Girl in Vintage Chair

Girl in Vintage Chair 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

She wore black jeans and a black tee shirt when I photographed her. I allowed her to pose herself and I’m glad I did. The aspect of the pose I find most endearing is her arms. I never would have positioned them as such but they’re perfect – the elongated arms flowing into the interestingly interlaced tapered fingers. I also didn’t envision this painting style – for sure. There is a class I wanted to take. It will be taught by Valerie Collymore, quite an amazing impressionist painter. Her class is entitled “Renoir Like” – but sadly for me – it’s full. I decided I would paint my own “Renoir Like” portrait but my imagination took over the process and this painting took on a life of it’s own, determining color, texture and abstractions as it evolved. I’m glad things happened as they did. After all, I will always be better at painting “Winifred Like”. Hope you enjoy. Winifred

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Raising the Red Umbrella

Raising the Red Umbrella – Oil Painting 9.5×17 by Winifred Whitfield

I textured my panel before I began this painting. I made a modest attempt to bear in mind the shape of the figurative elements so the texturing wouldn’t look completely crazy!

There was no umbrella showing in my reference photo though I knew she held one and so with a few expressive red lines, an umbrella was created. When people have seen this painting, they thought it referenced a far away exotic country. The fact is, I took the reference photo of a friend returning from a celebration. She was walking right in front of me, in the middle of the concrete street, with cars on the edge of the road and houses in front of her, right here in Poulsbo, Washington.

I’m enjoying living in a gallery. Many friends and neighbors have visited. It’s quite enjoyable when they do. Call first. 360.779.1375. If you don’t know about the gallery, please see my previous post. I hope to see you in the near future. Have a great day.

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Man from Guatemala Reading

Guatemalan Man Reading Oil Painting 16×20 by Winifred Whitfield

In the not to distant future I’ll show you why I’ve been so distracted from my post, but I did manage to finish this painting which I like quite a lot. I forgot to photograph this painting before framing it but that’s okay. This ends or at lease puts a pause in my Guatemalan series of paintings. It was fun. Thanks to Daphne and Art Carlyle for the reference photos. Hope everyone is enjoying their Spring/Summer. I certainly am. Winifred

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