He Leadeth Me: O blessed thought!

Psalm 139: 9-10

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

Oak Tree on Ratcliff ©2007 Karen Mathison Schmidt
24 x 18 • acrylic on 3/8 inch art board
dovetail slot in back allows for hanging flush against the wall
gloss varnish for protection and easy cleaning • sold unframed
CLICK HERE to bid!

Shreveport has some lovely old historic neighborhoods - this beautiful, sun-dappled sidewalk was just a couple of blocks from our place in town. I love living in the country, but one of the things I really miss since we moved out here is walking our dog for blocks and blocks past beautiful lawns and gardens, with hundred-year-old trees spreading their branches overhead.

This painting has a lot of texture with layers of glazed color in the foreground, balanced with the smoother brushstrokes of the middle ground and background areas. Here are some details:





I really needed to hear what the Lord had to teach me today when I read this today from Daily Strength for Daily Needs (this devotional was undergirded by the scripture from Psalm 139 that I put at the beginning of today’s post):

How can we come to perceive this direct leading of God? By a careful looking at home, and abiding within the gates of thy own soul. Therefore, let a man be at home in his own heart, and cease from his restless chase of and search after outward things. If he is thus at home while on earth, he will surely come to see what there is to be done at home, -- what God commands him inwardly without means, and also outwardly by the help of means; and then let him surrender himself, and follow God along whatever path his loving Lord thinks fit to lead him: whether it be to contemplation or action, to usefulness or enjoyment; whether in sorrow or in joy, let him follow on. And if God do not give him thus to feel his hand in all things, let him still simply yield himself up, and go without, for God’s sake, out of love, and still press forward.

- J. TAULER (c. 1300-1361)

Walk Into Spring - Epilogue

Pear Trees on Ockley - The Final Chapter


"Walk Into Spring" © 2007 Karen Mathison Schmidt
16 x 20 • acrylic on 3/4" cradled gessobord • sides painted dark brown
The cradled back allows for hanging flush against the wall
Gloss varnish for protection and ease of cleaning • sold unframed

To start at the beginning, scroll down to the third entry below this one and work your way up. The previous three entries are taken from my art journal during the making of this painting. Thought you might enjoy seeing the process - maybe you artists can identify with my frustrations and/or triumphs - please let me hear your comments!

I took the reference photos for this several weeks ago on a late afternoon walk, just as the pear trees were coming into bloom. A couple of times during the painting of it, I walked over to the place to study the shadows and street color in real life.

After living with the signed painting for a day or so, I decided the color in the shadows needed a little more dimension to further distinguish the foreground from the sunny distance. Ooo, there’s something about that phrase I really like, “The Sunny Distance.” Not a bad name for a band, maybe. Anyway, I added a glaze of reddish magenta to the grassy areas in the foreground, making the bluish areas more purplish, complementary to the yellow areas in the distance. The sunny distance. The result is that said sunny areas look ... well ... sunnier! The painting looks a lot more balanced to me now -- thanks to my studies in The Yin/Yang of Painting (Zhang and Woolley, 2000)

I used mostly brushwork on the distance, and brushes and painting knives on the foreground parts. I finished the painting with a glossy clear acrylic varnish for protection and easy cleaning. Here's a detail:

Walk Into Spring - Episode I

Pear Trees on Ockley - The Adventure Begins


I started on the pear trees painting today. One of the things I read somewhere recently that has helped me most: in almost all paintings from life, the first thing you see should be the last thing you paint! Keeping this in the front of my mind helps me from getting caught up in painting details too early.


On this painting, though, I decided to get the treetops mostly finished before starting on the shadowy part in the foreground, because painting the trees is what I’m most apprehensive about in this painting. I just looked up “apprehensive” – it means “anxious or fearful that something bad or unpleasant will happen.” Yep, that’s the feeling I have about trying to get the trees right. So if I tackle that first, the rest of the painting should be a breeze, right?