Little Angel - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Little Angel
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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 For the last few days, I've been working on a few commission paintings and haven't had a lot to post. Today I needed a break from those paintings, so I thought I do a little still life. We have a lot of our Christmas decorations out now and I just can't resist using them for my props. I grabbed this little angel and quickly set up a little still life with it. I have to admit this was just the kind of diversion I needed today.

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

A Little Christmas Cheer - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

A Little Christmas Cheer
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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 I've been looking forward to this time of the year for a few months now. Our oldest daughter, who's just 2 years old, is just starting to understand Christmas and the holidays in general. Almost every night before bed for the last few weeks, we've read her current favorite book, Santa Mouse. So it's been with great anticipation that I've been looking forward to getting the Christmas decorations out. Not only do my wife and I get the great joy of explaining all the traditions and mysteries to our daughter, I get a whole new set of subjects to paint for a few weeks.

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

Dutch Barns - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Dutch Barns
9x12 inches
Oil on Linen Panel
by
George De Chiara

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To get this painting, I actually used two different reference photos that I took somewhere in the Midwest many years ago. I liked the landscape in one of the images and the building structures in the other. That is one of the few advantages to working from photographs. If I had painted this from life I would have had to choose between the barns or the landscape I liked, but probably wouldn't have been able to use both. I took a lot of photo reference over the years, and, for all I know, the two I used could have been hundreds of miles away from each other. I can't remember exactly where these barns are located any longer, but I think they are along the Illinois/Wisconsin border.

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

Guard Duty - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Guard Duty
9x12 inches
Oil on Linen Panel
by
George De Chiara

Contact me to purchase this painting ($230).

 About a year or so before I actually starting painting still lifes, I started to collect things that caught my eye as something I might want to one day include in my paintings. As any still life painter will tell you, we all love our "stuff" and usually have it stashed all over the studio. You never know when you will need just that perfect thing to complete your still life. You'll find us hunting through the thrift stores for that must have tea-cup or bowl or even the odd knickknack. I've noticed that sometimes I use what I buy very quickly; other times, things that looked good when I bought them seem to lose their appeal once back in the studio and are doomed to sit and collect dust until I notice their charm once again. Well, that little statue in this painting was one of the first things I ever bought for my still life collection. I actually have two of them, along with a few other little figures that I got for $2 at an estate auction almost 3 years ago. Then, there it sat on the shelf in the window collecting dust. I tried it in a few other set ups over the years, but it never really worked out so I always removed it and put it back in its place. Well, I'm happy to report after three years, I finally used this little guy in a painting! Hopefully another three years don't pass before I use it again.
 
To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

Partly Sunny - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Partly Sunny
6x6 inches
Oil on canvas panel
by
George De Chiara

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One of the unexpected outcomes of the drought we had this year in Texas is views like this one. Normally the spot I stood to paint from would have been underwater, along with most of this scene. I was standing about 20 feet from where the shore line is normally. When I pick this spot for my painting the sun was shining though the rain clouds that threatened the day. After about 10 minutes of painting, the sun ducked behind a cloud and never came out again. Well, that's not totally true. Almost on cue when I stopped painting, the sun came back out for rest of the day. With any luck we'll have a very wet winter and spring to fill our lakes back up again. 

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

Last Light - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Last Light
5x7 inches
Oil on Linen Panel
by
George De Chiara

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Mondays are busy days.  I take care of our baby daughter until my wife gets in from teaching and then I have to pack up to get my painting in for the day.  Between feedings and tummy time, I figure out where I am going to catch the last light of the day.  It can't be too far from the house because the sun sets awfully early these days, so I am grateful that we live in an area that has so many parks with leaves that are changing in color.  Last night, I got lucky and stumbled upon this scene just before sunset. There where just a few rays of sunlight reaching the tops of these trees and in the back of the field. I had to paint fast to capture this scene before the sun was gone and it disappeared. Adding to that, even in November, Texas has mosquitoes and they tried to carry me away as I worked.  As for the painting itself, the biggest challenge was capturing the large foreground. I loved the cool colors of the grass and path and thought I could use these to give the foreground some interest.

To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.

Lake Como - An original oil painting by George De Chiara

Lake Como
6x6 inches
Oil on Canvas Panel
by
George De Chiara

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 It's been a few days since I've been able to update my website. I've had some technical issues that seem to be worked out now and it looks like I'm up and running again! I painted this on Friday afternoon at Lake Como in Fort Worth. This wasn't the area I set out to paint. I originally had two other locations in mind, but I wasn't able to find either one of them because of a GPS malfunction. Well, it may not have been entirely the GPS's fault. I forgot to get the addresses of the places I wanted to go. Instead, I just had the names of the parks, which I thought would have been good enough, but alas, it was not. So after an hour or so of driving around in the area, I thought the park I was looking for was in I finally gave up and went to this park that the GPS was able to find. I had never been to this park and lake before, but wasn't disappointed at all becaue this is a beautiful little lake. The changing fall color was a very nice addition to the scene.
 
To see more of my paintings visit my web site here.