The Artwork of Laura D'Onofrio

The Start of a New Journey

2012-02-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

My Dear Friends and Family,

This is probably one of the most important letters I will write to you. I wish to invite you to join me on a new journey that I will be taking with my art career. This new direction has taken me many months of contemplation, planning and preparation, but I am now ready to begin and share this new series of art that I will be working on.

For the next two years I have decided to go in the direction of painting sacred art. I have come up with a series of 10-12 paintings that I feel will be deeply felt by many people. You are all very special to me, and I would like to share every step of this journey with you. The idea came to me over the summer when I was sincerely thinking about how I could create something that would be extremely powerful, meaningful, and arouse profound emotion in the viewer who looks at it. I believe that this series will do just that.

Most Christians believe that when we die we will meet Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, for the very first time. This event is a hallowed and tender moment, and one that would be brought with a variety of different emotions by different people. That is what I would like to paint - the unique reactions that can be felt when each of us come face to face with the Savior. I think some people would be overjoyed at meeting Him, some would fall on their knees and ask forgiveness for what they had done in their life. I have very clear image in my mind of a man who has his back turned from Him, and though Christ’s hands are stretched out to this man, the man is angry and cannot look at Jesus, as if to say ‘Where were you when I needed you?’ There is another in my mind of a little baby in the arms of the Savior, and this painting will symbolize those little ones who were stillborn, miscarried, or died as infants, and have returned back to the arms of safety, peace and love. The focus of each painting will not be on the Savior, but on the emotions and the worth of each individual I paint. You may see Christ's hands or His feet, but the focus will be on the one who had completed their life. The worth of a human soul is so precious in the sight of God, and that is something I wanted to express in this art series: how very special each and every soul is to Jesus Christ, who had died for each one of us.

The last painting in this series, that is probably the most important, is a picture of Christ’s hands being held out to you, and the viewer will feel as if they are in His presence. This is where the viewer would stop and think the most important question: ‘How would I react when I meet Him, And will I be ready?’

This project is something very special and very personal to me. I feel now that it is one of the reasons why I am alive and why I have the gift that I do. I have never felt more passionate or driven about completing any other work. Every time I think about this project I feel a fire inside me that burns so bright, and I feel so excited that it’s impossible to let this alone. I need to make this series to give to the world, and send the message that the people we have known on this earth and have passed on are safe, they are loved, and as Christians we know where we are going, and we need not ever be afraid in this life or in the life to come. The next two years you will receive emails every so often from me about the process of each new painting, and I will take you down the path that I had gone in the making of every piece in this series. I want this new project will be able to touch as many people as possible, especially those who are mourning the loss of someone that they love dearly. This is something that needs to be shared, and hopefully it can lead others in the direction of peace and comfort, knowing that we are all children of an endlessly loving and eternal God.

One small note: Those of you who know me well are aware that I will be expecting my second child near the end of March. How can I possibly be able to accomplish such a large body of work with a second baby? I have asked myself and God that question as well. Why now? Why not when I was baby-less, or later on when my children are older and I have more time? I believe God has given me a pretty clear answer to that. He knows where my art has come and the portraits I've done to gain the experience needed to take on the project. He sees the responsibility I have, and challenges me to exercise the right amount of balance between my children, my home and my artwork. He has provided an inconvenient time (but not TOO inconvenient) for me to properly prepare before baby, and then practice patience and discipline after baby. He lastly wants me to exercise a little bit of faith in Him, that anything is possible with God....So I basically told him "You provide the way, and I will provide the work." We agreed, and so this project begins!

I cannot wait to begin this new journey with you. Perhaps through this we might all come a little closer to the one who made the greatest sacrifice for each and every one of us, and remember the people we so dearly love who are in His rest.

Love Always,
Laura

New Canaan LDS Chapel / A Watercolor Brick Tutorial

2012-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks!

Someone asked if I could paint for them our church - the New Canaan, Connecticut LDS Chapel, so they could give the painting as a gift to a former bishop who served at the church. This is special to me because he used to be my bishop too when I was in High School, so I tried to put my love into this painting. This chapel is the same one I was blessed in as a newborn, ran laps around when I was a child after church, decided to be baptized when I was 8, met my future husband there for the first time when I was 14 at a youth conference, and now here I am as a grown woman still attending this same chapel with my own family. What a nice experience to paint a building filled with memories!

Thought those of you who still go to this chapel, or have attended, might like to see pictures of the past just for fun. ^_^

This is the chapel in 1985 when I was blessed as a baby. Those are my late great grandparents, and my aunt and uncle.

This is the primary room when I was 8 years old and going to be baptized in 1992. That's my dad and my younger brother.

I'll be the first to admit it: I don't think that I'm the most gifted when it comes to rendering architecture. That being said though, for a building that is covered with bricks, I think this one turned out better than I had hoped! There was a while there where I honestly got nervous because I have not had much experience with the glazing technique (where you put down one color, then when it dries you put on a second different color on top, creating a whole new color), but when I started laying down the bricks, the chapel suddenly began to take its true shape!

This was my first glaze, with purples, pinks, reds and yellows, which would go well for the final color on top....you can also understand how I might have been a little nervous?

the final product!

If you look close, you can see that there's a light on in one of the windows. That is the bishop's office, and since this is going to a former bishop, it gives a little nod to him and all the hard work that he had done in serving the people in our area. A bishop of our church is a calling given to an individual who serves around 5 years. This is a completely volunteer position, and one that the person serving as bishop does entirely out of love for his fellow man.

Our bishop was always there for us.

A few of you may want to know "How did you paint all those bricks??" I didn't know at first either! I am a studious artist and wanted to get it right, so I scoured my watercolor books and the internet for information on painting buildings, glazing, and specifically painting bricks in watercolor. After a while I realized there really isn't one "right way" to do it. Some people paint every brick and some only paint a few for people to get the idea. Some put the color of the brick on top and that's it, and some put the shadows in each brick and the mortar in between. In my mind I told myself that I am NOT going to paint every brick, I am going to try to paint loose, easy and suggestive this time...But I think because I am such a detailed person, I was unable to paint loose and ended up painting all those bricks anyway. It's ok though, it looks great.

This next part is just for all the watercolor nerds...Because there really isn't that much on the internet about laying down bricks in watercolor, I'd like to give you my step by step watercolor brick tutorial, based on my findings and experimentation!

STEP 1: after you have your glazed dry colors, take your brush and dip it in water, then lift the paint out line by line to create the mortar. This will be a guideline for how big you want your bricks to look.

STEP 2: Next, lift out more paint to create the vertical lines to space out how long you want each brick to be.

STEP 3: mix three different colors of bricks before hand. I created (1) a purple using burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, quinocridone rose, cadmium red and paynes grey. (2) a reddish brown which was cadmium red, burnt sienna, and a little bit of paynes grey. and (3) a yellow which was yellow ochre and burnt sienna. Lay your first color down in random places. This was the purple:

STEP 4: lay your second color down, this was the reddish brown:

STEP 5: lay your last color down. You can also leave some spaces of the original glazed background to make a fourth color, like I did:

TADA! Bricks! Looks pretty good! The cool thing is I used those same 3 colors throughout the entire building, but the colors look different because of the different color glazes I had put on underneath the bricks, making some look darker than others.

To end, this has been a fun painting adventure for me, and I am grateful to have been asked to paint this particular commission. I love church!!

Laura D'Onofrio

Happy Birthday!!

2011-12-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to my beautiful Megan Greenleaf, who just turned 3!

This is my first mural, and it was SO HARD to do! With my pregnant belly, standing on a stool all day, annoying acrylic drying too fast, blood draining from my arms, it was a time of reflecting how much more I really enjoy painting with watercolors sitting down with a table in front of me.

Aside from the complaining, the "Sea Maiden" looks pretty good, I sketched it all myself. The tail reminds me of an Arum Lilly. It's even better in person but I just couldn't seem to get a clear enough photo.

The mural is up in Megan's grandparent's "baby room," where a mural for each of their grand kids will be made.

"Brotherly Love"

2011-11-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

My friends Lillian and Jamie both are the photographers of a company called "The portrait parties," in which they plan party dates to snap pictures of families and children. There was a photograph of Lillian's children that Jamie had taken during one of the parties, and when they showed it to me I begged them permission to paint this gorgeous photograph. They gladly agreed!

I haven't had many commissions to paint, but as an artist I can't just wait around for the next person ask me. I have to (and want to)be constantly perfecting and practicing my art, and I especially need portraits to practice on for when I actually do get commissioned, since that is the subject I'd like to focus more on in my future. With each painting I get better, and I'd like to think that I did nail this particular one really well.

