF!

    Ilona

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