Sometimes I see something  that speaks to me with such beauty and personality that I just have to paint a portrait of it. In this case, it was this beautiful teapot.

Sadler England Teapot
8 x 10", Oil on canvas
Rita Salazar Dickerson (c)2014

Stage 1: The drawing. With a wash made up of Ultramarine Blue and Transparent Earth Red thinned with mineral spirits, I loosely painted in the shape of the teapot that was positioned on a shelf four feet away.

Stage 2: Blocking in the teapot. With a thin layer of paint I blocked in the major shapes, colors and values.

Stage 3: The background and foreground. After the teapot was blocked in, I painted the first layer of the background and foreground.

Stage 4: Adding more color and detail. At this point it was time to prepare the teapot with a second layer of paint for the flowers that were to come. I paid close attention to the shadows. Since I was working wet paint onto wet paint, I wanted the flowers to work into this layer -- allowing some of the paint from underneath to show through.

Stage 5: Completing the painting. Before working on the teapot I gave the background and foreground another layer of paint. Then, squinting my eyes, I looked at the teapot's flower design and painted my impression of it. Painting every last line of detail was not necessary. When I focused on the colors, shapes and design, the story of this teapot appeared.

Unique Graduation Gift

This painting is in complete contrast to the North Yorkshire series that I have been working on.

Extra Curricular
14x11", Oil on canvas

This still life painting represents a young man's extra curricular activities while in high school. As a painter I find it interesting and a nice change of pace to gain inspiration from some one's interests and accomplishments which result in  painting subject matter that I would not have otherwise imagined painting. His passions vary from sports to music and my challenge was to convey that to the viewer as well as create a keepsake of original art, a unique graduation gift, that will tell a story of this special time in his life.

 Where does the inspiration come from? It did not come from seeing this guitar, or the colorful combination of the ski goggles, helmet, or the edgy line designs on the skis. It came from the person these objects represent.

At this stage I started painting in all similar colors of golds and rusts throughout the painting. This saves time and energy when time is of the essence.

I mixed black by combining equal parts of Ultramarine Blue and Transparent Oxide Red together and then painted in as much of the black as  I could.

Next, I painted in the white with Titanium White mixed with a small dab of the Ultramarine Blue and an even smaller amount of Transparent Oxide Red. Once the white was in, I could paint more of the detail like the netting on the lacrosse stick.

The  drama for me came when I was finally able to add color; pink, lavender and orange on the helmet strap, the yellow lacrosse ball and then the red on the ski goggles.

  At this point I realized that the background looked incomplete. A multi-colored background seemed more appropriate for a multi-faceted person. I applied the paint with a palette knife and then softened the sharp edges with a filbert brush.