These two cuties are brother and sister. Even though this is technically black and white, I made the daughter's eyes a bit more blue, making them pop. Also to keep it a little fun I tinted the background a bluish purple. A black and white painting doesn't have to be completely colorless, does it?

There is so much love in this picture, and while I was in "the zone" as I'd like to put it, I was playing nothing but happy, bubbly, uplifting music with every stroke, to keep that sweet, happy feeling in myself and what I was expressing on paper. Since music is every bit as important to me as my paints, there was one song I had discovered on pandora.com while painting that captured my feelings during this painting session. It was called "In the Mirror" by Yanni. Have a listen.

Thank you Jamie and Lillian for this opportunity, maybe we can do another one of your photos in the future.

Here's a closeup on this little girl's eye...Don't get lost in it!!

Samuel

2011-06-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Samuel turned 1 year old, and his mama wanted to remember those chubby cute moments of her little boy. Portraits are down right hard, and this one seemed to be one of the harder ones I painted. Three reasons:

1- Sweaters are hard to paint! Nobody choose the photo with the sweater for photo reference! I'm just kidding. I thought the sweater turned out alright.

2- If it's a chubby little person, I have to paint him chubby but not TOO chubby to where people look and say "that kid is fat!" Samuel has cheeks that are absolute chub city, and you can't help yourself but squeeze them! This painting is actually my second attempt - The first time I penciled his face so wide it looked too fat. And we don't want fat, we want the chubs! I ripped it up and started over. This second attempt isn't so bad now.

3- Samuel is smiling, but he's only half smiling. In one stroke I could change a frown to a smile, so I had to paint carefully. His mouth needed to register as a smile and not a somber look.

This whole painting was a new adventure. I threw a lot of salt into his background to give a nice textured look. Also Samuel seems to pull off young and old at the same time - his mother combed his hair back and he's looking off into the distance. It's definitely different. Thoughts anyone?

-Laura

A Landmark of Prints

2011-05-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

Normally I don't send emails so close together, but this is information is a landmark in my career, and I wish to share it with all of you.

For the first time ever I am creating prints of my art. I brought two paintings to the printers on Friday: my "Mailboxes" and "Chickens" paintings. I want to keep both of these prints as original looking as possible. The "Mailboxes" will be printed on canvas, with a small white edging, and it will not need to be stretched. It can be framed, as is, in a standard 20x24 frame, which is really great. The "Chickens" painting will be printed on watercolor paper, which has a slight tooth to it.

With every print, I will hand sign it (you can even tell me what you'd like to have written if you want), they will be numbered, and it will also come with a certificate of authenticity. There will only be twenty first editions of each painting.

If you are interested in buying one of these prints, you would be a really lucky person, because these are the very first prints I've ever done, and they are first editions! If by some crazy chance I get famous, or when I eventually die, these original prints will be a lot more valuable than what you originally paid for. So in 20 years from now when everyone knows my name (haha), you will hold your bubbly while your guests ask "Isn't that one of the D'Onofrio's?" and you will respond "Why yes, yes it is," and take a triumphant sip.

I talked a lot with the printers- "Still River Editions" in Danbury. They are fabulous and professional artists, taking great detail in their work. The best part in this is not only do they print, but they can professionally package and ship the prints to you. That saves a HUGE load of worry for me! I finally found out shipping costs, which is a flat rate (for those who are not located in the Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts area, or that I cannot hand to personally). The cost is $30 for packaging, shipping, tracking and insurance on the print in case of damage. The printers can also email you a confirmation code so you can track your package.

Here are the final prices after speaking with the printers, and add $30 shipping if I need to ship it out to you:

"Chickens"- size 18x24, $102
"Mailboxes" size 20x24, $115

If you would like a print, simply email me and I'll tell you the information I need to have a print sent to you.

Thank you for your interest in my artwork. I sincerely appreciate you, and I'm so excited to be able to take this next big step by making prints for you.

Much Love,
Laura D'Onofrio

"Sabrina and Csoki"

2011-04-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Just when you think you've mastered a skill, you get presented with new challenges. When presented with the photograph I was going to paint, I knew it was going to be a tough one because there were two firsts for me: I've never painted a dog, and I've never painted a sweater. Both needed to be in detail to pull off this painting. I think they turned out pretty good for two firsts though, don't you think? The funny thing about this commission was that it was originally going to be an 8x10 black and white gift from my photography friend, Christine Simmons, to her client. 8x10 paintings are not fun to paint because you have to paint the tiniest of strokes. So I decided to do the client and me a favor and paint an 11x14. I was all set to paint black and white, but when I received the photo reference from my friend who had taken them, it was in color! So I just shrugged and opted for a color painting. It looks better in color anyway. Sabrina and Csoki were my muses in this piece. Csoki, the dog, is another name for "Chocolate/ hugs" in Hungarian. He looks pretty cute, right? :)

-Laura

Don't You Know the Sky is Falling? - Prints Available

2011-02-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

My good friend, Annie, loves to raise chickens as pets. She can feed them by hand and take their eggs while they are roaming around her yard. Their names are always interesting: Geegeet, Peaches, Henny Penny, Bonnie...I also had a great opportunity to take care of the chickens and their hen house for a week while Annie and her family were on vacation. One of the chickens would let me stoke her for as long as I'd like. It was a really wonderful experience. Megan was afraid of the chickens at first (they were almost her size!), but I showed her that she could chase them. Once she learned that, she wasn't so afraid of them anymore.

Annie suggested to me one day that chickens would be so much fun to paint. I agreed completely, and together we found a photograph that would be excellent to do. This was the final result, and can I say they were TONS of fun to paint.

The background was completely grass, so I thought instead of painting each strand of grass (as I tried and failed to do with Megan's daffodil painting), I thought I'd get a bit more impressionistic. I think it turned out fabulous, don't you? There's green, but there's also blue and purples in the grass to show the warm and the cool spots, as well as some salt added to give some neat texture. Now the focal point is nowhere but those chickens.

Notice the black and white chicken. I wasn't sure if this chicken was black with white spots or white with black spots. So I thought the easiest thing to do was cover the white areas with misket (a glue solution), paint the whole chicken black, then remove the misket to have the chicken be truly black and white. Feathers are also really important in this painting, and I tried spending a lot of time working on feather details. The photograph doesn't do it justice. You might have to head on over to Annie's for a closer look!

PS- The music on my iPod while painting was Jenny Oaks Baker, a professional violinist. She really got me into the spirit of painting life on the farm.

A Tale of Two Colors - "Letting Go"

2010-10-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

What I've been up to lately has been quite a lot of things, but in the art department, I've been teaching my very first watercolor class! We have been learning the rules of watercolor, and experimenting with different ideas, such as textures in a painting, silhouettes, and creating a painting using only two colors. I decided to join in on the two color project my students were painting.

The idea is that two colors can create a number of outcomes, not just two. If you mix the two colors together, you'll get a third, if you add more water to the color it will become lighter, and if you increase the pigment you will get a darker hue.

Believe it or not, this painting is composed of only two colors: Paynes Grey and Alizarian Crimson! The sky is so light with a lot of water, and the tree is so dark that it's definitely the focal point of the painting. Notice how the hills are lighter if they are farther away, and darker if they are closer. The leafy tree next to the leafless one was done by having fun with the water, letting it dry slowly and mixing while the water is wet. I just let the water go where it wanted to, and it created a lovely result! Look at the edges of the rocks how the color blooms off against the water! I loved it, so I kept it. I tell my students that when the painting looks just right, don't touch it! Drop your brush and let it alone until it's dry.

I call this painting "Letting Go," for two reasons. First- the tree has prematurely let go of it's leaves. And second, if you let the water in your watercolor go, you'll get some really fun results, like in this painting. The picture was taken by, once again, my good friend Christine Simmons. We were on a canoeing adventure at Camp Liahona in New York State. It was a beautiful, warm summer morning with an overcast to keep the heat at bay. I wonder why the tree was leafless in the middle of July?

Hope everyone has a very Happy Halloween!

<3,

Laura

The Unforgiving Art

2010-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

This painting feels like one big mistake. As I painted the background, I felt like it was getting too muddy, and the daffodil stems and leaves all felt far too organized and I couldn't seem to get the colors quite right. Nevertheless I thought perhaps it would look better once Megan was painted in. When I was getting closer and closer to the end, a terrible thing happened. My painting hand had brushed up against phthalocyanine blue - a very staining color, and that part of the hand landed right in the middle of my daughter's forehead!! *GASP!!* I scrubbed, and tried to lift it out, but try as I might the dirty deed was done. My painting was ruined.
Sure, I could see this as a tragedy. But frankly, I wasn't liking how it was turning out anyway. I'm putting this on my blog to show that mistakes are learning experiences.

closeup of the phthalo blue accident.

