Tag Archives: lucky red

Lucky Red #6 – White Elephants

Posted on December 30, 2018 | Comments Off

Lucky Red #6 – White Elephants, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20, Kit Miracle. This is another painting in the series which depicts many symbols of good luck.

This is the sixth painting in my Lucky Red series. There are more symbols of power and good fortune in this set up. The still life arrangement plays off the many shades of whites and reds with a little green for eye relief. I love the way it glows.

Lucky Red #6- detail 1. Here you can see the various treatments of white. White alabaster elephant, white satin background, white bone and pearl necklace. I also love the red pomegranate and apples for contrast.

Both of these white elephants are relatively new acquisitions. The alabaster elephant on the left has a creamy glow and its upraised trunk portends attracting good fortune. The white elephant on the right has a lowered trunk which symbolizes leaving good fortune. Elephants also symbolize strength and power (not a surprise) in addition to honor and stability. These all seem good qualities to me.

Lucky Red #6 – detail 2. More close-ups of the second elephant, pearls, and apples.

Again I have placed a pomegranate in the painting. This symbolizes fertility as do the apples in addition to knowledge. The martini glass is just for fun. Of course.

The pearls in the necklace also connote many positive meanings: sincerity, purity, good luck, wealth, integrity among others. Plus, they were fun to paint.

Lucky Red #6 – White Elephants. This is the set up as I had it in my studio. There’s a lot of eye/hand coordination when painting a still life, or anything from life actually. Mostly, it’s a matter of practice, practice, practice.

I can’t vouch for the veracity of the good fortune that any of these items will bring, but I love to create still lifes that are a little beyond just pretty pictures. This series of Lucky Red still lifes features good luck symbols and the color red at least somewhere in each painting.

This painting was a fun challenge to paint with so many shades of white and red, reflections and shadows.

Purchase painting here. https://www.etsy.com/shop/KitMiracleArt?ref=l2-shop-info-name

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Posted in contemporary impressionism, still life

Tagged acrylic, apples, contemporary impressionist, elephant, good luck, kit miracle, lucky red, pomegranate, toned canvas

Digital frustration

Posted on November 13, 2015 | Comments Off

Lucky Red # 3

I posted some photos of some sunflower paintings that I created the past few months. My intention was to create 12 paintings for a calendar. So I decided to revive my old Cafe Press account (http://www.cafepress.com/kitmiracle). It was so frustrating. Nothing seems to be intuitive or logical with Cafe Press. (And I have managed blogs and websites for over 20 years now so I’m not exactly a rookie.) They have so many pages and subpages, often with different instructions. For practice, I decided to upload my Lucky Red #3 dragon design and create a few products with that image. More frustration. Anyway, the page is updated…sort of. And I’ve got several of the dragon design items for sale. Unfortunately, Cafe Press offers 250 different items. Sheesh! If you don’t see the item you want with the dragon design, just let me know and I’ll create it and get it up there.

Meanwhile, back to the sunflowers….

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged cafe press, dragon, lucky, lucky red

Lucky Red 3

Posted on April 16, 2014 | 2 comments

Lucky Red 3 – final, oil on canvas, 18 x 24, Kit Miracle

This is the third in the Lucky Red series. Another jade dragon but not the same one that I posted last time. For some reason, this one took a lot longer. Not quite sure why. There is a fine line between painting every detail of the jade or emphasizing the shape of the dragon. I was having a little more trouble with conveying the sinuousness of the dragon than previously. There also weren’t as many distracting details but total focus on the dragon shape. Check out the link for the step-by-step links. https://my90acres.com/artwork/lucky-red-3-step-by-step/

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Posted in art, oil painting, painting instruction

Tagged kit miracle, lucky red, oil painting, painting instruction

Lucky Red 2

Posted on March 9, 2014 | Comments Off

Lucky Red 2 – final. 18 x 24, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle

In keeping with the red and good luck symbols, I created this still life after the first one. There are a couple of common elements to Lucky Red the first, such as, the bamboo plant and the small fish glass paperweight.

Here you see a large jade dragon signifying the year of the Dragon and a jade/silver/gold bracelet with the I-Ch’ing symbolizing Ta Yu or number 14. Unfortunately the bracelet wasn’t so lucky as it was damaged in a bike wreck. Humph! I also have a sleeping cat from Provence suggesting my name – and the cat sleeps with one eye open. The gold cup is from my mother and the tea is Yogi brand (Detox). I always like to incorporate a sense of humor or irony in my work if I can do it very subtly. The seashell doesn’t represent anything in particular; I just like it. And the red cloths for the background – one a kind of orangey-red batik and the other a medium dark red.

Lucky Red 2 – initial still life set up. Notice the peach gel to diffuse the light.

Lucky Red 2, initial drawing on the canvas

Lucky Red 2 – first washes

Lucky Red 2 – more blocking in major colors

Lucky Red 2 – adding more colors

Lucky Red 2 – step 6, adding more details, color corrections

Lucky Red 2 – adding more details. This is the 85% mark when all that is left is to tweak the details.

A view of the painting with the still life set up behind it.

Lucky Red 2 – cup detail. Notice how abstractly this gold cup is painted.

Lucky Red 2 – detail of shell. Notice how loose the brush strokes are. It is a real accomplishment to get the effect with just one pass.

Lucky Red 2 – detail, sleeping cat

Lucky Red 2 – final. 18 x 24, oil on canvas, Kit Miracle

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Posted in oil painting, painting instruction, still life

Tagged kit miracle, lucky red, oil painting, painting instruction, still life

Lucky Red

Posted on February 23, 2014 | 2 comments

I don’t know quite why I started this painting but it’s something that has been rolling around in my head for awhile. Sometimes I’ll think about a work for years before I get around to painting it.

Lucky Red is a challenge of red on red on red. Shiny and soft. Clear objects, reflective, see-through. Some of the symbols are pretty obvious. The lucky Buddha, three Chinese coins, a WINNING lottery ticket. Some are less obvious. The lucky bamboo plant. Two of the glass paperweights have fish swimming in them. Fish are a lucky Chinese symbol. And swirling throughout the still life is a lucky blue ribbon that I won at a holiday party. (Thank you, Joan!) Topping the set up off is another glass paperweight called Mediterranean which celebrated the completion of a bike ride through France several years ago.

We all have lucky symbols in our lives. What are yours?