(artblog)

The Starin Farm

2012-01-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

16x20, oil on canvas

Painted from a composite of photos.
Truly incredible the way the late afternoon sun illuminates autumn leaves.
Loved painting this one.

(detail)

House Portrait

2012-01-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

G & G's House

Wayne, Pennsylvania

5x7, oil on canvas

Last year after Granddad passed away Grammie moved out of their house of almost 50 years and moved to Richmond. They had a beautiful lot with big, shady trees, a large backyard, apple, cherry & walnut trees and a vegetable garden.

so it usually goes something like this.

2012-01-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

1. sit down and slather paint here and there until the colors get muddy and i get frustrated.

2. put it away for a few days.

3. overcorrect the colors. focus on shapes. get frustrated again.

4. leave it on the window sill for a week or two. consider starting over.

5. decide not to become a quitter. focus on one section at a time, background to foreground (don't have pictures of those steps, sorry), and finally finish.

available for purchase (click)

I'll be posting more new paintings in the next few days, so come back soon! Thanks!

2011-10-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

16x20, oil on canvas, commission of the Robert E Lee Monument, Richmond, VA

aunt jean

2011-10-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

aunt jean, acrylic on canvas, 11x14

gift to my grandparents

Art Show Reception @ 9WG Studios, October First Fridays, Richmond

2011-10-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

Please stop by for a reception at 9WG Studios for the belated opening of my solo art show, HERE & THERE: Paintings of Home and Travels.

9 West Grace St, Richmond, VA

Light refreshments will be provided.

(More info here)

hung!

2011-09-09T05:22:00.001-07:00

and new work on my website.
www.thisisamy.com

Solo Art Show at 9WG Studios, Richmond

2011-09-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I've been given the opportunity to show some of my paintings at a gallery on Grace Street in Richmond. Normally the gallery is part of the September First Fridays artwalk, but sadly it's been cancelled this month.

HERE & THERE:

paintings of home and travels

Artwork of Amy Donahue

September 6th - October 31st

Possible open house on October 7th during the First Fridays Artwalk, details TBA

9WG Studios

9 West Grace Street

Richmond, VA 23220

DIRECTIONS

(note: ring the doorbell at the door for admittance.)

Hours: 9am-5, M-F

my favorite person in the world

2011-08-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

progress

2011-08-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

(Missed photographing step 1. Basically, wash of burnt umber+oms with forms blocked in with burnt umber)

Step 2 (excuse the mess in the background)

Step 3

Step 4

and more to come.

2011-07-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Grammie, beach at Kitty Hawk.

Jonathan Edwards, a few of his 70 resolutions.

During long trips on horse back, he would think through arguments regarding religion. Plain pieces of paper pinned to his cloak, associating thought with paper. Considered one of the most brilliant thinkers of America.

2011-04-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

23x35, colored pencil on ivory mat board

2011-04-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

all 8x10, graphite on bristol:

Giant Update (long overdue) Part 2

2010-12-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

And here are some of my personal drawings and paintings from the past several months:

Carter Mountain (available for purchase)

Three Birches (available for purchase)

Golden Tree (available for purchase)

My wonderful husband took me on a hot air balloon ride for my birthday. This was painted from one of the photos I took.

Woolridge Lake (available for purchase)

Notice the two little ducks swimming in to shore.

Erin's Pumpkin Patch

Autumn Blaze (available for purchase)

I had this one hanging up in my house during the fall.

Summer Archway

Taken at Maymont Park. The stone fence is part of the Italian Gardens.

details:

Granddad at Great Point

My grandfather passed away this past September. I began this drawing of him preparing his fishing lures for an evening at Great Point, Nantucket back in 2007. After driving up to PA to say goodbye before he passed I began the "mad dash" to finish this drawing in time for the funeral. We'll miss him.

Giant Update (long overdue) Part 1

2010-12-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

I have in fact been busy. Here are some of my commissions from the past six months (or so):

This one was one of the most detailed drawings, but I probably enjoyed it the most of all the commissioned drawings so far. The reference photo was beautiful and I drew this as fall was approaching. I love the interactions of the figures and, of course, the leaves all around.

details:

This was a friend of Mark's grandmother. Very difficult to paint from this 4x6 snapshot. Grandma Cleo asked me to emphasize Regina's blue eyes.

reference photo:

And my favorite commission of all time - a painting - will be posted soon! Check back after Christmas!

