“Sarah In The Flower Field” A New Painting Completed

Here is my newest addition to my soft pastel Amish Collection titled “Sarah in the Flower Field”.

In this painting, this young Amish girl is enjoying a peaceful moment gathering flowers while walking through a field of daisies.

After painting this piece, I had found that the daisy flower symbolizes innocence and purity, and also joy and cheerfulness. I believe this detail only adds to the beauty of the art itself. Also, Sarah’s serene look is captivating, and provides an overall sense of calm to the piece.

I believe this print would make a great gift for anyone that enjoys visiting Amish Country or for someone who collects amish themed items. Also, a great piece for someone that likes art that calms the soul. She is now on my Etsy site here : https://www.etsy.com/listing/1429005176/amish-print-of-pastel-painting-sarah

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cheryl Ann McNulty (@cherylannmcnulty)

I hope you like her. Enjoy!

New Amish Painting “David and the Baby Goat”

Hello everyone, hope you are all well. Ive been on the mend as I had Covid a week or two ago and it was a little tougher than I thought it would be.

Anyway, I’m back and finally finished this painting, just before I got sick actually. It took this long to put it up! I really like the way this painting came out too. The colors are easy on the eye, with a simple, uncluttered background. The focus is right on David…and those beautiful blue eyes. He has a very determined, but gentle look on his face as he tends to the one of many animals on his farm. This is on my Etsy shop now.

Also, I wanted to show you that I am almost finished with Mary-Ellen Walton. I just have to finish her hat! I would love to paint a picture of the Walton House with a light on in the window like on the show. I will let you know if I ever attempt that. But I will try to paint more I promise. Stay safe and check back soon. Enjoy!

David and the Baby Goat

Mary-Ellen Walton

Amish Painting “Noah’s Puppy” Completed

Hello! So sorry this took me awhile, but the coronavirus has really made it hard to keep me focused on my painting as we are all working at home here, and I had to change rooms for awhile. Half of my art supplies etc are now in disarray in my bedroom and it’s hard getting set up and getting used to painting in a darker room…grrrrr. Anyway, we are all making the best of it.

But alas, I managed to finish this painting and I really hope you like it. I really enjoyed painting this one and seeing it finally all come together. I love this little puppy!

Also, I couldn’t put this painting up until I had a title for it, and I went sifting for names, and Noah seemed perfect.  Now it is done. I am also putting up the beginnings of a painting that is different for me to try. It is a portrait of the Easter Bunny. Just wanted to see what would happen with this.  I am further along on this one than you see here, and I will put this one up soon. In the meantime, I will be putting Noah up on my Etsy Shop in the next day or so.

So, again I’m sorry this took longer than I thought. Hope you like this one. Until next time, please take care and stay safe!  Cheryl

Noahs Puppy Amish Painting

Beginnings Of Easter Bunny Portrait

Amish Painting “Taking A Break” Completed

Just finished this amish-themed painting titled “Taking A Break”. This amish girl selling fruits from her farm stand is taking a break and just can’t resist trying one of her own apples. This one took me awhile, but I really like the end result, almost looking like a photograph. I’m really happy when everything seems to work and come together…finally! I am also working on two more paintings which are in their last stages…Princess Diana and Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert). I will post them when they are completed. Hope you like this one…I loved painting it!

Amish Painting “Taking a Break”

Amish Girl With Lamb Painting Completed

Wow, this may be a record!  I finished a painting in just a couple of days! I was diligent!

I hope you like how this one turned out.  I left some space on the right hand side so I could possibly place a quote there at some point. I do like how she turned out.

I find for me it is always harder to paint in watercolors then it is in pastel. With watercolor, you really have to make decisions on color choices very carefully, because once it’s on paper, it’s stays there.  You can’t erase or go back and change something last minute….so there’s a little tension there in the experience, but I do love the transparency of colors you can get with this medium. It was still fun.

And of course, on to the next one! Thanks!

Amish Girl With Lamb Watercolor

 

 

Newest Amish Pastel Painting Progression

Here is the progression so far on my newest Amish painting. I think she is coming out so sweet and I am so surprised how well the background looks so far. Still taking my time…step by step.  The next one I show you will be the finished piece and hopefully I have a name for it then as well. Come back in a few! Thanks so much for your interest in my work!

The color of her dress and the pig are getting there

Background coming along

The yellow accents and grass blades on the bottom adding to the piece

Thank you and check back!

“Daydreaming”, Another Amish Pastel Painting Completed

Hello again!  Wow, this took me awhile to complete, but here she is!  The outcome surprises even me whenever a new painting is completed. I must say, I am VERY happy with this one.

