Saturday, June 25, 2011

Pears & Bottles

Beverly Gurganus "Pears & Bottles" 20x16 Oil on Canvas


I started this piece a few months ago when I was asked to paint live at a student art show. Last year's show I painted portraiture, so this year I chose to paint still life. In this piece my challenge was to paint color glass while maintaining its transparency. I have done several drawings of transparency, but this is my first attempt painting a transparent object. I was intimidated at first, but as I continued to build up the paint and step back to view the painting, I grew very excited of its development. I am now in the process of planning my next still life that will also include colored glass along with the striped cloth.






Thursday, June 9, 2011

MacArthur Museum Commissioning

Beverly Gurganus


"America's Heroes"


3ft. x 5 ft. Acrylic on Canvas





It has been a crazy past couple of months. My daughter's home schooling year has come to an end along with my art classes I teach, and my oldest daughter has graduated. In the midst of party planning, preparing for a Student Art Show, and closing out grades, I received an e-mail from a friend informing me of a museum looking for an artist to paint a panel for them to be displayed at our local Botanical Gardens. Of Course, I followed up on that by e-mailing my digital portfolio.




The Memorial requested that the theme of the panel be patriotic while honoring past and present veterans...the catch was I only had one week to plan and paint the panel. Above is what I came up with in such a short time. This piece will be at Norfolk Botanical Gardens June 18th thru the Summer.