Washed by a King!

Inspirational Paintings for sale

Tug Tales

Tug Tales is one of my new paintings for the 2016 season.  This painting features the smooth reflections of the clear green water that slides past the weathered boats and docks of the Carp River, in Leland's historical Fishtown. The bonus of painting here is the historical interest of one of the few remaining active commercial fisheries in the state of Michigan. There is so much going on in this tiny village, and it is always a fun challenge to paint.

Big News for Rocky Rapids!

 

I painted Rocky Rapids last year in the the mountains of Tennessee.  It is a view of the headwaters of the Citico River, high up in the Cherokee National Forest, which is a part of the Great Smokey Mountain Range.  I entered this and three other paintings in this series (Posted here in earlier posts) into the America's Parks through the Beauty of Art competition, curated by David J. Wagner.  This exhibit features the artwork inspired by America's Parks including those in Canada, Mexico, and the US.  I was thrilled to discover that my Rocky Rapids painting has been accepted as one of 55 pieces in the exhibit.  It will be travelling across America with the Exhibit through 2013, and might even be exhibited here at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City, if all goes well.

Windy Good Harbor

This last painting, Windy Good Harbor, was painted in September 2012 after James and I spent a lot of time photographing the area.  I have a great repertoire of photo references to last me through the Winter now, so I can hunker down and paint my way through the worst gales and home-bound storms this season has to throw at us. I just recently entered Windy Good Harbor into the Art of the Sleeping Bear art competition.  I will discover in February whether it gets accepted or not.  If so, it will be exhibited in the show at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City, and will also be published in a coffee-table book showcasing the collection of art from the show.  I really hope it gets in!

  James and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary last week.  We also are finally in our new home on the south shore of Lake Leelanau, in Leelanau County.  And, while I am not yet settled, boxes are still everywhere, I am really enjoying my new environment.  I get to paint AND watch the families of ducks and loons paddling up the shore line from my studio/living room window.  It is the most beautiful view!  We are situated very close to the water, so I can easily see the lapping waves from my easle.  It is a nice vast view, around almost three sides of the house, and we are just across the lake from my mother's house.  I never thought I would be so blessed, but God is very good to me, and so is my wonderful husband James.  I have a commissioned painting deadline I am trying to meet, and so no time to unpack yet other than the essentials and my art stuff.  But, I can't wait to finish making this fabulous place into our home.  I'm itching to begin sewing curtains and bedspreads and making it cozy for us to settle into for the Winter.  Meanwhile, I know I am going to be highly inspired to paint in my new lakeside studio.

The Bridegroom Returns

While considering the theme of "Sacrifice" at an Art Barn meeting where we pursue the heart of the Father for the Arts, I had thought of all the usual images that come to mind, but was feeling no inspiration. I then asked the Lord, "After all was said and done in Your walk on Earth with us, what do You get out of all Your sacrifices?"

He answered me! He showed me this vision of "US" (His Church) dancing in His arms at last! He gets us when He returns for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. We are His Beloved Bride! He gets Us! And He gives us a new name, saying: Hephzibah! ... My delight is in Her!

Liberty's Lament

The Lord gave me this vision of Liberty in travail over this baby a few years ago, but I did not have all the elements of it in my understanding until just recently. I believed the Lord was saying I needed to paint it now. As I began to do my preliminary sketches, some new understanding dropped into my spirit. I knew Liberty was supposed to be in a city with the skyline behind her, but for about a year I had assumed it was to be New York. As I was sketching on that first day, I was listening to Lou Engle on a CD explaining why he was bringing THE CALL to Detroit on 11/11/11. I listened to the horrifying statistics on the number of black babies who are killed by abortion each year, and suddenly I knew Detroit was supposed to be in the background! And I then understood that Liberty held a tiny Black baby in her arms! Liberty is in deep travail, crying out for our American children's freedom - their freedom to LIVE - beginning in Detroit!

As Lou spoke, he declared that God is raising up a new breed of Nazarite Men: Black men from Detroit and from Michigan who would be consecrated to the Lord. These men will contend in prayer for the pre-born children in our land. They will become the force that will turn the tide of Abortion in America.