2010-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

b&e

2010-06-11T03:08:00.001-07:00

tim and stephanie

2010-06-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

2010-05-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

dog portraits

2010-05-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

i've been doing a few dog portrait commissions. here's my latest and favorite.

shiny new website! and etsy.

2010-03-27T19:40:00.001-07:00

I finally updated my website to reflect my new name.

(meaning, i got married last august to mark p. donahue)

the web address is still the same:

www.thisisamy.com

check out my new paintings and new drawings.

also, i created an etsy site:

www.etsy.com/shop/amyhrdonahue

i'll be listing more as i make more art.

-amy

dump

2010-03-27T19:36:00.001-07:00

sb - sept

2009-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

sb-end of aug, beginning of sept

2009-09-17T08:18:00.001-07:00

st lucia sketches

2009-09-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

3rd wedding.

2009-03-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

maria & chuck asked me to photograph their wedding last weekend.

here are a few of the shots:

2009-03-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

2009-03-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

2009-03-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

flatware.

2009-02-03T06:24:00.001-08:00

slowly.

2008-12-30T17:40:00.001-08:00

2008-11-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

new moleskine

2008-09-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

four pages to go.

2008-08-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

2008-07-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

2008-07-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

maryann on the couch again.

this was a collaborative effort with gracie, the six-year-old i babysit.

2008-06-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

and more sb.

2008-05-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

(graphite, coffee, white china marker, pen)

i figured out the slicci pens bleed in fun ways.

i'm up to 54 out of 100 pages. and i have one more day left. ha!

at least it has made me keep drawing. and it's been fun.

more sb.

2008-05-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

i'm up to 36. this might turn into a sketchbook in two months.

sb

2008-05-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

the martyrdom of polycarp

2008-05-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

"For the fire, assuming the form of a vault, like the sail of a vessel filled with the wind, defended the body of the martyr roundabout; and it was in the midst of the flame not like flesh burning, but like bread being baked, or like gold and silver glowing in the furnace."

The Martyrdom of Polycarp, 15:2
a letter from the church in Smyrna to the church in Philomelium

2008-05-11T11:54:00.001-07:00

i haven't been keeping up with sketchbook month.

but...

friday night was the opening for my (our) senior show at the white canvas gallery on 14th and cary st..

photo by teddy taylor.

i photographed cliff and krissy's wedding on saturday.
(it was my second wedding job. easier than the first. i'd love to do a third, fourth and fifth. )

[an unedited picture from the wedding.]

i want to start experimenting with different settings and lighting in the future.

2008-05-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

scanner is still broken.

2008-05-04T09:40:00.001-07:00

this is for national sketchbook month. i started a brand new sketchbook. i'm used to the landscape moleskine.

2008-04-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

"the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" - tertullian, c. AD 150-229 (christian father and apologist, alive during the 4th and 5th roman persecutions)

2008-04-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

lithograph, 16x20 inches, edition of 5

broken scanner.

2008-04-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

2008-04-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

naturally, i don't really care about the subject of the piece, i just love the brushstroke, the pencil mark, the pen hatches, the watermarks.

(i'm still trying to figure out how to be an artist.)

website

2008-03-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

and i also gave my website a make-over: thisisamy.com

spring break plein air painting

2008-03-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

dead hero: andrew murray

2008-03-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

a south african preacher/writer/evangelist.
an illness effected his throat and he couldn't speak for 2 years.
God used the time to teach murray about humility and His love.
he wrote hundreds of books in his lifetime.

2008-03-18T18:52:00.001-07:00

pencil drawing + photoshop

psalm 139

2008-03-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

6x8 digital collage (verses 1-4)

6x8 digital collage (verse 5)

6x8 digital collage (verse 13)

6x8 digital collage (verse 15)

6x8 digital collage (verse 18)

6x8 digital collage (verses 23-24)

my dead hero: c.h. spurgeon

2008-03-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

1834-1892
known as the "prince of preachers"
influenced tens of thousands of souls
lived a life saturated by spiritual, emotional and physical sufferings--which resulted in periods of depression, or "heaviness" as he called it

sb cont.

2008-02-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

sketchbook

2008-02-26T21:12:00.000-08:00

more coming.

firebird.

