Midsummer Studios

2010-08-04T14:52:00.001-07:00

Check my new website!
www.midsummerstudios.weebly.com

Persephone

2010-07-09T09:46:00.001-07:00

Persephone is a Greek story of the daughter of a goddess who is stolen by the ruler of the underworld. This was a commision done for a friend who collaborated with me about the theme for the painting. In the story Persephone eats six seeds of the friut which means she has to stay in the ufor six months out of the year. In mourning her goddess mother then put the worl under the spell of winter for those six months.

Frog Bubbles and Two Fairies

2010-06-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

Frog bubbles is a painting commisioned by my aunt. The fairies are my wonderful little cousins and the frogs were modeled for me by a very considerate inmate of a local zoo. I tried to use a lot of the bold coloring of the environment found in utah, especially in the dry areas. Finding bold but not pastel was a bit of a challenge but I love the reds and yellows!

Fairies At The Bottom of the Garden

2010-05-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

This is the last of the paintings done for some family friends! She wanted to be painted as a fairy and that put me in mind of a poem I once read as a child about a little girl who seamed to be the opnly to realize that a band of fairies had taken up residence at the bottom of the garden. She decides at the end that she will become thier queen.

A garden meeting

2010-04-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

This latest commision was actually done as a portrait for a family 's first grandson. They are decorating the nursery with Beatrix Potter wall paper and wondered if I could pick a similair idea and match son of Miss Potter's color schemes. I started to wonder what it would be like to be a small child waiting outside when all of a sudden Peter Rabbit pops in for a visit! I imagine the mother off somewhere completley unaware of what she is missing.

Beatrix Potter Montage

2010-04-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

One of the things I was taught at school was to practice my art by painting pieces done by my favorite artists. I thought I would do a Beatrix Potter piece as a tribute. One of my absolute favorites!

Thumbelina stops to smell the flowers

2010-03-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

This is the second portrait done for the same family as Alice in Wonderland. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do, but when I was sketching out a few ideas it occurred to me how often we have to work hard to enjoy things that should be everyday pleasures. In order to stop and "smell the flowers" Thumbelina has to take the time to stack objects bigger then herself to reach the one she really wants! I suppose that somtimes simple things are not as simple as they should be, but they prove to be worth the effort in the long run. By the way, the flower she is smelling happens to be a magnolia. I guess that in reality she would have needed to stack more then a book, a matchbox and a mug to reach it. Somtimes I find that even when I feel as if things in life are to hard thier's someone in the background who is quietly making things easier for me.

Contact Information

2010-03-15T15:06:00.001-07:00

mid_smmer@yahoo.com
937-441-7924

Alice at tea

2010-03-08T09:37:00.001-08:00

This is the first piece that I am doing for a family with three grandchildren. The oldest was perfect for a scene from Alice in Wonderland. I used an old picture of one of my sisters friends for reference as the Mad Hatter. He doesn't know about it yet, and Im not sure if i am going to tell him.

A World in Blocks

2010-02-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

I recently came across this poem by Robert Louis Stevenson and have been thinking about it ever since. The little boy is the son of a family friend.
What are you able to build with your blocks?
Castles and Palaces, Temples and Docks.
Rain may keep raining, and others go roam
But I can be happily biulding at home.
Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea
There I'll establish a city for me.

The Christmas Elf

2010-02-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a CHristmas card this year and when I went through past photo references, I knew that this little boy would be a perfect Christmas elf! The gold paint on the border is metalic and reflective which gave the whole project a happy jester feel.

The Mage and the Wizard

2010-01-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

This was a comission recently completed for a customer as a gift for his father. He asked that follow a specific format and that i depict him as a fire mage and his father as a wizard. It was interesting to paint a picture according to a scene that he saw very clearly in his head. It was a good practice in portraiture as well as in depicting something other then what I myself had in mind.

Family Portraits

2009-12-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas I thought I would try something that I have wanted to do for years. My sister Amanda and I thought it would be great to have family portraits. Here they are, my siblings and I in order of birth. Next, I'll paint my parents. Amanda is the first painting, I am the second, then Rebekah and Johnny!

Seagull for Tiff

2009-11-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

I was practicing a few techniques when my Aunt asked if I had anything that might look good in her office. Well, how about a waterscape? I added a quote from Emily Dickinson, one of my favorite poets.

To sleep perchance to dream

2009-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

The third in the Daycare series! This little girl was also one of the kids from the daycare. When I brought in the painting she very casually pointed out that of course it was her in the painting since it had her castle. I didnt realize before hand that she had a castle in her room at home.

Fairy Drummer

2009-10-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

The last painting created for the daycare. The model was one of the children and a delight! I really liked the simplicity of this piece.

A Ship in the Woods

2009-09-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

The second painting for the Daycare. I wanted to show children turning one world into another by simply pretending it to be. Its the sort of thing that my siblings and I did all of the time without the help of computer games.

Link to Snare the World in Words

2009-08-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Marybeth was and is my chumb from my scampering about days of childhood. As friends we defeated dragons, escaped from evil headmasters, and saved the world from wicked magicians. Now a days she is learning to fight different forms of evil by completing a degree at law school.

Check her out! http://kilerkki.livejournal.com/

Studio Art

2009-07-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Polar Bear sketch

An interior study for the story East of the Sun West of the Moon.

The Little Mermaid

Cover art done in Advanced Illustration. The model is Princesse Derose. This is one of my favorite pieces! I love anything to do with the ocean and Princesse is a very good friend. If you have never read the original story of the little mermaid, look it up. That will explain where the dagger comes in. This is one of five illustrations that were to feature various ethnic growps in traditional fairtales. Every child should be able to see themselves in a fantasy!

The Frog Prince

Completed as a wrap around cover in advanced illustration. The model is Lindsay Jardine, a friend and roomate from college. Frogs are always fun to paint!

Study of two artic foxes.

For an independent studies class, I worked from photos to paint with a mixture of gouche. watercolor, and ink. Cute aren't they?

Fairy with light.

Same independant study assignment. This is a painting of Le, a past roomate. Gouche wash off involves doing a painting and then actually washing most of it off! A bit risky but what the Heck.

Elk Study

This is actually a detail of a much larger painting that has not been finished. In the end, I hope it will become an interior page for the story of the snow queen. Done completly in watercolor.

East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

This was the last wrap around piece completed for advanced illustration. The model was a classmate named Messia. This has always been one of my favorite stories!

Aesop's Fable illustration

This was a watercolor piece done in intro to illustration. "The cat, the mouse, and the rooster" was one that I had never come across before, so I thought that it would be more of a challenge to paint then one I was more familair with. I think that my favorite piece is the mouse's red scarf.

Child abuse in watercolor.

This assignment was to show a conceptual piece. I chose child abuse, and used a model that a met whose family had survived the Rwanda genocide of 1994. He had such beautiful yet sad eyes.

Avenging Angel

My little sister is in the Marines, and I think the idea of her as a stain glass avenging angel has been somewhere at the back of my mind for the past two years.

The Beauty and the Beast

My first cover for advanced illustration! The model is my sister Amanda, and the model for the beast happens to be my brother. Don't worry. He doesn't really look like that in real life.

Cinderella

Advanced illustration, this modle is the sister of the fairy painted above. Khan was also my roomate a while back. I still like the idea of the kitchen maid stepping out of a dreary background and into the lighter spring of the border.

Reading into the imagination.

This is the first painting in a series comissioned for a daycare run by Alyson Cox in Perrysburg. This new daycare offers a wonderful opportunity to parents who need a safe, nuturing place for thier children during the workday.
Good luck to them with all of thier endeavors!