Since August my studio time has been dedicated to the Ballou Mural Project so I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to introduce you to the work of other artists I enjoy.


LEON KENNEDY
Leon Kennedy is an artist with no formal training who paints images from faith and life on found objects. What I enjoy most about his work is it’s strength, simplicity and expression of his faith. He’s considered an “Outsider Artist” — an untrained visionary with his own unique perspective. You can see his work and learn more about him on YouTube. here.

LAURA JAMES
Laura James’ work is beautiful! What I enjoy most about her work is her unusual pallette which is rich and atypical themes that are unique and thought provoking. Mrs. James is an illustrator and fine artist based in New York. Her illustration work has been commissioned and used as sacred religious art in the Catholic Church. Her secular paintings are widely exhibited and collected. You can check out her work on her website here and see for yourself!

“Ballou Pride” Painting— After the sketch is transferred to the surface, I use acrylic and alkyd paints to complete the painting. My process begins with blocking in the painting with an underpainting of acrylic. This step is important because it allows me to apply an opaque layer of paint for the alkyds so I use less of it. Alkyds are a fast drying oil paint that have the characteristics of traditional oils but dry faster. Image#1— starting with the figures in the foreground I apply color and then work between the foreground and background, with a focus of completing the figures. Once the acrylic underpainting is completed, Image#4, I paint over the acrylic with an overpainting of alkyd oil paint following the same process, focusing on the figures, adding details and bringing the painting to a level of finish. Image#5 shows the overpainting of the figures progressing to completion in contrast to the other areas that need attention.

“Ballou STAY” Painting—My strategy for the project was to work on both paintings simultaneously starting with the Ballou STAY painting first because it was more complex than the “Ballou Pride” painting and would take longer to complete. My process for both paintings was basically the same generally starting with the foreground figures and then working between foreground and background with a focus on completing the figures first. In Image#2 you can see the blue charcoal pencil lines of the transferred enlarged sketch. Image#3 is the completed acrylic underpainting. Image#4 is the alkyd overpainting progressing.

I’ve been working on the paintings for the Ballou Murals since August and Praise God completed them last week. The images above show the initial process beginning in image #1 with a masonite panel. A cradle that supports the masonite panel is attached to the back of the panel. 1 × 2 pine strips are cut to size glued and nailed together to form the cradle. The masonite panel and cradle are glued together then clamped until dried. Once dried the surface of the panel is gessoed in preparation for painting.

Pictured above: the surface of each panel is prepared with gesso then sanded with a sanding block. The 8.5 × 11 sketchs are then enlarged on an oversize copier to the size of the paintings. Each painting is approximately 4ft wide. Charcoal pencil is applied to the back of the enlarged copy of the sketch then transferred onto the surface of the prepared panel.