This painting took me awhile only because I could not proceed to the last stages until I could decide if I wanted her to be holding flowers or some other object. I felt like it needed more in the painting than just the amish girl to add interest. I don’t know why, as I wanted the girl to actually be my center of interest from the very beginning.

When I looked at the painting as a whole, I realized there was actually more going on than I  first realized.  For example, hinting that the parents are in the front seat by their  silhouettes. The amish girl,  her cap strings blowing in the wind, letting the viewer know that the buggy is in motion. Her calm face and daydreaming eyes, making us wonder what she is thinking as she rides along in the buggy, watching the world around her. Where is she going? What is she seeing?

This was painted to recreate what I would see on our many  family trips to Pennsylvania as we drove along the country…and well-traveled roads. We would always get stuck behind a few buggies, and you could not help but notice the amish children peering out the back. They always seemed so calm and serene, just glancing around from that small rectangular opening, taking everything in. Occasionally, one or two would smile and wave at us,  and I would be ecstatic if they did, but all the while I would wonder what they were thinking. What was their life like?  This is the image,  or the “feeling” I wanted to share with you.  That’s when I realized this painting was enough on its own the way it was.

I hope you like it.  On to the next one…again!  Cheryl

Amish Girl Daydreaming

New Paintings Coming Along Continued

Here are two of the paintings I mentioned in the previous post, that are currently being worked on. The cow portrait is almost completed.  It just needs some hairs on his ears, numbers on his ear tag and lots of finishing touches.  I do like the way he came out though. I figured out though that when you get near the end of painting on velour, there may not be a lot of tooth left in the paper to add the finishing touches you want to add…it just won’t take any more pastel.  This was hard as I wanted to add many random, little white hairs coming from his chin and ears and top of his head, which I did where I could.   I have heard you can spray fixative on an overworked painting and continue painting, but I did not want to chance this as I have  never tried this.  In any event, I will post the finished painting soon.

Now, the painting I am really happy about is the daydreaming amish girl in the back of the buggy. I wasn’t too sure how this would turn out, and I was going to originally do this one as a watercolor, but I really like the soft realistic effects with the pastels. I am so  happy I tried this….I really like how it’s going so far. Here you see the 3 stages…the face…the glass in the front of the buggy and the side of the buggy completed…and I can’t wait to do more! So excited.  So please check back, I do have Pink’s face completed too, but it was just too much to put in one post.  Soon! Enjoy!

Almost done!

The beginnings of the face

The background is the front of the buggy, looking through the front glass. See the figures of the backs of the mom and dad in the front?

The buggy side and front window piece…you can see it all coming together, can’t you?:)

 

Aaron’s Peeking, Another Amish Painting

Hello! First, let me say I am sorry this has taken so long. There have been several family issues  (health wise) which happened to come up all at once.  It’s crazy how things can be going along fine one minute, and at a moments notice, everything can change…just like that!  At least I have faith to get me through … and my painting to get my mind off things and give me some form of brief escape.

But  back to my painting. I’m calling this one “Aaron’s Peeking”, and even though I wish I could see more of Aaron’s face,  I feel thats what gives this painting the interest it needs. I still may want to add to his straw hat, to give it a little more texture and punch, so I will work on that a little more.

I do love the fact that Aaron is peeking over an Amish quilt (of course), and I love the colorful pattern on this one.  Then there is the little part of nature added in…which is Mr. Bluebird. He wants to play too! I decided to leave a blank, blue sky so I could have the option to add an inspirational quote, like I like to do.  In any event, I like the way it turned out and I hope you do too.

I still have my collage painting which was posted a couple of  blog

Amish Barn On The Hill

This is a print of an original photograph taken by me. I love the simplistic beauty of this photograph. There is just something about the contrast of the clean, white barn (one of many you see in Lancaster) against the vivid, blue sky here. Just beautiful!

I must have seen this same barn so many times as we drive through Lancaster almost every year. There is something about this barn that is just perfect for a beautiful photograph…. every time.  I just saw this same barn on instagram and I knew instantly it was the same one! Anyway, I just had to share it, as I just put it on my Etsy shop.

So now, if  you go to Lancaster anytime soon, and drive the back roads…don’t be surprised as you go around a certain corner and go up a certain hill, and see this beautiful barn sitting pretty as a picture! Enjoy!

***Also, I finally put up Aster’s completed portrait if you haven’t seen it already. To see it please click on the barn picture below and it will take you there.

Amish Barn On The Hill