Thankfully I've been in the giving spirit recently. I didn't want yet another painting to go into the file of regects under my bed. So I decided to give this painting to a U.S Marine troop in Afghanistan. I thought that despite the major flaw, if anybody would enjoy looking at a picture of careless green daffodil bliss, it would be the soldiers in the greenless desert. I chose a special troop that is in need of letters, and I wrote this message to them on the back of the painting:

Giving my painting to people who will enjoy it makes me feel a like all this work wasn't such a waste after all.

Sincerely,

Laura D'Onofrio

Connecticut Watercolor Society

2010-06-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

I decided to enter my art to the Connecticut Watercolor Society Exhibition this past month. It was being held at the Silpe Gallery at the University of Hartford. This is the first time I've ever entered a painting into the CWS, and if two get accepted then I can become a member. Not only did my portrait of Megan get in, I recieved a phone call from the CWS. I wondered if everything was alright, and they said that my portrait of Megan won an award! They asked if I would be attending the opening reception to recieve the award, and I said yes I would. I was so excited! My first award! It's the Esther Fay Memorial Award. There were over a hundred entries submitted, 85 made the show, and 11 recieved awards. Since it was of Megan, we brought our model along with us. Just thought I'd share the news! I'm so proud! Here are some photos of the event:

Megan and I with our award winning painting

pretty cool!

Megan enjoys the cool breeze rising from the vents...

Receiving the Esther Fay Memorial Award

WAHOO!

See you soon,

-Laura D'Onofrio

Black and White Painting of My Daughter

2010-01-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Who needs oil painting portraits when watercolors are SO much cooler? I've taken on the challenge of portraiture, and like I've always said, the more paintings I create the better they get. This is the first in a series of three examples - a black and white portrait, a color portrait and a full family portrait. I am using my own family as an example, with the photograph reference and permission given by my good friend and amazing photographer - Christine Simmons (www.christinesimmons.com). I'm so grateful for her generosity and her helping me to expand my art creativity.

This portrait is an example of a black and white watercolor painting option. Black and White gives a feel of a raw beauty that color cannot fully portray. The very first black and white I had done was of the engaged couple in the snow, using only Paynes Grey. I realized that this was limiting, and I needed to have more of a variety in my color options. This painting was done using the colors Paynes Grey and Burnt Sienna. As I start to feel more comfortable painting black and whites, I'm sure I'll be expanding out to other colors.

Displayed is my daughter, Megan, at one year old. Holding her hands is my husband, James. The photo reference was taken on a snowy day at Waveny Park in New Canaan, CT. I had asked Christine for a photo shoot in snow because I always found snow to be so beautiful. This painting is the most real I've ever made, and anyone who looks at it has commented that they thought it was a photograph.

I am so excited with the paintings to come, and I give thanks to God for giving me this talent.

Sincerely,

Laura D'Onofrio

Darold Dreamboat

2009-12-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some old paintings and discovered a piece that was unfinished. It was a few years ago when my mom was on the phone with me and said "Nobody is going to buy these cars, Laura. Paint something else!" So I did go on to other things, but this car was put away, incomplete. Another reason why I did not finish him was because all of my other car paintings, I discovered, were facing to the left! For some reason I guess I favored left facing cars, and it wasn't until I was halfway done with this fourth piece that I realized the sad error. Well I took one look at him a few days ago and saw he still had some potential in him. I've decided to accept my car-to-the-left error, and maybe hope that whoever buys my car series will appreciate it, as if they were all lined up in a car show. This will be my fourth and last car in the series that I will paint at my own free will, unless someone wants to commission me to paint more.

Lastly, because my cars have not sold at the galleries despite their clever personalities, in completing this painting it came to my attention that I never actually named them! Sure, I always say they are like old men that tell a story of their lives, but they are nameless!! Only "1946 Chevrolet," and "Old Chevy Bus" and "Old Plymouth." How horrible! I hadn't known! These were all the things this last car spoke to me when I was painting him: "We have no names, We're all left facing, and yes I too have value!" How insensitive I am. So from this moment on, I am officially changing the names of my car paintings. The smaller paintings are the previous cars I had created in the past, and I would like to introduce to you my new main man, Darold, who hold center stage at the bottom.

<3,
Laura

"Eloquent Eugene" - He has a way with words, come close and he'll tell you all about it.

"Mild Melvin" - A little timid, yet very sweet with the ladies.

"Bucket Bob" - He kicked the bucket too soon.

And introducing "Darold Dreamboat." Isn't he a beauty? Competed against a Ford in his prime.

in case you all didn't know...

Young is out.

Experienced, mature and old are IN!

Portraits

2009-11-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

I recall one of my professors saying in class that he loves it when an artist paints when he is starving. There is a difference in work, so I hear, when an artist paints because he wants to, versus painting because he has to. Perhaps you can tell the difference?

After a year of being commissioned to do a painting (a baby and a big move to CT later), I finally finished it. If you ask me the hours it took, I can’t tell you. But I can tell you that it was almost all done while Megan slept during the night. I grew A LOT in this painting, trying to figure out what colors for skin looked best, and getting it just right to where the person looks real. By the time I got to the third person, I was far more confident in my strokes and was able to complete him in half the time than on the first. I had never done a portrait of this magnitude, 22x27. But it was a complete joy to create, and I hope that I can be commissioned to do more portraits like this in the future. Painting people would be so wonderful to paint.

Next, I had a friend who recently got married. This friend had been one of my bridesmaids for my wedding, and I wanted to do something special for her. I told her that I would like to give her a gift if she could give me the name of her Photographer. Miyo Strong was very considerate in allowing me to use her photograph of one of their engagement pictures to paint a portrait for them as a wedding gift. After coming home from my waitressing job, I stayed up until two AM and completed this in a night. The paint was all one color: Paynes Grey, which is a great navy blue that is easier to erase than other watercolors. The snow that you see was a result of “misket,” a liquid rubber that I sprayed on with a toothbrush. Once it was dry I could paint over it, then when my paint was dry and the painting was finished, I could wipe the misket off, revealing the original white canvas. They look so beautiful in the snow.

I pray you all are doing well. I can’t wait for the snow to come in Connecticut – it’s getting cold!

Sincerely,
Laura D’Onofrio

art at the city lights gallery!

2009-08-20T10:19:00.001-07:00

Hi guys!
My art has made it to a gallery again: City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport! They had a member's show, so I submitted my artwork for it. Five of them are up in the gallery - my 3 cars, the mailboxes, and my rose painting. The rose was actually being shown at the front window!! The gallery opening, however, was a rainy day, so I don't think many people got to see it from the outside, but I went out in the rain to take a picture for you. I apologize if it's blurry because I forgot to bring my camera, so I used my cell phone camera instead.

the art will be up until sometime in early September. There were a lot of beautiful pieces, including a quilt! Those are always some of my favorites when people decide to work with fabrics in art (I minored in clothing construction, that's why). Anyway, just thought I'de post.. I hope you all are doing well, especially during this difficult recession

-Laura

The Desire to Create

2009-05-11T09:34:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I have a little one now - Megan! She is my greatest creation, although I do not take much credit in creating her. Art has been slow moving because Megan consumes all my day time, and I only work at night. For those of you who are mothers, we know we only get one shot at teaching our children, and that time is now. Megan takes presidence over all of my art. However, I am progressing on a new painting of three teenage siblings that I can't wait to show you when it's finished. I had to put this one video in with my blog because this is the heart of my painting. One thing I know for sure is that God has given us talents so that we can uplift and edify others. Enjoy the video.
-Laura

Rose Painting and Moments Like These

2008-07-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s been a really long time since I’ve sent an art newsletter, and I deeply apologize. However, I have some very good reasons! Lots of things have been happening in the past half a year, like moving (twice…actually it will be three times in the next few weeks), my husband’s internship and then master’s program in accounting, but most importantly, a baby! There have been some crazy changes going on with my pregnancy, one of which knocked me into bed for pretty much 9 weeks of morning sickness. I couldn’t do much of anything! Not even paint a picture. Thankfully I’m writing this in the middle of my second trimester, and I always like to keep the past in the past, so I’d rather not dwell on that. The good news is the baby is fine, healthy, and it’s going to be a little girl!!!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am! One thing I will have to get her is a kid’s painting easel so she can paint when I do, and will get some great art lessons (that is if she listens long enough!). Well, this is an art email, isn’t it? So let’s talk about art, and see some pictures!

