Tuesday

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So the reality is that yesterday was her real birthday and you might be asking, “Well what prey tell did you get her?”

I did a 24x36 inch portrait of the children out in the garden having tea. The two boys didn’t like that idea, but it fits in with my daughter.  I must admit I was inspired by John Singer Sargent’s piece “The Daughters of Edward Boit” He did their painting in the interior of the living room, with some of the girls lost in the shadows; just a beautiful piece!

Now I figured my wife would not want our kids lost in the shadows of our living room, so I opted for outside light and besides it’s in what my wife calls “The Italian Garden”, something she designed and built herself. 

So I started about a month ago with a general block-in. I had other paintings to work on as well, so this piece was brought up a little bit at a time, lest she get suspicious of my secret activities.  After all I couldn’t just say I was working on nothing for the past week; to pull it off I need to show that production was not slowing down, hence the smaller boat paintings!!!

I then worked on the faces trying to capture the likenesses, not an easy thing to do with several faces being painted over and over again.

And then worked on more of the details of the clothing and background.

Then it dawned on me. To be honest it was after one of the crit sessions, when they said that the middle figure, our oldest child was too small. He looked like a dwarf.  I asked if it would help to just lower the legs?  They responded with a stern, “ No, just paint the @%#% over again, but larger, don’t be lazy!!!”

So like any artist you cringe and white out the figure, you spent some much time on, only to re-paint it all over again correctly.  Six hours of hard labor down the drain….

Now it looks a lot better and it also got the stamp of approval from my wife, meaning I got the likeness of the kids down. I figured she would be the hardest critic on that subject.  “Every mother knows her own children inside and out”

Richard Boyer

Monday, May 14

There are the usual Birthday parties and then there are those parties to celebrate the turning of a decade in age. Some are more milestone than others of course and such was the case with Karin over the weekend.  We were told by several friends to vacate the house for the day and not to come back until six in the evening; and with mild concern not to ask any questions.  We obliged, taking extra cloths with us to deal with the heat of the day and a dance performance at Kingsbury Hall that afternoon featuring our daughter.

At six in evening we returned to our house transformed into an Italian restaurant; a large fully set formal table in the living room with seven course menu on each plate. Out on the back porch a setup of small bistro tables, adorned with provincial table cloths and sunflowers. A spread of Antipasto and champagne waiting off to the side; at least they didn’t re-paint the walls.

The women in charge introduced the hired hands!!!

We were told after a few bottles of Fresco Prosecco had been finished off that it was time to come into the main dinning hall. The crew brought in from another room the first dish of pasta and Chianti. From then on the wine and food seemed to flow for several hours. Speeches were recited with embarrassment in mind for Karin. This is usually when a parent wishes they had ear plugs for the kids, “You did what when you were a teenager!?”

Yes, things happened at the party where is wouldn't be appropriate to repeat, embarrassing events all witnessed and brought up in full detail be the employed children the next day.  The party was good chatting with friends we hadn't seen in a while.

At four in the morning the last guests left and we crawled into bed. Sunday was a day of rest in more than one way.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

The heat has arrived in Salt Lake, unfortunately later on in the week it’s suppose to get up to the 80’s.  I prefer the cooler temps of spring. "Long live the spring!"

I did another smaller boat painting today.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

With the coming of spring there seems like a lot of garden work on the list, maybe this might just coincide with my wife having a birthday party and the fact that the guests will be milling around the backyard.  So clean-up it is in the backyard.  After all there can be nothing more exciting that getting down on all fours to pull up dandelion weeds.

I worked some more on these two smaller boat paintings. From the last crit session I got some ideas of things to improve.   Mainly the water in both of them needed a little more work.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

It’s been grey skies today, so the picture quality isn’t the greatest in the studio, just a little on the dark side.  But any way here is number two of the small 9x12 boat studies. Once again just an hour and a half session on it to keep it fresh.

We have the crit session tonight so I’ll bring both of these to see what the group feels

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I worked on one of the smaller boat paintings today, trying to only spend an hour and a half on it so I could keep it more like a looser sketch.

Richard

Tuesday

I got an email from Southam Gallery; they put in a request for some “Stocking Stuffer” sized paintings.  Generally I don’t like doing such small work because you can spend the same amount of time and do a 12x16 which would sell for more.  But if I can keep these small 9x12’s loose like a quick study they might be fun and who knows maybe they just might sell as stocking stuffers? Here are two block-ins I did this morning.

I’ll try to do a half dozen of them!

My wife has a big birthday coming up, so I haven’t been diligent about writing. Instead I have been racking my brains on what to get her.  Maybe a DeWalt 12” Double Bevel Sliding Miter Saw would be the perfect present !!!  Between you and me I am working on something secret, but the last thing I would want to do is tell the internet where it would leak back to her!

Richard Boyer