Brenda Stichter, artist

Transfigured  This painting started out focused on Jesus' transfiguration, but as it has progressed, I have also thought a lot about His ascension and His resurrection. Can you see those ideas in this work? 12" x 12" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel, composition gold leaf, acrylic mediums Ready to frame Click here to view on my website. Since I knew the concept I wanted to paint, I didn't hesitate to start with a metallic gold underpainting on a canvas panel. The panel is the same type and size as five other paintings I have done, all focusing on events in Jesus' life, and so the choice of substrate was easy. (I am sure sensing a series here!) There are alternating layers of gold paint, composition metal leaf, glass bead gel, mica, and more colors of gold and white paint - not to mention the sealer and adhesive that works with the metal leaf.  The strong upward movement and the use of out-of-the-ordinary materials are intend...

Peach Blossoms en plein air We have had two spectacularly gorgeous days here in northern Indiana, and I took some time to paint en plein air to celebrate! The time just disappeared while I was painting, and I was so surprised to hear from my Beloved Husband around supper time. I was just sure I should have another hour or so before he headed home from work.  9" x 12" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on panel Click here to view on my website. This is a painting of our peach tree in bloom. This tree is very old, and has had a lot of damage over the years, but it still produces the best peaches I have ever had. I hope it lives a long, long time.  Please pardon the crooked horizon! I decided to take my "gear" out to paint without going through it first, just to see whether I have everything I need for the next time I paint away from my studio. I was only a few steps from my back door, so when I discovered that I didn't have a rag to wipe my brus...

Triumphal Entry This year, I really wanted to have a new painting for Palm Sunday, so, only a few days behind schedule, I am releasing this painting. Sometimes called the Triumphal Entry, this event in the life of Jesus Christ is told in all four gospels in the New Testament. What I noticed as I read through the accounts this time in preparation for both celebrating on Sunday, and for painting this work, is that there is a sense of foreboding, or foreshadowing in the telling. 12" x 12" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on canvas panel Ready to frame Click here to purchase via my website.   For this painting, I knew I wanted to use green, and in fact, I originally wanted green to be the most prominent color in the painting, but it seems the painting itself had other ideas. (Ha!) I started working on the arch shape in a couple of colors of green over the gold underpainting, and liked the way the first layers were giving a sense of movement – my eye moved...

A Vase of Happy It was delightful to return to the studio after celebrating with my son and his new bride this past weekend! Since their wedding occurred just as spring is thinking about coming to our neck of the woods, I decided to paint flowers from life. Not my usual painting, but I loved remembering that I do, in fact, know how to paint! 6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Click here to view or purchase on my website. I started with a yellow background because I wanted to communicate brightness and happiness. I love it when the back layers come through to the front, as I might have mentioned once or twice before... My first sketching layer was violet-red. I limited myself to using five colors that coordinate with my last painting, and the violet-red was the mid tone that could show through all of the other colors as I worked.  Before I tell more about the weekend, wedding, and painting, I wa...

Full Circle I am so excited to share this painting! I have been working on it for a long time, and I love the way it turned out. (I recently heard that some artists don't like their own paintings... I like almost all of mine, at least when I first release them.) Studio time has been hard to come by recently due to having had the flu, lots of travel, and my dear son's upcoming wedding - woo-hoo! So I am so very pleased to finish this one.  48" x 48" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website. I know it is tough to tell from the photo that only shows the painting, but this is a large work, and the small squares on it are about 3.5" square individual little works. They were blocked out and painted white and started fresh after all of the rest of the canvas was finished.  Well, there is so much to say about this painting! The very first layer, in enormous pu...

Our local artist group, Lakeland Art Association has invited me to exhibit as part of a two person show coming up THIS FRIDAY, showing for the month of March. There was another artist scheduled to exhibit for this occasion, but he has had an unavoidable situation that is preventing him from being there. I feel honored to be able to fill in! The Substance of Things Hoped For 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas Available at Lakeland Art Association this coming Friday, March 7 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Please come to the reception! Arise My Love 48" x 48" acrylic on canvas I plan to have at least eight or ten works displayed in this new-to-me downtown space, and I wonder if you have any favorites that you would like to see there. It is always a little bit of a juggling act to make sure that the paintings exhibited in one location aren't scheduled to show in another place for the duration of the show, so there is always a bit of extra paperwork to get figured out. I plan to hav...

Sunken Treasure Although most of my paintings start out with words on the canvas, and a theme already in mind, this painting is different.   36" x 12" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website. Last summer when my Beloved Husband went to Paraguay for a mission trip, I had grand ideas of how many paintings I would accomplish while he was gone. I prepped about ten surfaces, and was ready to make lots of painting progress during those 12ish days. As you may recall if you were following along with me at that time, my “muse” evidently went to South America with my Beloved Husband, and those canvases did not get finished! But a few got a starting layer, and this one started with a fairly simple wash of acrylic paint in a color I like.  Often as I work on a painting, there will be many layers that I do not like. (I have a large canvas in progress right now that is at o...