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Audrey Hepburn Oil Painting

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Audrey Hepburn by Rachael St. Pierre This piece is one of my favorite pieces because it was not only was fun to paint but it also shows a lot of progress. Audrey Hepburn has always been someone I admired since I was young, so I knew when I chose to do a portrait it would be of her. By bringing in the principals of design like unity and harmony I was able to create the right proportions. This painting was also the first one I have done using only black and white tones. Therefore, I learned to develop the correct skin tones by mixing in a small amount of burnt umber into it. Overall, the contrast in this painting brings out the retro feel of the picture, so it is by far a painting I will continue to love because it takes the viewer back to the 1950's. 

Front Porch View Oil Painting

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Front Porch View by Rachael St. Pierre This painting holds meaning due to its location because it is the view from the front porch of the house I have grown up in. The biggest learning curve for this painting was pulling colors from the sky and putting them into the foreground. I was hesitant at first because I wasn't pleased with how the orange was mixed with the green grass, but the more I played around with the color the more I began to like it. Overall, I had to show the contrast between the foreground, background, and sky as well as the movement within the clouds. So, this oil painting was both a learning process and an experiment with color. 

Anniversary Oil Painting

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Anniversary by Rachael St. Pierre I first chose to do this still-life because prior to starting it, I knew I wanted to paint objects that had meaning to me. With my parents' 25th anniversary coming up I decided to paint the objects from their wedding day. I placed the brass champagne glasses, cake utensils, and even their wedding rings in areas that would make the viewer's eye move around the painting. While painting this, I learned about balance and variety as well as pulling colors into objects that you would least expect. This painting turned into an anniversary gift that holds meaning and value.

Yellowstone Oil Painting

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Yellowstone by Rachael St. Pierre For my first painting of the year, I decided to paint a place I visited this past summer: Yellowstone Park. Out of the many photos I took, the one above the river stood out to me the most because of the complexity, movement, and unity that it was made up of. This painting has been one of the most challenging ones I have done because of the repetition of trees that occurs in the foreground as well as in the distance. Overall, this piece was a learning process because of the harmony I had to create between the trees, the water, and the sky.