Pencil Portrait

This is an 8" x 10" Pencil portrait of my grandson. I started my art journey doing pencil portraits, so I do enjoy going back and doing another one. 

 

"October Corn"

 This is a small 9" x 12" palette painting.  It is a scene from rural Illinois where I live and in the summer I ride my bike out into the surrounding farmland, generally 10-20 miles a day.  The beauty of the midwestern landscape is something that is often overlooked, but it is the landscape that I love.

Oil on Canvas Board, 9" x 12" SOLD

Coneflower Palette Knife Painting

 This is a coneflower from my garden. I have just started painting with a palette knife and it is quite a change from the serious type of oil painting that I usually do.  My garden is a joy in the summer and I have a come to love the Coneflowers when they bloom.  

This painting is 6" x 6" oil on canvas board, framed in a white shadow box type frame.

$120.00

Commission from Greenville University

This is Robert E. Smith,MA-SIU-C and PhD from Florida State.  He was  President of Greenville University from 1993 -1998. 

Another Commission Portrait for Greenville University

 This is another of my commissioned portraits of Greenville University Presidents. V. James Mannoia, Ph.D in Philosophy from Washington University, St. Louis. President from 1999-2008. 16" x 20 Oil on Linen.

A Portrait Commission

 I was commissioned to paint this portrait by Greenville University. Ivan Filby, PhD in Management from Aston University, 12th President of Greenville University, 2013-2020.

Ivan Filby, 16" x 20" Oil on Linen. SOLD

Portrait Commission

 

I have been commissioned to paint the portraits of all the Greenville University Presidents. I have been working on this project since June, but wasn’t free to share any of them until now. I have 5 of them completed. This is the current president, Suzanne Davis, J.D., MBA, first woman to hold the position. It is 16 x 20 oil on linen canvas.

Suzanne Allison Davis, 16" x 20" Oil on Linen SOLD

Impasto Palette Knife Landscape

 Another small painting, just for fun.  This is the midwestern landscape that I see everyday.  Around here, most of the action is in the sky.  I love the beautiful flatness of the land. 

10"x10" oil on Canvas.  $100

"Reflection"

 I did this portrait because I thought this woman had beautiful hands. I call it “Reflection.” There is beauty that goes beyond the outer shell, but sometimes the outer shell has so much translucence that it shines out from within. She has an inner and outer transparency and beauty.

"Reflection" by Martha Iler, Oil on Canvas, 20" x 24" NFS

"Unbreakable"

 I call this painting "Unbreakable" because it is a portrait of a friend, who despite all of the chaos in her life, she doesn't give up, and just keeps going.  She is very brave.  It was my first portrait in oil. 

"Unbreakable" by Martha Iler, 20" x 24" Oil on Canvas

Impasto "Zinnia"

I started this painting just for fun using my usual brushes, but it just wasn’t working. I don’t usually do flowers, so I figured I would just try something new and crazy and try using my palette knife. It took awhile to get the hang of it, but I thought it turned out quite nicely. I used Rublev’s “Velasquez Medium” to thicken and create the impasto effect.

9" x 12" oil on Canvas board.  $200  SOLD

"Destiny"

 

"Destiny" by Martha Iler 17" x 22" Oil on Canvas  NFS

This work was started just before the pandemic began.  I  wanted to create a narrative portrait that moved beyond just a face to add a story, a question, a tilt in a different direction. An empty bowl holds promise, it is an invitation to be open, it allows us to sit empty for awhile and let ourselves be filled with something new.

"Anguish"

 I created this piece as the pandemic became full blown and we were realizing that the hardest hit people were generally women. I wanted the piece to have the air of a closed restaurant, the "Sorry We're Closed" sign being so very prevalent in the world at that time.  I wanted to show the uncertainty of the future and the despair of mothers who had no work and no way to provide for their children.  

Oil on Canvas. 

20" x 28" x 1.5"

$1500.00

 My finished piece, 24" x 36" oil on canvas.  SOLD. 

There are many pressing dilemma’s in life.  Some of them are self imposed, some come from the outside.  The solitary nature of the last year (2020) due to Covid and so much unrest in the culture around us has caused a rethinking of relationships on many levels.  

What is my responsibility? 

Where am I blind? 

How do I navigate this terrain? 

This piece comes out of the swirling depth of those seemingly unanswerable questions.

 This is the grisaille of my painting "Quandary".  I used burnt sienna to tone my canvas and then raw umber and lead white to paint the grisaille.

"Quandary"

 This is part of another painting that I have done recently.  Just finished it May 2021.  The final painting is 36" x 24"

"The Struggle"

 

I did this painting during Covid.  It was a difficult painting to work on, but since I have finished it, it has had many responses from people.  I love the fact that everyone sees different things in it, depending on their own life experiences.  It has been an interesting journey. 

Figure Painting #1

This is the first Figure Painting I did for my class at the

Gateway Academy of Classical Art.  I started with a drawing 

(which I realized had his head too small, so I fixed that,) 

then transferred it to the canvas. For this painting I was only 

allowed to use bone black, raw umber and white, the goal 

being to learn how to use warm and cool tones.  It is not an 

easy task to see the different tones in the skin, but I am sure 

I will get there.  Every piece is a step in the right direction.

My drawing, probably used 4 of the 16 sessions we had with this model.

The finished piece after 12 of the  -3 hour sessions we had left.

Figure Painting #3

I have been studying figure drawing and painting at the Gateway Academy of Classical Art in St. Louis, since last May.  It has been enlightening to learn to draw from life instead of from photographs.  My eye has learned to see angles and curves, distances and subtle shading, that I hadn't seen before.  This is my 3rd figure painting and I am sure it wouldn't have been finished to the degree it is if it hadn't been for Covid 19 forcing us to stay home.  I have had much more time to work than I would during the 3 hours sessions twice a week that we were doing at school.  However, I would never had learned what I have with out having the opportunity to do these classes.

Sketch of the figure using paint (raw umber) instead of a pencil and then fill in the
shadow shapes.  What a challenge, but fortunately the OMS can erase the paint
off the canvas so it doesn't become a total mess with all the changes that
are required in the initial drawing phase.

Second step is to fill in the color blocks, the medium tone.

Then fill in the lightest lights.  It is important to fill in a background so
 that the shadows and the lights are calibrated to each other.

Continuing to add form in the lights and shadows.

Add the background and try to figure out what kind of background he should have.

Beginning to refine the portrait and sculpting the muscle shapes. Build up the
paint layers in the lights and keep the shadows thin.

Nudge the shadows to inform the viewer of what the muscles
and bones are doing under the skin.  

Thinking also of warm and cool tones, and the curve from the shadows
 into the light and back again. All the transitions from shadow to light need
 to be softened so the eye doesn't catch anywhere.  Also soften the edges
 and make sure the muscles roll around the form and do not end abruptly.

Finished.

AWAKE YOU SLEEPERS

by Martha Iler  26"x 30"  Shredded paper, wax, aluminum, wood and screening.

This piece was created using shredded financial documents. 

Often it seems that the answers to the issues of our day are difficult to discern. However, when we look to the past, sometimes it is clearer.  

It is interesting to look at one of the argument that was given before the Civil War to prop up slavery.  Many said the economy of the South would be severely damaged by setting slaves free, therefore it should not be done.  Voting rights were determined by whether one had money or land.  

Not so long ago, it was argued by corporate executives in front of Congress that cigarette smoking "was NOT harmful to one's health" despite the surgeon general's report. Vast material wealth gained at the expense of ordinary people was and is still common. 

Can we look to the past to see how money shapes our beliefs about today's issues?  Can we examine and reexamine the roots of our beliefs?