Chickadee

This painting was a study in looseness. The idea was to do this quickly and to not go over knife strokes too much. I achieved this on the bird itself, but it was a little tougher trying to get an atmospheric background. My plan is to keep practicing this and paint a lot of chickadees this winter. 

I always premix my colors with a limited palette and was really happy with those. You would think a chickadee was just black and white--not so! 

8x8 Oil Palette Knife Painting

www.halliekohnart.com

The Fox Says

I know foxes seem kind of trendy right now, but my three-year-old has loved them his "whole entire life". This fox was his request, along with the purple background, and will hang in his bedroom.

Have you heard the song, "What Does the Fox Say"? Dancing with the Stars did an awesome dance to it. Here is a You Tube clip if you missed it. So good!  http://youtu.be/NFCtLxuhVvU

12x12 Oil Palette Knife Painting

www.halliekohnart.com

This is the Life

This commissioned painting was done as a gift for a baby shower. The expecting couple love sailing and are using that as a theme for their baby's room. The photo was taken by the mother-to-be. Hope they love the piece--I really like the dramatic size of the vertical panel!

12x24 Oil on Museum Quality Panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Tody Bird

These little tody birds are pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. With all those bright colors on such a soft little ball of fluff, I just couldn't resist! Enjoy!

6x6 Oil on Museum Quality Panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Cedar Waxwing

This painting was inspired by the flock of waxwings coming through to eat berries from our tree. The tree sits right in front of our kitchen window, and I always look for those yellow tail feathers that look like they've been dipped in paint. They might be around all year, but I only see them when those berries are ripe!

8x10 Oil on Museum Quality Panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Sphinx Hummingbird Moths

This painting was done as a request from one of my sons. For the past two weeks or so these moths have been visiting our zinnias. We all run out to watch them up close and I captured some amazing photos with my I-phone of all things. They look so much like hummingbirds, but even smaller! For a while it was one at a time, but then two would appear together. I was thrilled with this photo, and the memory of my little guys being so intrigued and excited by them. Love capturing special moments like this in a painting!

8x10 Oil on Museum Quality Panel

www.halliekohnart.com

Lucy the American Bulldog

Lucy is the companion piece to the commissioned dog Bruno. These two dogs were such a joy to paint. I realized how much I have come to love painting dogs while doing these pieces.

Painting a white dog was a bit more challenging for me than doing the brown one. I solved this by using the Paper Canvas app. This helped me to see the different values more easily. 

12x12 Oil on Museum Quality Panel

www.halliekohnart.com