These past few months there have been several things that have stuck out in my mind. The first is I have my bachelor’s degree, and what do I have to show for it? I realized that a degree means nothing unless you do something about it. The next thing is I was in the temple recently, and I was talking to a random woman who works there. While talking to her she said she’s been contemplating this thought: “If you don’t reach your goal, you never really wanted it in the first place.” It reminded me of a painting that I had sitting in my closet. I wanted so badly to finish it, but once morning sickness hit me I never really got around to it. So this past week I decided to finish the piece that I started.

This rose was from a bouquet James gave me for Valentine’s Day. They were all white roses, and I took some pictures of them before they withered away. I wanted to show you the picture so you can compare it with the painting. I think the comparison is pretty cool – a photograph versus an artist’s perception.

Also, notice that a white rose is never truly white. White actually contains all of the colors of the spectrum put together. And pure white can only be used sparingly in art as highlights. Otherwise if you painted the rose all white, you’d have a white canvas! What colors are the shadows? What colors are the tips? Thought you might have some fun spotting all the colors in a white rose…I did when I painted it!

There was a friend of mine who has three children, and she had an idea that she suggested one time that I decided to try doodling it onto paper and giving it as a gift. She said there was a little girl on a toilet with a dog and a cat in the room. So…knowing that I have been doodling in all my classes since I could remember, I took to it and came up with this:

Then I attempted my hand at colored pencil, which probably isn’t my medium of choice and didn’t turn out as fabulous as I had hoped, but oh well. Sorry for the not-so-professional-photography on this one:

I thought it was cute. It’s an 8x10, so she could find any old frame for it. Unfortunately I haven’t heard from her since I stuck it in her mailbox. Hope she is doing well….That’s what I get for giving out art! I do it so many times now, no wonder they call it a starving artist! Well what good is an art talent if you can’t better the lives of others with it?
I’m sorry I don’t have much else to show you from 7 month’s time, other than a fun car study, and a red flowers study to get me back into oil painting….well sure, why not! I’ll give you a peek:

They were going to be larger paintings in the future, and I was trying to work out color options in my study. But if you have been with me for a while, cars have begun to get old. Do you think I should make some more flower paintings? Also, I don’t think I continued with these because shortly after I found myself pregnant, I banned myself from using oils because of the toxic paint thinner. I didn’t want to take any chances. I’m looking into trying out water-based oils and seeing where it takes me.
Oh! I almost forgot! I have up a pretty daring auction - an original piece of artwork of any subject you wanted, framed, signed and shipped to you for free. This is a one time thing and it was more of an experiment to see if anyone out there really wanted an artwork commission. I know a few of you will protest and tell me this might not be the best route to take. But when you're slightly strapped for money you'll end up doing some crazy things. This is one of them! If you are interested you are welcome to bid. But hurry because the auction ends in three days time:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290248223196&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=019

Thanks for all your love and support! Remember to keep on dreaming and trying to reach your goals!

Sincerely,

Laura D’Onofrio

Lilly Pulitzer Commission

2008-01-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

How bout it? My first real commission! My friend Suzanne asked me to do some sketches for her interview with a fashion company named Lilly Pulitzer. I was asked to sketch a car and its interior, and some rings, all having a Lilly Pulitzer design and/or logo on it, or in the words of Suzanne "to make it look Lillified." You can check out the posh fashion at: http://www.lillypulitzer.com/ I never considered my rendering skills would actually be put to use (I'm a painter not a sketcher), but nevertheless I did take drawing classes, didn't I? I knew how to make sketches, no problem. The trickiest part was I basically had to create them all in one day. 12.5 hours later, I was able to complete my assignment. I wish I had more time to make the lines darker, but for a 24 hour day it wasn't possible. Thankfully what I had done happened to be just perfect for Suzanne. I feel my work is truly satisfying when the consumer loves the completed product. Seeing her happy made all my efforts worth every minute. I realize my photographs of the sketches aren't very clear because they were sketches and I didn't use great lighting, but hopefully you'll be able to see them. I tried brightening the image on the computer so you can see it better....but as some of you know, the computer is definitely not a strength of mine. I'm a fine artist, not a graphic designer! haha!

At the moment I'm working on a piece that involves my niece, Grace, who is 6. I've always wanted to paint portraits of little kids, so this is a chance to test my skills I had received from college. Besides, both Grace and I are pretty excited about her being my muse. ^_^. Stay tuned for that painting, I'm hoping it will turn out as beautiful as I envision it! Hope you are doing well!

Sincerely,

Laura D'Onofrio

student art show and upcoming plans

2007-12-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

I now have a new site on cafepress.com, where you can buy my art as a print. You can have a car on T-shirts, mugs, baby clothes, etc. it's also a heck of a lot cheaper then buying the original painting. Check it out:

http://www.cafepress.com/dadsoldvehicle

The art and music festival in September went alright. Unfortunately the festival wasn't advertised well enough, and on top of that it rained and snowed the day of the festival, so we were stuck inside. I suppose a lot of people thought the festival wasn't going on because of the weather, so we didn't have many people come. The only people who did come were college students to listen to the bands play. They weren't at all interested in my work. It's alright though, it was nice to meet new people.

Well, some of you may know it's James's and my last semester here at BYU-Idaho. Just two weeks to go! The Spori gallery was holding a student art show, and had asked for submissions. I had entered my cold rusty cars, and the funny thing was my Old Plymouth got into the show. I came by in the middle of the opening night to say hello to some of my friends who were in the BFA show, and I was surprised to find out that they had distributed awards, and I received honorable mention in watercolor for my old Plymouth! I suppose this is something significant to put on my resume. Here's a picture:

I had also entered an art talent award held by the art department and was surprised received $200! Looks like I'm not such a bad painter after all! (haha). My university has done so much for me, it is going to be very difficult when it comes time to say goodbye. We will be moving to Connecticut and staying with James's parents, and they are designating a spot for me in their downstairs for an art studio! MY VERY OWN STUDIO! I have such big plans for it, when everything is cleared out and I'm set up, I plan to paint my little heart out, like it was a highly demanding job or something. I will call it....Laura's inspiration point!

In my business professional arts class we had to write down the addresses of 100 galleries for our own future reference. I exhausted all of the galleries of Connecticut, and as I was entering New York galleries I think I was going cross eyed until I collapsed at 100. When I get back to Connecticut, I plan on contacting those galleries, visiting with them and showing them my work. Hopefully one will think I have some potential and sell my art! And concerning the production of work: I hope the more paintings I produce the better I will get at it. I know I have so much to improve on as an artist, and I want to find my own style, but I just am bursting at the seams to begin that voyage.

Finally, this will be the last I will be writing to you from this email. The end of the semester is coming, and so is the end of my BYU-Idaho account. Please update your address books to my new email address, where I will be sending you more updates:
juneflower7@gmail.com

Thanks so much for believing in me, everybody. I hope to wow you with future works from my easel as I finally begin my full time career in fine art.

Sincerely,
Laura D'Onofrio

Old Chevy Bus

2007-09-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys!

A new painting is finally completed and framed, and you are the first to see. I've been preparing for an art and music festival that will be held this Saturday in Rexburg at the fairgrounds. It starts at 11:30am if anyone around here would like to say hello. I'm teaming up with a great printmaker and friend of mine, Miranda pabst. She'll be sharing a tent with me. Hopefully someone will buy our work so we can pay for college.
So this new painting, I've been trying to make more cars recently to kind of put together a car series to show galleries in the future....or maybe I'll just sell them at the festival. But what's interesting about this vehicle is I have no idea what year or make this chevrolet bus is. It looks a lot like a volkswagon bus, only it has a cool grill on it and the emblem of the chevrolet is dated before the bus came out! It's very confusing, so I have no choice but to call it the "old chevy bus," for lack of a better name. Here's the picture of the original vehicle:

and here is the picture of my painting that came from it:

It's a small 8.5x11 painting, nothing big because right now I'm trying to finish up school (which will be in december! yay!). But once I'm done with school I really do hope to dive into my art full throttle. I love painting old rusty cars, they have such character!

My old plymouth painting is getting custom framed for the show, and some of my paintings that I'm not able to afford to frame I'll probably be getting them shrink wrapped. I'll take some pictures for you of that really fun day. Wish me luck in selling my work!

