Zoo Flowers - An original floral oil painting by George De Chiara

​

Zoo Flowers © 

10 x 10 inches  Oil on panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

 Recently while visiting the San Antonio Zoo with my family, I spied this rose-bush. I instantly fell in love with the color of these roses with the way they were moving in the breeze. While our kids played in the children's area and my wife and in-laws took a much needed break on a near by bench, I snapped a few photos for reference to use back in the studio. After looking at these images, I decided that I like parts of several of them, so I took them into Photoshop and did a little creative editing to turn four of five of the images into one reference image I could use to paint from. While this is my least favorite way to work, sometimes, you just can't argue with the results.

www.georgedechiara.com

Dutch Branch Park - An original plein air landscape painting by George De Chiara

Dutch Branch Park ©

12 x 10 inches   Oil on panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

 It seems like the wild flowers are slow to pop up this year, but now we are stating to get a few. It's been a very dry start to the year and I'm sure that's contributing to the lackluster color so far. Some friends of mine discovered this small patch of blue bonnets and invited me to go paint them. Although the weather was mostly cloudy and very windy, I had a wonderful time painting with my fellow artists and spending some time catching up with everyone. Hopefully now that we've managed to get a bit of rain, we'll get a lot more wild flowers blooming in the fields.

www.georgedechiara.com

Where The Road Bends - An original plein air landscape by George De Chiara

Where The Road Bends ©

8x10 inches   Oil on panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

 It seems like forever since I've been able to get outdoors and paint. I've had a few projects in the studio keeping me busy lately, but I was finally able to find some time to get out. I found this scene along the back roads in Weatherford, Texas. I painted almost this same view once before, that time I was looking a little more towards the right and didn't have the road in it, but this time I felt the road added a nice element to help lead the eye into the painting. Plus, I didn't want to just repeat what I've already done.  It felt good to be out with the sun shining on me while I painted. I can't wait to get out again!

www.georgedechiara.com

Reflections - An original still life oil painting by George De Chiara

Reflections

10 x 10 inches  Oil on Panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

Reflections is the latest painting to come from the studio. I didn't set out to include so many reflective objects in my scene, but as it evolved more of more shiny objects seemed to find their way in there.  Some of them were easier to paint than others.  I must have wiped off and repainted the bronze planter three or four times before I was happy with it, for example. The biggest struggle I had with painting it was keeping the color harmony correct within the bronze. Finally, I remembered one of the things Richard Schmid talks a lot about in his videos, using your color charts when painting. I must admit I've let mine collect a little dust over the last year or two, but I don't think I'll let that happen again. As soon as I pulled them out and studied which ones had the colors I was seeing in the bronze things came together quickly with the painting. Lesson learned. Thank you Mr. Schmid!

www.georgedechiara.com

Moo - An original farm animal painting by George De Chiara

Moo ©

8x6 inches   Oil on panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

Being the father of two young kids, a four-year old and a two-year old, I hear my fair share of old Mc Donald being sung around the house. Sometimes I'm also privy to variations of the song including "Old Mc Daddy had a farm", one of personal favorites. I must have heard the song quite a bit over the weekend because without thinking out it I went to my studio today and  painted this cow. The whole time mumbling to myself E-I-E-I-O.

www.georgedechiara.com

Pom Poms - An original floral painting by George De Chiara

Pom Poms ©

6x6 inches   Oil on panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

 Anyone out there good at identifying flowers? After painting these,  I spent sometime online trying to figure out what type of flowers these are, but couldn't find them. If you have a guess, let me know. I believe they are some type of wildflower, but I'm not sure. At one point during the painting process my wife mentioned that some of them sort of looked like pom poms, that's where the name came from.

www.georgedechiara.com

Beach Flowers - An original floral painting by George De Chiara

Beach Flowers ©

6x6 inches   Oil on panel

George De Chiara

Click here to bid.

For the last several years, my wife and I usually take a vacation to the Gulf Coast to enjoy some time on the beach. It's become a tradition we both look forward to each year because the sun shines, the water is warm and you can walk for miles on the beaches. On one of the first trips we made, I came across a small patch of morning glory flowers blooming on one of the sand dunes. I snapped a few photos of them, but never did anything with them. Recently, I stumbled on the photos again and decided they sat in my photo reference draw long enough.

www.georgedechiara.com