This swiftly rising wave of targeted murder is cresting today. It is so much more sweeping the the tsunami in Japan. Our precious tiny Americans are being washed away in a silent genocide, ...and so few cry out.

With this painting, I'm crying out.

Have Mercy, Lord!

May we work together to end Abortion in America!

To purchase this print, click on this link: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jenniferoakley.html

Great Smokey Mountains in the Spring

In this painting, I worked a little smaller (a half sheet of 300 lb. paper) and yet, I still managed to spend almost as much time on it as on my full sheet paintings. The level of detail was the issue again, and I just finally decided to celebrate that in this painting. It is the thing that draws me to an image, and I love to develop the contrasting textures and colors as well as I can. For me, that just requires the descriptions be done in great detail. So I am coming to terms with my Style! These things I mention are the reason why I paint. So, I am determined now to put the pressure to speed up my process on notice.

Rocky Rapids

I finished the fourth in this series from my Fall photo shoot in the Cherokee National Forest. This one was gruelling! I kept getting lost in the rocks in the foreground and it was a stop and start production as I worked on a couple of portrait comissions in the process. It seemed to take forever.

Did you notice the rope swing hanging from the tree in the center of the painting? The kids have a great time here in the warm weather, launching into the deep pool from the rocky ledges to the right. On the left side you can see the grassy area, which is a camp site that many of my friends here in Tennessee have enjoyed for years. They call this place the "Submarine Bridge" at the head of the Citico Creek. I was standing on the bridge when I took this picture.

Tommi & Marco

This comission was so much fun to paint! I love horses, and so I jumped right into this one with relish. I added some different trees to the background for interest, since the original photo I was working from had trees that were all the same - just foilage and no trunks or variety.

Summer's Childhood

What a beautiful little girl to paint, with her remarkable coloring!

Contrast is the key to this painting - and the dark treeline sets a foundation to make her skin tones glow and helps her hair reflect the light of the sunshine. Sharp edges vs soft edges - figuring out where to make the most of each is the big challenge here.

Night Mission Briefing

I just finished this painting this morning. I decided to take the advice of a friend who wanted to see a painting of one of my boys in uniform. I had always been intrigued with this image, with all of the anticipation of the mission: vehicles running, taillights glowing, and exhaust in the headlights. I love the challenge of painting textures, and capturing the mood of the moment. Granted, this is a heavy moment, and it was a bit disconcerting to be painting that knife that my son wears so confidently on his chest, knowing there must be stories that go with it that I probably don't want to hear. But that is the reality of life for our men in uniform. They are equipped and they are well trained - and none is more level headed and blessed with a deep and quiet honor than my youngest son, Ben. He is gunner on a Bradley fighting vehicle, and has served two tours in Iraq now. I'm so proud to know there are men like him, and Sandoval and his other "brothers in arms" keeping watch over our country. They are so young - and yet are trusted with so much. And rightly so!

Capturing the Moment

I just finished this watercolor of my son, Cory (Weber Photography) at work on a photo shoot. I thought the textures and lighting were so interesting in this photo, so I wanted to see if I could capture the same mood in paint. Not your traditional portrait, but this picture sure tells the story of who Cory is: focused, determined, thoughtful, pleasant, handsome, brilliant, and extrememly talented! Spoken like a mom... but still true!

Kati & Whit

If this isn't the perfect advertisment for their orthodontist, I don't know what would be! He sure does good work, with these beautiful smiles. This is a watercolor portrait I just finished, and had such fun doing. I am taking comissions now, so if you would like a portrait painted, you can email me at OakleyArt@aol.com. This one is smaller - 9" x 12", but it does the trick!

My Grandson, Cowboy Liam

I am now working on art for my Illustration portfolio, as well as working on Fine Art paintings for the gallery. I knew this photo would make a great illustration! This photo was from a day last summer when all my kids ended up in Petoskey at Ben's, my youngest son's, fiance's house. Kaitlyn is a riding instructor, but my grandson Liam (5) had fallen in love with her at first sight, even before he knew she taught horseback riding. So, he was completely in his element on this day, when he got to ride horses and be with Uncle Ben and Aunt Kaitlyn too.