Sincerely,

Laura D'Onofrio

July 10, 2007 - The Old Plymouth

2007-09-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I've been feeling a little down lately - I have lost my I-pod. It was a little shuffle one, but still as you probably know, they are expensive. It's been really hard on me, I've retraced my steps and checked the lost and found, still nothing. It may not be such a big deal, but I guess it is to me because music is what helps inspire me to paint what I do. Without music, things just look and feel so bland. Nevertheless, I wanted to write this email to you because I think it will help me feel a little better. My class went out to Rex's Autobody, the same place where I painted my 1946 Chevy and got it into that museum. I was really excited, because for some odd reason, old and rusty cars is what I paint best. They are fun to create, and fun to look at. I took a picture, created an outline, and painted another gorgeous car from olden times, showing it's beautiful age. These cars are like the elderly - they have their own kind of beautiful, and it cannot be displayed until after 60. I painted an old Plymouth, and he is a very handsome chap. He also wants me to tell you that he's very happy to meet you. Here he is:

just look at that grin! It makes me want to just do a little dance so he can keep on grinning. Just looking at him makes me feel just a bit better. But yeah, like I said, for some strange reason, old and rusty cars are what I can paint best in watercolor. The texture is always fun to do - add a little rust here and there, throw some salt in, create some water blossoms, make the rusty dripping lines, and there you go! These cars are so fun to do. I'm thinking about making like...a car series. You know, a bunch of paintings of different kinds of cars, enough for an exhibit. Then maybe one day a gallery might actually make it an exhibit. That would be cool. I feel better already. Thanks for lifting my spirits, guys. But most of all, thanks for always believing in me.
<3,
Laura D'Onofrio

June 27, 2007 - Old Wive's Club, Rusty Spout

2007-09-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Well, painting has been kind of slow recently. I have been feeling as though I'm losing my touch with watercolor. It's been so difficult to get back into the groove of it all ever since I left oil painting. I guess you could say once I was granted more freedom to correct mistakes from oils, it's hard to go back to watercolor where it's all much less forgiving. I do have a few things to tell you though. Concerning my mailbox oil painting from last semester - James and I went searching the framing places around here, and found this awesome old frame made out of barn wood that went perfect with the picture. James took the liberty of hanging the 20x24 picture above his desk in his office. He also stole my small study of the England thatched roof and put that in his office too! The thief! (haha).

Well anyway, now his accounting job, ProAlarm, has free fine art hanging everywhere! Well, at least it kind of gets my name out. A lot of people have shared complements. But the thing I wanted to tell you was his boss, Valerie, seemed to take a bit of a liking to my mailbox painting, and when I came in to visit James she asked me to make an offer. I thought about it for a day or two, and I have a big attachment to those mailboxes. It was the painting that I enjoyed every minute painting, where it was all one big adventure to make. I couldn't let my baby go for a cheap price. So James told Valerie my price offer and she said that it's worth every penny. She also said she will get back to me on the company paying for it in July. So THIS IS IT! My first painting is being sold!!! I'll be able to pay for my fall tuition! JOY! This is a milestone! I'm now going to be a REAL artist, who sold a painting! YAY! My dreams are unfolding! :)

Also, the tiny 8x10 painting of "grandpa and me" has been framed and shipped to my dad. He had requested it a long time ago, and even though I didn't get paid for the painting, our deal is that when he has his own desk at work, to put it somewhere by his desk and tell his friends about me, that I can do families, children, anything, so I can get more business.

I've also said my goodbyes to one of my old watercolors I had made over a year ago. It was the picture of a very pregnant girl at the time in my class named Heidi. I wanted to create a painting of her because she was almost due, and was simply glowing. It has her and her husband, and I never got around to giving it to her until now. Her little girl who is now a year old is just beautiful, and I felt it was the best thing to do since her and her husband Tony sat so long for me while I took photo references. I didn't mind parting with the painting because I feel I've come a long way since then, and they would enjoy it far better than I would have behind my couch!

Gosh, I've been handing out a lot of free paintings lately, but hopefully word will get out, and business will pick up.

Ok, now we're going to get to the brand new stuff. The new art pieces! First, I snapped a photo of a group of elderly women reading together, and I slapped together a little watercolor. I call it "the old wives club." It's a little looser than what I normally do, but hey! i'm experimenting!

This next one is of a water spout. It's next to a forgotten home that is waisting away. My class and I went to this place where there was an old barn, and I took lots of pictures, but for some reason this one particular picture was what interested me more than the barn. I don't think i'm really the generic barn with mountains in background painter. I guess I like painting subjects that have potential to be something great, not something where you can take a photo and it already has it's magesty. Anyway, here it is, the rusty water spout:

Lastly, I'm in a figure drawing class at the moment, and our assignment was to draw the light on the person. If any of you are getting nervous on seeing a nude, no worries. I happen to go to a very conservative school where the models wear bathing suits. Although I oppose clothed models for the sake of studying the human fgure in art, I suppose it is a benefit to the viewers The medium is white charcoal, and it's on canson paper:

oh, and I laugh at this one, because I swear it looks just like paris hilton (although that wasn't my intention):

Well that's all there is for this email. I apologize to those who have already seen some of these paintings - it gets boring when stuff is repeated. On to new adventures, new paintings, and new enjoyments. Remember to always do what you love, and the money will follow..........hopefully........well let's be optimistic and say that it does! (haha).

Sincerely,

Laura D'Onofrio

May 17, 2007 - a better flowergirl picture

2007-09-13T16:53:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys, me again,

just wanted to send you a better picture than what I sent you before. It was a little fuzzy, and I think this picture shows a little more detail. Thanks!

-Laura

May 16, 2007 - flower girl

2007-09-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I've got some good news, Watercolor has come back into my life! I'm taking Watercolor 2 this semester, which some of you know I haven't seriously picked up for almost a year! It's been taking me a little bit to get into it again, as it's extremely different from Oils, but I think I'm beginning to remember how to do it. The first assignment was to free draw a still-life, and then paint it. I focused on some little dolls and used it as my initiation back into watercolor world...don't think I did very well, but hey, this one's just an exercise:

The second assignment was to paint anything we want in two colors. Well, I had stashed a picture of a flower girl I cut out of a bridal magazine that I had been itching to do in watercolor for almost 8 months! I figured now would be a good time to pick it up and do it. The only problem was there were such beautiful flowers in the picture, how could I possibly do them all in just two colors? Well...I goofed, and I didn't. I used my whole palette instead. :P I thought it was so cute by the end, I went out and bought a $20 frame for it (which is so not good because James and I are poor to the extreme, but I couldn't help myself!) I spent all weekend on it, watching three DVD's with my fold up table in the living room...well, the picture's slightly fuzzy, but this is the result:

Isn't it adorable? It reminds me a lot of my niece, Laura...the blonde hair would be on James's side...Who knows what our kids are going to look like. Even though I goofed on the assignment, Sister Ellis gave me a lovely A, and asked me to do another painting with the two colors. The picture is now hanging up in our guest bedroom :). I think the point of the 2 color assignment is that you can create tons of different colors with just two, so imagine how many you can make with a whole palette? I would also like to note that the "black tuxedo" in the background is not black. It's a blend of Payne's grey and Indigo together, making a really dark blue! I've been trying to steer away from black, but rather make dark blues and purples, because dark colors in nature are, in fact, cool colors. Sister Barker, the teacher that I took for watercolor last year, is actually in my class as a student this year and suggested to me that I try the Payne's grey and Indigo together. Well it worked! She's so talented, I guess you can never learn enough from one person.

Well I'm excited for this semester, are you? Hopefully I can make watercolor 2 look like a piece of cake, even though it is the hardest medium. one of my most beloved sisters in law is getting married in July, and for her wedding gift I'll be doing a painting of her choice of her wedding. This makes me so happy, because I feel like I'm sharing my talents to others, and not to mention I LOVE weddings! They're all so happy, and I'm so glad I get to feel that happiness and capture it in her future painting. That's her gift to me. Hope all is well with all of you.

Sincerely,

Laura

PS- On a side note, I have become infatuated with a song on my ipod, and I highly suggest you all listen to it. It's called "Eternal" by William Joseph. Incredible piece, he does his own music, and he has his first CD out now. I think that song gives me a lot of inspiration for what I do. I play it over and over!

April 6, 2007 - Grandpa and Me

2007-09-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

My aunt recently asked me if any of my paintings are for sale...the answer is YES, they are! Please buy them off my hands so I can be able to pay for my schooling! I know that the best way a business can be successful is through word of mouth, so please spread the word that I'm an artist and am happy to do requests of almost any kind. I will say, however, that this painting I will be showing you is not for sale.

