Brenda Stichter, artist

Be Mine Heart And the third heart painting headed to Gallery 317  is called Be Mine Heart. I bet you can see why it's called that! I would love to have you check these works out in person in this gorgeous gallery in Bryan, OH.  6” x 6” Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to view on my website. All three of these coordinating paintings have metallic and iridescent interference paint colors that are difficult to see in the photos. I loved playing with the textures and characteristics of the different paints and tools that I used to make interesting paintings - all sharing similar shapes, colors, and theme.  Arms Wide Open , 2nd place winner In other news, I learned on Monday that my painting Arms Wide Open was awarded 2nd Place for Abstract in the huge BoldBrush competition for the month of December! There were over 2000 paintings in this competition, so I feel "all biggety" about being selected for an award. ...

Kiss Me Heart Since Valentine's Day is approaching, I painted three small heart paintings, and this is the second one I am releasing on my blog and website. (However, they are available through Gallery 317 in Bryan, OH . Please contact me if you are interested in one or three, and I will get you in touch with them!)  6” x 6” Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to view on my website. For this series of works, I was considering traditional "heart colors" with accents that made them interesting. Part of the challenge in these pieces was getting enough value contrast, since most of the more traditional colors are mid-range in value. So the white and bright orange work to keep the paintings from being all one tone. I also wanted to use symbols and phrases that are familiar for this February holiday - it reminds me of those little candy hearts with words on them. On this heart painting, can you see the heartbeat an...

I Love You Heart With Valentines Day coming in about a month, I decided to paint a series of three small heart paintings. I will release one each day, and they will be available at Gallery 317 in Bryan, OH . Please contact me if you would like to purchase, and I will connect you with the right people there! 6” x 6” Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to view on my website. Today I started writing in a new journal. I have been journaling for years and years now, so I have a lot of full notebooks, um, somewhere. Today I finished yet another notebook, and started writing in a new one that my beautiful daughter gave me. In the last years, I have started writing passages that I have memorized on the first pages. I must admit, I find I remember them better when I have had plenty of vitamin D (vacation, anyone?)!  The first of these memorized sections in my journal is always this:  Psalm 62:5-8 My soul, wait in silence f...

Jacob's Ladder When I (finally) got a chance to work on this painting last week, the title and the composition and color all came to me really quickly. That is a fairly uncommon thing to have happen, though the first layers of the painting have been on the easel for a L O N G time. Maybe my subconscious has been working on it?  $1100.00 plus shipping and handling 30" x 24" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on recycled panel, framed Click here to view or purchase on my website. The "steps" on Jacob's Ladder don't necessarily line up for an easy climb in my painting, and the stairway doesn't look like any stairway I would want to try climbing! The colors are brilliant, and there are iridescent, metallic, and interference paints included to help express the idea of something heavenly, not earthly.  I used "tears" running across the painting in both directions to help me build my structure and to picture some of Jacob's s...

Minnesota Muse Minnesota Muse is my first painting of 2025. I have been in Minnesota with my dear Mom many times already this winter, which means fewer studio days. Because it has been so long, I struggled with ‘blank canvas syndrome’. I felt unsure whether I still know how to paint! So I chose the path which is less difficult (for me) to ease into painting by working on a representational scene. I look forward to returning to my abstract work soon. 12” x 12” Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to purchase via my website. The photo I worked from was taken in Minnesota by my friend, Lois, and was a winter landscape with hoar frost lying heavily over the whole scene. (She has such an eye for natural beauty! I was glad she gave me permission to use her photo.) I intended to make the scene look like the photo, but the painting seemed to have its own plan.  Preparing to start my painting, I manipulated the photo using filte...