Saint Brigid was born Brigit, and shares a name with a Celtic goddess. There is much discussion over her birthparents, yet it is generally believed her mom was Brocca, a Christian baptised by Saint Patrick, and her dad was Dubthach, a Leinster chieftain. When Dubthach’s wife discovered Brocca was pregnant, she was sold to a Druid landowner. It is…
Tag: artbyeileen
St Scholastica
Scholastica (born in Italy c. 480 – 10 February 542) is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The most commonly told story about her is that she would, once a year, go and visit her brother at a place near his abbey, and they would spend the day worshiping…
Purple & White Tulips
Some more fun with flowers, this time purple and white tulips.
Golden Hibiscus
I have been so busy painting and sketching other things, I forget how much I love painting flowers. This Golden Hibiscus was for a commission. I used 2 really fat brushes to paint this, which is a change for me considering I usually work with very small brushes and lots of layering and glazes. This…
Portrait of a woman
Portrait of a woman Acrylic on MDF board 30 x 23cm (12 x 9 inch) Developing from the limited palette exploring painting darker skin tones was the next step. For this exercise I moved away from the Zorn palette and looked at the hues within the photograph I was working from. This will make a huge…
Skulls and gold bling
Every now and again I explore sketching different subject matter. This last week it has been animal skulls and as an experiment I added a little gold leaf.
A Cornish harbour
I am trying to paint more seascapes and landscapes. I get very overwhelmed when there is this magnificent scene in front of me that demands painting – even when it is a photograph. It takes lots of practice to select a good composition, and then do it justice on a canvas. A friend posted a beautiful photo on Facebook a…
Iconic beginnings….
I love Icons. Not just for their religious representation, but the whole naivety of the image, and how the artist has translated his interpretation of something sacred to him onto a flat surface. I was first introduced to them as a 17 year old venturing into the British Museum for the first time. Coming from South Africa…
Still life – flowers in a teacup
This still life was a very quick and simple exercise in combining the texture of a palette knife with the smoother more even texture of a brush. Flowers in a teacup Acrylic on canvas panel 20 X 25 cm The petals of the flowers naturally lend themselves to the thick, impasto application with a palette…
Fishy colour shapers
Exploring my local art store I discovered something called a colour shaper. I had no idea what it was or how it should be applied and the lady in the art store wasn’t much help either. I had just recently been asked to paint a bright colourful fish in thick paint for someone’s bathroom and…
Still life – reflections in mahogony
This is the last painting in the series of a course Phil gave me for Christmas in 2013. I know, I know, more than a year ago, but I have been so busy with all my other art and giving in to urges to paint all sorts of other exciting things that I put this…
An Iconic icon moment!
I have always loved Russian Icons, and since the day I saw them hanging in a friends home they became an obsession. One of those obsessions you keep with you because you are not sure how you are going to get your hands on one unless you paint it yourself. Painting something yourself isn’t always the…
artbyeileen 