My final project in my painting II class was to paint a self portrait. It could be any expression that we wanted - a view from a mirror, everything that makes who we are, a head study, us as a child, the exploration was up to us. I already knew what I wanted to paint the moment he said it, and it was a feat I desired to confront. I've only done one portrait, and that was a head study and it wasn't very good. I was timid in confronting this assignment because it was something I didn't want to mess up. Have you ever been faced with a challenge and you want to be successful in completing it because you want to prove to yourself that you actually can? Well that's what this assignment was to me - a personal challenge. I have always wanted to make a good portrait, but more importantly, I always wanted to make a portrait that actually looked like the person. That's important, isn't it? I have been able to do it in watercolor a few times, but oil is a more difficult medium for me. Well, like I said, I knew exactly what I was going to do, and I am going to tell you all about it.

One of the things I did as a kid was rummage through my mom's old boxes of stuff. The basement was like searching through treasure, and I would find lots of cool things that I'd call my own and bring into my room. (Sorry mom, I repent today!!). There was one particular box that I loved to look in, and that was the box full of pictures of the past. What kid doesn't want to see pictures of when they were little, and what their parents looked like back then, etc? My mom always told me to not go in there because I would always mess up the order of the pictures and separate the pictures from the negatives so she couldn't make duplicates. (Once again, I'm sorry mom!!). There was one time I found a picture that I truly loved, and it was of me and my grandfather whom I called Pop Pop. I'm wearing a little pink dress, there was something white on my face, he has his arms wrapped around me and we are both smiling as we are looking at a soap bubble I made on the wand from my magenta bubble bottle. But here's the really cool thing: The picture came from a roll of film that was somehow damaged, and the bottom of the picture has a white cloudy look, and the picture was tinted pink. From that description it sounds ruined, but in all actuality, it gave the picture a kind of...heavenly clouded look, as if someone were imagining a scene from the past. It was really beautiful. I took that picture (parted ways from the negative), and set it in a frame in my room that had a pink flowery border. It was perfect. One thing many of you do not know is that my grandfather died of cancer when I was in first grade. I don't know what type of cancer, but here is something really interesting to know: My grandma told me that when I was really little, my grandpa said to me that for my birthday I can have anything I want and asked me what I would like. I told him "Pop Pop, I want you to stop smoking." The day I told him that he quit cold turkey. He never touched another cigarette again. But it's sad to me that he died of cancer, and I hope it wasn't because of the addiction that he so faithfully discarded. The picture that I stole from my mother's box, I think I looked around five years old. It was not much longer after the picture was taken that he passed away.

On one of my visits to my Dad's, I brought my picture and frame with me and showed it to him. Dad loved it, he adored it, he loved it so much he actually stole it from me and put it in his room!!!!! I asked him many times to give it back, but I think I understand now why he didn't, because that was his dad, and his little girl, caught in the world's most perfect moment, with the two of them together. It sat on his nightstand, and the light ascended on it every day from the window. The picture today is different than the one I first had because of the sun damage. The color has actually turned a really cool maroon instead of pink, making it look a lot more antique. About a year ago, mom was in the process of selling her home. I decided that before she finished packing everything away, I would go searching in that same box for the negative of that picture. It took a while for me to find it (mom hid it because I kept messing everything up in it), but I did find the box, and after searching through thousands of pictures, I found the group it was supposed to be in. There were negatives with the pictures, thank goodness. Looking at the other pictures, I finally realized what that white thing on my face was. A short time before the picture was taken, I was at my parent's friend's house, Bev and Neil Buckley. From the story I heard, a cat came into their house that had just been in a cat fight. I went to pet the cat, and it lurched at me and bit my cheek. I have no idea what Bev and Neil must have thought, but they took me to the hospital and all I remember was being really scared and screaming on a cot with some people with masks hovering over me. I got stitches, and they put some white gauze and tape over my cheek. That was the white thing on my face!

When I found the negative, I made two prints, one for me and one for my grandma. I now have the original pink picture again. This past Christmas, Dad and Irene gave me a beautiful gift: a frame that says "Good memories last forever. Laura and Pop Pop, in my heart always," and the picture was the maroon picture. Dad has always kept nagging me about painting this picture, but I have been reluctant to because I didn't think I would do a good job in rendering this picture. However, in this assignment I knew I had to take on this picture. Not for my dad, it was just to see if I could do really do it. Could I really recreate a picture I have seen for so many years? Well...I don't think I did, but I do think I came pretty close.

Since it was finals, I wanted to buy a canvas that was small, so I could do it in less time and be able to work on other things I needed to do. You would think that the smaller the canvas, the smaller the space, the easier it will be to paint a picture. WRONG!!!! I thought that too! I now am more the wiser. Remember the mailboxes picture, how it took me over twenty hours to paint? This tiny 8 x 10, compared to that 20 x 24, took just as long, if not longer, I lost count of the hours! Because it was a small canvas, everything had to be rendered small. I used a teeny brush with, I swear, had like 10 hairs. I painted most of the picture using this tiny haired brush, which in turn took just as long and far more painstaking compared to the mailboxes. It took me almost every evening for two weeks to finish it. From 5pm till 11:30 I was slaving away, and I think the security guy knows my name now because he always kicked me (and James, he was faithfully there by my side) out at closing time. When the time came for it to be due, I was not finished, but I was to a point that no one would notice. I don't know what grade I got, but it doesn't really matter. That same evening I finished the last details of my painting, and put my brush down saying it's as good as it's going to get. Every time I walked away and came back there was always some major problem to fix, but now I must say that whatever errors there are, I'm done trying to fix all the never ending problems.

I have two pictures for you. The first is a picture my dad scanned in for me. It is maroon picture. I'm sorry I don't have a scanner to put in the pink picture that I have.

The other picture is the picture I painted, and I used the reference of the picture that I had, the pink one. Whatever you do, please don't try to compare the two, because I know I didn't render it all as perfect as the picture! Try to see the painting as its own being, because after a while I threw out my photocopied reference and just worked on what looked best for the painting. Here is my pride and joy: "Grandpa and Me."

Even though it isn't "just like the picture," I do feel accomplished in this work. In all the hours I worked on it, I learned a lot about creating a portrait, and I do hope that future portrait oil painting will help bring me to a better understanding and greater abilities of rendering in the future. I hope I didn't bore you all too much! I Hope your lives are going well, I love you all, and be sure to seek out to conquer your own personal challenges!

Love Always,

Laura D'Onofrio

Mailboxes - Prints Available

2007-09-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
For a lot of you this is your first art email! But this has actually been going on for almost a year now, and hopefully I've improved a little bit in a year for you...enjoy!! SO, our assignment in Oil Painting II was to paint an impressionistic picture...I don't think I did very well as far as impressionism goes, except for maybe the tree and the shrubbery...but that's not the point! I didn't completely fail on this one! I've been struggling for almost eight months on oil painting. I couldn't find my true nitch, but I think when we got away from the rendering and the perfect trees and the so-realistic-you-can-jump-into-it paintings, I started to open up on this assignment. This is the first oil painting where I was enjoying the whole process, and I was so excited that I put my whole heart and soul into it. It may look easy, but this took over twenty hours to construct, resulting in late night painting at the spori, an 8 hour straight painting episode, AND, waking up at 4am on Monday morning so I could continue to work on it before class. I've never painted that much on any subject, and I've never wanted it to succeed so badly before either. However, through the painstaking task of slowly watching this picture come to bloom, I have never learned more from any other painting than this one. My professor had said that you have to paint a series of paintings until you get to that one that where you learn a great deal, then you rise to the next level and create another series until you reach the next painting that lifts you, and so on. It's like steps. Well, I finally reached my first rise in seven and a half months of oil painting, and I am so proud to show you all. I didn't know what to call it...US postal? Let's Go Get the Mail? I couldn't think of a cool name, so I simply stated the obvious title: "Mailboxes." I have some pictures to show you on it, and for non art majors I think this is pretty cool to see. This is a picture of what the painting was at the beginning:

It's kind of cool to see the beginning stages because it's nothing like the finished product. If you notice, everything is mapped out on the canvas as to where each object is supposed to be, and there a lot of dark spots. In watercolor you go from light to dark because once you go dark you can't lift all the paint up to make it light again. In oil painting, however, you do the opposite: you go from dark to light. You paint on top of dark places, and leaving some of the dark that was meant to be in the painting, thus creating a sense of depth...if that makes any sense. It's also important to make the outlines of everything in the picture so you'll know where everything is supposed to be (nothing out of proportion.) In the very beginning I actually took my photo reference, brought it to a copy machine and blew it up to fill the paper. Then I made a grid over it and then made the same grid on the canvas. I drew in pencil where everything should be (it was a lot easier breaking it all down into sections so I could draw it all better.) Once that was done I sprayed a fixative so that the lead doesn't blend in with my paint, and then I mapped the lines and darker spots in pre mixed colors so I could see where everything should be. I painted really dark on the more shadowy parts of the painting....trust me, I didn't get all this in a day. It's harder than it looks to make a sketch in paint. The paint can't be too thick or else it would blend in with the paint that goes over it, and you can't make the lighter parts of the picture too dark....that tree looks like one big blob...it's very unclear in the beginning how it's going to turn out. ....I just put you all to sleep, I know it....I'm so sorry! If it's any solace, you can make fun of my "ribbon." I didn't have a hair tie so I got a little creative with the masking tape! : }...and here's some pictures of me having a little fun with James taking photos!

