Christmas Adrift - Smith Mountain Lake

6 x 9 Oil on Archival Board

Christmas Cards Available/ Sold Out!

Painting SOLD

New Christmas painting that I just finished, and cards available with or without greetings inside. Now is the time to think about your Holiday cards before the Thanksgiving rush next week. If you are interested in ordering cards, just email me at shelleykoop@gmail.com. They are printed on heavy, quality card stock - envelopes included. You can get as many or as few as you'd like.

Summer Scene

8 x 8 Oil on Archival Board  

I needed to get back into painting after a short intermission. My Daughter-in-Law visited us for a while and it was wonderful! It felt good to take a break and focus on different things. This was a quick study just to get my brush working again. A little boy fighting the incoming lake waves with his small boat. He was persistent, I must say!!

Wedding Commission

8 x 8 Oil on Gessobord

SOLD

This is a commission I was asked to do to be given as a gift for the wedding couple.  I explained that it would not be a portrait, and I would try to get the essence of the event rather than an exact replication.  I actually worked on this after I took this photo, and fixed a few things that bothered me.    I was instructed to put a boat in the background because they came and left by water, and I had to work with a number of different photos and combine them.  This whole experience was a little scary, since I do not know and have never seen this couple. I felt so good when the client picked it up and told me I captured them and the day perfectly. WHEW!  Now back to my comfort zone.

Zach and Grandpa

SOLD

11 x 14 Oil on Gessobord

This painting is a commission I was asked to do and really enjoyed.  It's always hard to paint people you don't know and have never seen.  I was given a good photo, though.  I really had to study the image and call to ask lots of questions because colors in photographs are not accurate.  Even the image of the painting I did (shown here) is not...Too much of a green tint to this.  I will try to take another picture to see if I can get a better match to the original and post it.  Another thing....Children are really hard for me to paint if I want to get a portrait type of painting.  I enjoy doing them, but for a commission it has to be what the buyer specifically requests, AND everyone has their own perception.  This buyer was really happy though, so I'm really happy :-)

Herb's Moment of Zen

5 x 7 Oil on Linen Board
SOLD

Here's Herb, an avid fisherman, Blue Bird genius, and an all around nice guy, fishing in a quiet cove at Smith Mountain Lake on our friend Jim's boat.  If you go out during the week, you pretty much have the lake to yourself, and it doesn't get much better than that!  All you hear are the sounds of summer...the water lapping, the birds chirping, the fish jumping (never near your line), and an occasional Great White Shark circling....only kidding!  Here's my Ode to Herb.