Painting in the Cherokee National Forrest

So.., this is what I have been doing lately! Watercolor Painting for hours and hours!! It has been great to be producing art, and I hope to do even more in the next few weeks. I just love the colors of the fall leaves and the green water against the rocks. The day was overcast, in fact it was raining when we set out for the mountains for our photo shoot. But before long, the rain stopped, and the cloud cover lent a quiteness to the rugged landscape beyond the sound of the rushing water. We had to do a little bit of climbing to get the most dramatic photgraphs I was looking for. I like to get down as close to water level as I can get. These mountains are spectacular, and the possibilities for paintings are endless. A totally new subjects lies around every curve of the river. How I love to paint the water! Many people like the still waters of the third painting in this series, but in this piece, the force of the water and the strength of these broken rocks were the dynamic composition I was searching for. This one is my favorite of the bunch.

Baby Falls

THis is actually only half of the Baby Falls, but I thought it made for a good composition. It was hard not to get lost in the many rockfaces, so I deveoloped a progressive system of painting in sections after I got the drawing carefully done.

Painting in Tennessee

I have been busy lately, spending many many hours painting at last. I was so blessed to go into the mountains with my friend Jerry, who knows the mountains well. He took me to some of the most picturesque places, and we had a great time photographing these great places. And so to be able to paint them now is a real joy. I am getting re-acquainted with my watercolors for sure! These paintings of the river are all 22" x 30" or a full sheet of watercolor paper. Nice and big, but they each took a long time to do. I am looking into getting prints done of them.

Lake Michigan Shoreline!

Here is an Oil Painting I did of the view looking south to Empire from the North Bar Lake outlet. I love to paint the Lake Michigan shoreline. It is my specialty! This spot has a history for our family. I first brought my kids here when they were small, and then, just a few weeks ago, I got spend the day here with my grandchildren who are (normally) scattered across the country. What a joy!

A Veteran's Day Remembrance

November Eleventh is the day we get to remember our veterans this year, and this day is a particularly solemn one for our family. We remember Justin Paton, who was my son Ben's best friend in the Army. They met at Ft. Hood, TX. where they were roommates just after Basic Training. They deployed to Iraq together, and always went out on patrols together. Justin was killed while protecting Ben from sniper fire in Tarmiyah, Iraq.

I carved this plaque as a remembrance for Ben and his platoon to give to Justin's parents, Don & Shelley Paton. As I prayed about what to carve, I had a strong sense that I was to do the pond with the ducks at the bottom, although I did not understand their significance at first, or how they tied in with the eagle. As I was finishing painting (the final step before varnishing) I got the revelation that the eagle represented Justin himself. I felt the Lord explaining in my heart: "Some - like Justin - are called to soar high up above the tree tops - watching and carrying out the burden of protecting - while the ducks on the pond (representing most of us Americans) are safe to live out our lives." It is only because of these "called" ones that we "ducks" know freedom at all. As I explained this picture to Don and Shelley, it seemed to mean a lot to Shelley, who had not been able the look at pictures of Justin yet. "This, I can look at." she said. And added, "Still, I'd rather he was just a duck."

I want to say THANK YOU to ALL our men and women who have served in the United States Military. And a Special Thank you to James Timmons and Merritt Allinger and all the men of the 1st CAV's Bravo & Delta Companies, and the Michigan 129th Airwing, who all came to Ben's White Platoon's rescue during the ambush at Tarmiyah two days after Justin died. And Thank You to the Balad Air Base medical staff who took care of Ben and White Platoon as they recovered (all but one) from the VBIED blast that day. And I am thankful to the God who heals hearts and minds of men (and women!)... and mothers and fathers, ... and Nations.

Wood Carving

For the past few years I have been doing wood carving for the Log Home / Log Furniture industry. Here is a relief carving from a 12"x 14"x 2" slab of wood. This is the first of my carvings that I have done just for myself. I wanted to see what would happen if I could carve with the detail I love, and not be watching the clock like on a commercial piece. This was a lot of fun, and I am pretty pleased with it. You can't really see it from a strait on view, but the branches are freed from the background in several areas, creating a lot of depth to the relief. I flooded in some subtle color with thin washes of acrylic paint, and then many coats of varnish - both after lots of sanding! And I mean Lots! Sanding is the most time consuming (and patience building) step in a wood carving.