2007-11-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

pencil drawing + photoshop.
spot: 8x8"
horizontal: 12.75x16.5"

firebird.

2007-11-09T14:04:00.001-08:00

preliminary thumbnails.

2007-10-28T05:19:00.000-07:00

the latest.

2007-10-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

conch shell headphones.

2007-09-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

i made myself a pair of these years ago.

i still have troubles creating the illusion of volume when i'm sketching from my head. i'm still working on it.

falling asleep.

2007-08-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

bedtime story from joy luck club-thumbnail.
i'm not sure i'll get to actually painting this one since the semester is starting.

the orphanage.

2007-08-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

photomerge.

i went to an orphanage in guadalupe, mexico last week...

2007-08-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

this is the dorm building that our team stayed in. the AC unit is one of the few swamp coolers that actually worked.
this is a view of the kitchen where we ate our food and the shack/houses across the field. there were beautiful mountians visible beyond that. i didn't have time to draw them.

The orphans (especially a little boy named Christian) liked to watch me draw. They pointed out the things i draw and told me the Spanish words. I offered them papel and they drew smiley faces. It was interesting to see how Mexican children drew. American children usually draw 2 dots for eyes, an "L" shape for a nose and an upside down rainbow for a mouth. Mexican children (or at least all the orphans who showed me their drawings) drew faces just like we carve jack-o-lanterns. Two triangles for the eyes, a triangle for the nose, and an cantalope slice for the mouth. One of the little boys drew two rectangles touching each other for the mouth (perhaps for the teeth).

Also, the buildings at Rancho 3M (the orphanage) were brightly painted-greens and yellows and bright blues and reds. If i have time i'll add color to these pen drawings on photoshop. They are quite cheery.

My sister and dad on the plane home.

persecuted church thumbnails.

2007-08-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

These were some thumbnail sketches from reading Foxe's Christian Martyrs. They were on scrap printer paper, so i'm pretty sure they will be lost in my piles of papers within the next few weeks.

This one is burning at the stake:

This one is about going to be with Christ after martyrdom:

This one is about mob attacks on children and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that this earth is not their home:

more..

2007-08-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

i went to nantucket in june...

2007-08-15T09:44:00.001-07:00

While waiting for my family to finish shopping:
pen & ink, brush pen added later.

While in the car waiting for Grammie to buy milk:pen & ink, brush pen and purple china marker added later.

View of our beach house on Madaket:pen & ink, brush pen, colored pencil, & china marker (just about everything that i brought in my pencil pouch)

first.

2007-08-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know how consistent i will be with this--but i want to start posting thumbnails, sketches, drawings, paintings, etc. here to help motivate myself to act on my artistic ideas and to give myself focus. i tend to write down concept ideas and develop thumbnails in any of my millions of sketchbooks or on loose scrap paper and forget about it a few weeks/days/hours later. Keeping a blog may or may not help, but it's worth a try.

To sum up my college years so far:

Freshman year:
Theme-sanctity of human life.
Goals-try different mediums (my first oil painting, first sculptures, first pastel drawings, first time attempt at charcoal powder, collage)
What i learned about my abilities-i'm a perfectionist

Sophomore year:
Theme-make it through alive (meaning, no theme. unless you count sleep deprivation as my theme)
Goals-to keep a sketchbook (activated by George Pratt), to learn good design and composition, try more mediums (digital, FIRST acrylic painting, more collage, more oil, ink wash), learn to manage my time.
What i learned about my abilities-i can draw accurately and need to force myself not to copy

Junior year:
Theme-Historical themes, mainly the WW2 era & the Holocaust
Goals-to escape from total realism (didn't really accomplish this.. i'm starting to embrace it); to understand color, it's effect on the eye, and how to use it to my advantage
What i learned about my abilities-God is blessing this talent and i'm not using it faithfully to His glory; i like working from life better than photos; when i'm sleep deprived i make bad decisions

Senior year:
Theme- (fall semester at least) the persecuted church
i am taking Islam and History of East Africa, reading Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World and Jesus Freaks and Voice of the Martyrs website. i'm hoping these will inform my art.
Goals-to direct the focus from the execution of the painting/drawing to the message/concept behind it; powerful & everlasting concepts; a deeper understanding of the King of the Universe through my artwork; never staying "safe", staying DESPERATE for help; darker(?) & deeper art; keep sketching when i go places