Piano Duet by Pamela Blaies

Piano Duet

22" x 28"

Oil on Canvas

Yesterday I blogged about the prep work I did for this piece. I really enjoyed creating this one. This brother and sister were having so much fun playing together on the piano that I could almost ignore how bad the music was. Light and shadow give this painting the energy and vibrance that filled the room that day.

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Preparation makes Perfect by Pamela Blaies

Value Drawing

Color Study

8" x 11"

Today, I'm sharing my preparation routine for most of my larger paintings. First I do a rough drawing to finalize composition and establish value (darks and lights.) Then I will usually do a quick color study to make sure of the colors and how they work together. This new painting I am working on is really fun. I went to visit my dear friend in Stephenville, Texas, and got to spend some time with her and her precious kids. When I saw the beautiful light coming in through the wall-to-wall windows of their sitting room, I knew I had to paint it. I'm not sure if either of them can read music at all, but they sure had fun pretending to be virtuosos for me.  Tomorrow I'll post the final painting.

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Practicing Piano by Pamela Blaies

Practicing Piano
24" x 30"
Oil on Canvas

I took a few piano lessons as a young girl, but barely learned how to read the notes. However, when I was a teenager, I was determined to learn a song and picked out one note at a time and memorized the chords of each hand in order. It was very painstaking, but I was able to learn 3 songs and was thrilled. My kids have never taken formal piano lessons, but they love when I teach them little songs out of a piano instruction book I purchased. Especially my Regan, who practices often. This piano is from my husband's parents and we keep it in our red formal living room. I took many artistic liberties with this painting. I added a fictional window for some light and interest and I don't think either of my girls still have any long white sleepdresses anymore. But I couldn't resist making this into a morning piano practice session.

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