A new work in progress

oak tree painting • 24 x 24 inches • WORK-IN-PROGRESS

This is the underpainting for another large landscape, starring the old oak tree at the end of our driveway. I used glazes of only five paint colors for this: capuut mortem violet, pink madder, cadmium yellow light, yellow cinnabar green, and Prussion blue.

My husband enjoys watching the progress of my paintings, and he calls this stage of each one  “the crayon stage,” for obvious reasons. I like it. :)

I hear it beginning ...

 Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

The whole earth is full of His glory.

ISAIAH 6:3

Threshold of Glory  © 2013 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

18 x 36 inches • acrylic on archival, museum-quality cradled GessobordTM

SOLD • private collection, Riverside, Connecticut

This painting is from a photo I took a few weeks back, of the sun rising over the misty pond out in the pasture. What a splendid gift, to be there (with camera in hand!) when this happened. At the time I took the photo, our church choir was just learning a new anthem entitled Threshold of Glory, and I thought this painting would be a wonderful illustration.

It wasn’t until after I finished that I realized it could also be an illustration of one of my other favorites, the Eden’s Bridge song “The Whole Earth.”

Mist slowly rising,
The veil gently lifted
Revealing the splendour
Of another new day.
The valleys and hillsides
Are the prints of Your fingers,
All lifting their faces
To the call of Your name.

And I hear it beginning,
A feeling arising,
And a sense of Your presence
In all I survey. 

And the mountains and the hills
Shall break forth before You
With shouts of joy
And words of praise,
And the sunlight that glistens
Upon the waters
Will lift my heart
Once again,
And the whole earth,
The whole earth shall praise Your name.

Flashes of scarlet
And glimpses of purple,
Echoes of birdsong
And the whisper of rain.
So intense an outpouring
Is bemusing my senses,
Creation responding
To the call of Your name.

And I hear it beginning...

– EDEN’S BRIDGE –

Alternate route

SOLD

The Long Way Home  © 2013 by Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

12 x 16 inches • acrylic on cradled museum quality, archival GessobordTM

private collection • Richardson, Texas

This is a quiet little road that runs parallel to the highway between our place and town. Going this way makes the trip home about five to ten minutes longer, but sometimes it’s totally worth it.

A new equine work-in-progress ... and a little bit o’ kitty love

A Horse Called Sophie • 12 x 24 • oil on Gessobord WORK-IN-PROGRESS

This is Sophie. She lives in Tennessee. Her owner sent me her photo after purchasing one of my “Windswept” Limited Edition canvas prints, and she graciously gave me permission to use her photo as a painting reference. Such a beautiful horse, and what a joy to paint!

And I just had to share this photo I took today:

Jo just LOVES her big brother. And though he’ll be the last one to admit it, Ray loves her, too. There’s been a whole lot o’ purrin’ goin’ on since she came to join our family :)

Another beautiful Sunday afternoon ...

 

... a perfect time for venturing out into the pasture for more daffodil gathering.

 Three weeks since these yellow jonquils first start blooming, and they're still going strong!

 These little white ones with orange centers
just started making their appearance a few days ago.

 Roadie came with me, to “help.”

After a while, the neighbors came out to visit.

As usual, I stayed out longer than I had intended. (I am my father’s daughter in this regard.)

When I decided it was probably about time to be heading in and turned around, 

the oh-so-close-to-being-full moon rising up over the trees along the railroad track 

took my breath away. 

Then Roadie and I came inside for a snack of hot chocolate and Milk Bones.

Roadie had the Milk Bones. I opted for the hot chocolate. 

Surprise!

SOLD

Perennial Joy  © 2013 Karen Mathison Schmidt, artist

6 x 6 inches • oil on archival, museum-quality GessobordTM

private collection • Shreveport, Louisiana

... or maybe you totally saw this daffodil painting coming.

After working on my Threshold of Glory landscape for a day or two, I found myself getting bogged down and fussing around too much with detail, so I decided to step back from it for the time being, and work on some sort of abstract-y, expressionist-y paintings to shake that nit-picky mood and cleanse my palate. (Or palette, maybe?) Then I can go back to that one with refreshed eyes.

I’ve been a busy art bee the last couple of days: 

• I thoroughly enjoyed painting these joyful jonquils (you can see a close-up detail below) ...

• plus I started a new horse painting ... 

• plus I finished the logo for our church’s upcoming Women’s Night Out event, the theme of which is an apropos reminder NOT to let myself get into a creativity rut (if there even is such a thing!)

Happy Painting!

Almost done ...

 Threshold of Glory WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Almost finished this one yesterday ... check back later for the finished painting, 

Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, that is!