Ok, so I got carried away. I hope you're laughing, because I was! If anyone told you painting wasn't fun...well they're right, it's actually a lot of work...but SOMETIMES you crack up, and then it's fun! (that's what twenty hours staring at a canvas will do to you! Only a true artist is one that has gone completely out of his or her mind....I'm just kidding.) Alright, so I'll show you the picture you've all been waiting for - the finished product!!!!!

There was something I decided to do different in this painting compared to all my other paintings, and maybe that's one of the reasons why I did so well. I put away all of my other colors and left out only my reds, yellows, blues and white. I used bright and dark shades of red yellow and blue, and did you know that if you mix ultramarine blue and crimson red together, they make such a deep purple that it looks black? That's what I used for the darkest shades. Now if you look again at the painting, taking to mind that there's only reds, yellows, blues and white in there, it's really awesome to see all of the colors that emerge from so few choices! Well, that's all I really have to say about this painting, because I think I said too much. I guess when you do something that is enjoyable from beginning to end, the work isn't so much work anymore, and the outcome is more of a success.

Sincerely,
Laura D'Onofrio

March 7, 2007 - Autumn in Idaho, Thatched Roof

2007-09-13T14:46:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I know it's been a while, but I just wanted to tell you all that I've been working on! Recently I have been feeling a little bit more confident with oil paints, so now I can show you my most recent work. I am currently in an Oil Painting 2 class, and the last painting we had done was a traditional landscape. I wanted to show you this picture because it was the very first painting I ever did and had my teacher actually tell me he likes it! I received my first A- ever in the seven months I've been with him. (I feel this is an accomplishment!). So I would like to show you my A- painting, my very first oil painting you will see from me (and hopefully they will only get better and not worse!). It's called "Autumn in Idaho," and you can check it out here:

at this moment I am currently working on my first impressionistic painting, consisting of mailboxes. When I have that completed I will be happy to show you - I'm excited about it already! The next painting I wanted to show you though is a watercolor I actually did a couple of months back for a woman who owns a bridal shop. She was interested in my work, so I found a wedding picture in a magazine and painted it. Have any of you seen this advertisement?

If any of you have a marriage planning in your lives, or are attending one for someone special, I think a watercolor portrait will be a wonderful gift to give. Just email me and let me know! This last one was just a study preparing me for my big impressionistic painting, but I figured I'd show you anyway. Nothing special, but I really kind of like it because it has this England feel to it:

That's all I've got for today, I have to rush to class now because I'm already late! But I love you all, and can't wait to show you more that I complete!

Laura

October 11, 2006 - sketches and the museum

2007-09-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, but I've been busy as a bee! I wanted to tell you all about what I've recently been doing. I'm now in an oil painting1 class, and it's a bit different than the watercolor I was used to. Here if I make a mistake, I can just wipe it off or paint over it. Totally new concept! We've been doing a few exercises to get us used to painting with oils, like determining value by using only black and white paint. Value is the lightness or darkness of something, and as an artist it is essential to see that. We also painted some fruit, this time using color. We were trying to use the skill of value into color this time...I'm sorry I don't have pictures for either of those paintings - I am a little embarrassed at how both of those turned out anyway. :( Don't worry though, I'm slowly getting better and when I make a masterpiece I'll be sure to show you all. :) The other studio art class I am in is head drawing. This is a required class if you want to take figure drawing, and I do understand its importance because the face is the first thing you look at in a person, and if the proportions are wrong then nothing will be readable/believable...here, you try drawing a sketch of your spouse or friend, try really hard to draw them exactly as they are. When you are done, you will understand just what I'm talking about with just how difficult drawing a head of someone is...even someone you see every day, and you thought you memorized the face!! Honestly, I don't believe a single person in my head drawing class can render a drawing as perfectly as the person is. Not even me, people! Not even my brother, Matthew who is also an art major (I know you have to agree with me, Matt!). But I suppose the key isn't always to make a face look exactly like the person. Rather the key is to make the person you draw look like it could be someone real. When Michelangelo sculpted David, he didn't have the original man in front of him. And if you honestly look hard at it, the sculpture is merely an ideal of what a man really looks like. Nevertheless, what makes it a spectacular sculpture is not that it isn't the original David, but the artist sculpted a man that in every proportion looks believable, as if he really looked like that or that some man could actually be that physically perfect. This is what we as artists (or me anyway) are trying harder to accomplish: believability. first in my head drawing class, we were discussing the correct measurements and proportions in most human beings. And now we are working on identifying shadow. Shadow is seriously important on a face because it helps make the face look more 3d on a 2d paper. I wanted to show you one of the drawings I did:
this is a sketch of the shadow of the model in front of me. The neck probably looks a little scrawny to you, but that's because I wasn't drawing the neck, I was drawing the shadow on the neck. I also took a picture of the model (with her permission), so you can compare the picture with the shadow:

I'm pretty sure this picture I drew doesn't look exactly like the model (and by the way the models took breaks, so it couldn't always be exactly the same), but the point is when you look at the drawing, does the shadow look believable? as if that were the shadow of the face of a real woman? This is what I am slowly working on, and I have been struggling a lot in these two classes because they are both really new to me. It's all skills I haven't mastered and it may take my whole life to master them, but hopefully I'm making progress. They say if you can master the human body, then you can draw anything. I hope to get to this stage one day. oh, here is me showing off my chevrolet at the Idaho Paints Idaho museum! I'm excited to have my apinting make it there. Hope you are doing well!

September 3, 2006 - Chevy was accepted

2007-09-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

Good news, Everybody!
Some of you might remember my beloved 1946 Chevrolet picture! I had entered it into the Eagle Rock Art Museum in Idaho Falls about a month and a half prior. The exhibit is called "Idaho Paints Idaho," and this Chevy is located at Rex's Auto Body in Rexburg, Idaho. The judges pick 50 pieces to put up in the museum, and then later on will judge out of the 50 the best of show, and the ones that will be going to the "traveling art show". Well dag nabit!!!!!!My piece was picked as one of the fifty pieces to be put in the museum!!!!!!! I have to frame it, set a price, and if someone likes it they can buy it anytime in the art show!! I'll let you know if this baby is going to be traveling or not, or if it's won any awards. I don't know though, I haven't seen the other artwork yet, but I bet a lot of it is far better than my beat up vehicle. Well I just wanted to tell everyone I GOT IN!!!! YAY!!! My work will be in a museum! This is really exciting! Anyway, just wanted to share the wonderful news!!
<3,
Laura

August 14, 2006 - Expecting

2007-09-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

No, I'm not expecting, that's the title of this picture (sorry!!!). This past week's assignment was 1/2 sheet of whatever we wanted, so I thought it might be a good idea to take another stab at painting people again...and again I feel the final result didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. I just can't seem to get them to look like...them!! But I always wanted to make a painting of a pregnant woman and her husband, because I don't know about you, but pregnant women are beautiful. :) I happened to know the perfect couple in mind. She's in my child clothing class, going on a week before the baby is due now, and she always looked so glowing and beautiful! And her husband would always come in at the end of class to see how she's doing. I didn't even know their names, but when I figured out what I wanted to do, I made lots of sketches of poses I wanted them in, and planned it out in my mind. I wanted her to wear a white shirt so the light can glow from her, and have them be in front of a window in the Clarke building, where at around 5pm the sun is going right into the room and would hit them so they glow on paper. I hoped and prayed she didn't have her baby before class. She thankfully didn't, so I asked her name (Heidi), then I asked her if she and her husband (his name I found out was Tony) could model for me on an art project I'm doing, and I would give her copies of all the pictures I took. She happily agreed!!! Let me tell you, the pictures I took of them were just adorable!! I wish now I would have done a different picture of them, but I chose two. From her belly up was one picture, and she had her legs apart which I didn't like, and in another picture her legs were together, so from her legs down was the second picture. It worked out really well. I don't think I did a very good job on some things, and I'm not going to point them out, I just feel I could have done better because the picture of them is prettier. Anyway, I hope you all like it though! I hope one day I'll get better at painting people. Besides, in watercolor you can't erase your mistakes, you can only try to fade it with water. But don't you worry, people! Next semester is going to be oil painting 1, and if I hear if I make mistakes on there I can either scrape it off or paint right over it! (JOY!!) But I am glad I have taken watercolor first because it is forcing me to not make so many mistakes. I hope in this one I've somehow captured a beautiful moment between two people who are very excited about their family.
<3,

