This project is called The Land of Kalendra. Enjoy!!

Tahendra 

 Tahendra, the person shown here, is a traveler in the Land of Kalendra.   $1250  

What is Land of Kalendra? Here's the back story:
After my oldest daughter was born, it was hard to get time to paint - or do anything for that matter. She slept 5 hours at night and only took one 10 minute nap a day. I was afraid to drive to the grocery store I was so tired. The blessing in disguise (besides my daughter) was that at night my husband and I would  look at my paintings and invent stories chronicling  the adventures of a group of characters inside the world of my paintings.  At that time I didn't have the skill to paint portraits, so I wrote character descriptions and painted landscapes, confident I would develop the portrait skills.

I've been sifting through notes and finding more pieces of their story. The cast of characters I wrote about then are filling my canvasses now. I invite you to enjoy this adventure with me and add your 2 cents as you see fit.

Your comments are definitely valued and appreciated.

Lighting Approaches

                                                                                                                              $1250

I went to a concert in West Seattle where my favorite band Cloud Cult was playing. It was their first acoustic concert so they weren't expecting many people. They performed at the Arts in Nature festival the day after performing at the Seattle Center. Of course everyone wanted to be there!! The small community center they performed in was surrounded by a crowd because there was only room for about 80 people inside. The windows were open with people standing in the gardens outside and on the grounds. It was like the whole city had come to listen to them perform in what felt like a living room. We spent the day at the festival so we could be sure we were the first in line for Cloud Cult's concert. We earned our front row seats! They are all such amazing performers and kind people it was a real treat to be part of their first acoustic performance. My youngest daughter even made it her mission to give each of them a hug by the time we left that evening.  It was very memorable.

The band performed as the sunset streamed in through the window. The 'golden hour' light that lasts so long on an August night was spectacular. That was when the photograph was taken that I based this painting on.  Shannon Frid, their amazing violinist, was sitting near that window and had the lighting streaming across her face. When I first painted this I tried to paint the light coming through the window - but really it was too much detail and a distraction from her beautiful face. So I chose to use light rays more similar to a stage performance as a simple background.

Chiaroscuro Portraits

I have made some serious changes and now it's time to renew this blog (which I admit I abandoned for some time). I have been focusing on my portraits for the past several months. It definitely felt that was the direction my energies needed to flow. A collection of these portraits are at my website www.barbaraferrier.com. I was asked the other day if there was one thing I really wanted to do with my paintings – and honestly I’d have to say I want to improve my lighting techniques and the atmosphere of the paintings. I’ve always loved the work of Rembrandt and Rubens and their contemporaries in the 1400 -1600’s. Oh, yeah, it's also the lighting that is used in Film Noir, and in fact dramatic film, period. No matter how modern painting and design gets, there’s something timeless about the amazing chiaroscuro lighting that has been passed down for centuries. It’s definitely a keeper! And I’m increasing my use of it in my portraits. Next up for me: the shape of light!!!