Laura

August 11, 2006 - Cabbage

2007-09-13T14:12:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody,

This week's assignment was sort of an uninteresting one, but it had an important purpose. We went outside to examine the cabbages on campus, but the assignment wasn't really cabbage, it could be anything we saw really, just as long as the focal point was in the upper right hand corner (and for left handed people the upper left), and we use hot press paper. I did the upper left, and made some lovely cabbage. You might see some zebras in there too with how I made it. But can you see the focal point? The focal point is basically the spot on the paper that catches your eye...and painters sometimes do it on purpose like with a hard line or the most clearly viewed object. It really is important because when you make a picture you definitely don't want your focal point to be somewhere you weren't intentionally making it to be. Hot press paper is a totally different kind of paper, as I found out! Normally I used cold press, which has a rough feel and when you put water on it the water soaks into the paper. Cold press was really strange because the water wouldn't go very far into the paper, so the water would evaporate a whole lot quicker, so I had to do the background colors all fast. Oh, and speaking of colors, I didn't want to use just one purple or one green like on my palette. Before I started painting, I took all my yellows and all my blues and made different color greens, and took all my reds and all my blues and made different color purples. I had a total of 8 purples and 12 greens in this painting, to make it a joyful experience when looking at it up close in real life. I know the picture isn't as good as in real life, but oh well. Enjoy my cabbage!

<3,

Laura

August 3, 2006- Ridge 291

2007-09-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone it's me again,
So this past week we were given an assignment to paint a building of some sort to a blank background. In watercolor that's taboo, but we tend to like to break the rules a little. Hehehe. Well anyway, this gave me the motive to go and call the realtor about my favorite house in the whole real estate book in which I had pasted in my journal as one of the world's most beautiful homes. (EEEEEEE!!!) that's "quivering with glee" in translation. I made James go with me, and though feeling there was no real point in seeing a home we can never afford, went along for the joy ride anyway. Good thing I married a joy ride man, or I'd be in big trouble!! The realtor was kind enough to take time out of his day to show us the house we can't possibly afford. $200,000 home (I know CT people, can you believe it??) four bedrooms, 1 and ½ baths, gorgeously large backyard, a window in the kitchen placed thoughtfully in front of the sink (so you won't get bored looking at a wall when doing the dishes but can watch your kids play outside), a beautiful sun room (MY STUDIO!!!!) and there was even a hot tub to be left behind! ***hazy heavenly puffy things surround us*** The funny thing was, it reminded James a lot of his Nan's house, from the door knobs to the excellent use of closet space. It had inspired him on the way home to figure out how much he would have to make in order to afford it. We calculated everything down to the interest of a thirty year loan, but alas, we are but poor college students with a dream. SO I decided to immortalize it!!! Hope you like it, I changed the pine tree into some gorgeous oak, and the cement walkway into a brick dream walk. Nevertheless, it passed on the assignment. James was wondering how you could paint a white house on a white background. Just don't put anything on the page, right? Well I purposely made it so you can't see the left side of the house or the left column because of the beautiful white sunlight. I dunno, maybe one day I'll be asked to paint rich people's houses or something. But at least you all get to see our healthy real estate dream.
You won't believe this, but I found out just last Friday that the eagle rock art museum in Idaho Falls (30 minutes away from us) was holding a contest!! It was called "Idaho paints Idaho" and I could submit up to two pieces of my work in jpeg form on a CD of paintings that were painted in Idaho. Well my car was painted at "Rex's auto Body" and this house was painted on Ridge street in Idaho Falls. I had just a few days to submit my work. I took my paintings to a professional photographer who (after like 2 days later) managed to produce some nice photos the day my work was due, and the moment I was leaving for Idaho Falls to give it to them (august 2nd)! It was kind of stressful, I wish I had found out sooner so I wouldn't have been such a last minute girl! but I even made a PowerPoint presentation on my CD (I found out later it had 2 errors on it, and I'm kicking myself for it!) but that's what you get last minute. They were submitted, and I'll find out if my car and/or house were accepted by the judges to be put up on the wall! (yay!) K, I've talked enough for one day.
<3,

Laura

July 27, 2006 - John and Stephanie

2007-09-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

I had an assignment to paint a photograph of a person, and I had the option of doing four little paintings or one large one. I decided to do one big photo for my class, and I chose my niece, Stephanie, and not as cute brother-in-law, John, as my subject! (hurray!!!) As an artist I feel obligated to tell you all that this project was a complete failure. I know what a lot of you will say: it doesn't look like John, why is Stephanie's hair all crazy looking, where is the light coming from if the background is so dark, and if a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound? I know, I know, I have thought about all this, but I don't believe this painting can be saved. There has to come a point where the artist puts down her paintbrush and lets it be - even though to an artist a painting will never be complete. It once looked great, I think it looked pretty good at one point. That was when the background wasn't painted in, it was all white in the back, and Stephanie's hair had the perfect fluff to it, and the facial tones were just right, and it was beautiful! Then my teacher felt it would be good to do a payne's grey in the background to pop out the figures, which was true, it did need a good popping out. My attempt at the background was where everything went wrong, and I will not point out all the problems because then you will see them and agree with me that it's a failure. No, I would like to keep you all in ignorance please. I do hope you all think I did a good job! I know that with future subjects I will be able to perfect my watercolor people, but for now please accept this painting as an experiment. Especially John and Gemma- I hope you guys like it the most (or maybe hate it the most). I love you all, and hope you are doing well!

<3,

Laura D'Onofrio

July 17, 2006 - 1946 Chevrolet

2007-09-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

OK EVERYBODY!!!!

This is my baby, my triumph of all triumphs (so far anyway). I spent HOURS on this one, changing minute little things that probably meant nothing, but lo, this picture arose! We spent time in an antique junkyard, and I took lots of pictures. This one was the most unique out of all my photos. I wonder if this selling material!!??!! HMMM. The past few weeks I haven't felt like much of an artist, so this assignment I wanted to try to prove myself wrong, that I did have some talent, that I CAN do watercolor! I think I convinced myself that there is an artist in me. I hope you all will enjoy this painting as much as I have enjoyed making it!

Laura D'Onofrio

July 11, 2006- horse and cottonwood

2007-09-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

just wanted to show you my latest work! I was assigned to paint cottonwood branches because it has texture. Mine was the most colorful! haha. The other picture was from an internet website, I just decided to paint a horse. Hope you like them! Love you all!

<3,

Laura

Cottonwood painting:
Horse painting:

June 11, 2006- Little Pretender

2007-09-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

K guys, you thought that the little bird drinking some water was cool. that was just two colors. My next project was a silhouette, and I didn't want to paint a picture of someone else's photograph this time. So I doodled on my watercolor paper, and made this. I painted it in, the stars I used rubber cement, painted over it and then peeled it off...it didn't work as well as I had hoped, but I heard of this stuff called misket which is something used specifically for watercolor, which works a little nicer. Anyway, I personally like it. I don't think it will ever be finished as most artists do - you always see something that could be changed for the better. I also figured out that this picture is not the way watercolor should be used. I did it all too controlled, and watercolor is meant to be a little loose, else do oil painting. So I know come monday when we all critique our work, people are definately going to speak up about how too controlled this piece is. Other than that.....hope I wow you guys on this one!!

Laura

June 4, 2006 - Canary

2007-09-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

k guys, I know you think watercolor is really hard to do, but I finally completed my very first painting and I wanted to share it with you!! This is just to show you that watercolor is indeed possible, and I think I can get good at it if I put forth the effort. I am fine with your critiques, just remember this is my first one. Enjoy!!!