Tim ONeill Studios

Lakota Pride A Mixed Media Portrait

I love living in the Great Plains region of the United States. One of the hidden benefits of this area is an ample opportunity to paint mixed media portraits. The folks who live here are hardworking, generous and extremely independent. That means a huge variety of individuals who all look and act differently…prime real estate for unique personalities to paint. I am sure all areas may have some of that but people are very approachable here.

Lakota Pride came about from a Pow Wow that was hosted by a local business. Native American Dancers from all over came to compete for prize money and titles. I love to watch dance competition in general and Native American dance is truly fascinating. The regalia that dancers wear is impressive and most times the pieces were made by the members of the dancers family. It also is a huge family gathering and great food, awesome music, children’s giggles and even belly laughs permeate the atmosphere at these events. What more could a visual artist want?

There are many opportunities to capture the essence of beautiful people. As I was watching the young women dance I noticed this particular dancer. What caught my eye was the intensity with which she took to her task. She was very focused and seemed to have a poise that the other dancers lacked. After the dance that I was watching ended, I went to talk with her parents to see if I could paint her. They gave me the okay and we grabbed a few images to use as photo reference.

It was months later that I came back to her reference images. I was working on another mixed media portrait in the Western Genre and came across her again. I took a closer look at her and again I was struck by the poise of this young women. Not only was she an accomplished dancer and seamstress (she made her own regalia) but she was a competitor and an athlete. At the time of her painting she was 15.

I thought that there was much wisdom and pride in the way she looked at people so I named the image Lakota Pride. It is a 24×30 mixed media on canvas.

Original is SOLD, 4,200.00 Private collection in GA.

Children’s mixed media portrait Sunday Night Read-

One of the most fun things in creating children’s portraiture is developing a sense of a childs or families day to day lifestyle and painting a scene that tells a story from those activities. As I put together an idea for a child’s portrait with a family we have several different ways of getting to know the subject as well as the family surrounding them.

Many times in the development stage of a painting we change our original idea from doing a colored pencil portrait, a pastel portrait, or a pencil sketch to doing something more abstract using acrylic or oil. Sometimes we will change our whole perspective and include the family pet or do a separate pet portrait. The point is that the discovery process is what allows an certain intimacy in a portrait to come through.

Sunday Night read by Nebraska Artist Tim ONeill

I painted “Sunday Night Read” for my best friend and sweetheart, Allison. We have been married for 16 years and I wanted a fun and memorable piece for Allison’s anniversary and Christmas gift. The wife of an artist puts up with a tremendous amount stuff from fluctuating income, messy and smelly areas in the studio, and most importantly being last on the list for artwork. Much like the plumbers wife with the leaky sinks and non-working shower, my wife has not really been able to get the art she would like from me.

The idea for this piece came as I admired the nightly reading ritual to our youngest two. With one boy in college and another girl out in the workforce at the time I was acutely aware of how fleeting the cuddly moments with your kids can disappear. I wanted to capture that feeling or warmth and happiness that exists on a cold winter afternoon when we just hang out and spend time with one another.  Sunday Night Read does the job. The rocking chair that Allison and Elise are in is special to the family and was also the rocking chair in the children’s portrait, “Grandma Rocks!“, and Noah drawing on the floor or table with a few his Nascar race cars is a daily occurrence.

The original is in our private collection, giclee prints are available from the store.

Children’s Portrait of Noah’s Time Out

Children's Portrait by Nebraska Artist Tim ONeill

This painted portrait of Noah is another mixed media painting created using photo reference.  This particular piece is of my son when we were on a vacation a few years back. Noah is a very active boy and he loves to run, jump, squeal, antagonize his younger sister, or anything else that will bring some small amount of amusement to him. Getting him to sit for a children’s portrait is almost out of the question.

Children and car rides lasting more than a few minutes is generally a “asking for” combination anyway. We had been in the car for several hours when we finally arrived at our destination. Upon stopping Noah burst from the car like carbonated soda after a thorough shaking. Ten minutes of running did not exhaust the pent up energy of Noah but it had already tried the patience of mom and dad. Several verbal warnings had been sanctimoniously ignored so a more severe discipline was needed to capture Noah’s attention. Enter the time out.

Time outs are particularly effective for Noah given his personality and overt energy. As we were trying to get to a restraunt for dinner I choose to carry out our discipline in this alley away from as much distraction as possible.  When he finally began to relax and accept his position he laid his head down in on his knees.  I initially believed this was the signal of truce and submission. After a few moments of watching him I walked to the opposite side I was on and noticed that he had not surrendered at all.  Hidden from my view  was  a small stick that Noah had found. He had already carved some nice dirt drawings and made a game of smacking a piece of crumpled paper that was nearby.

His stubbornness even while sitting with his head in his knees made me laugh. I wanted to remember it so I snapped a quick image before I stold the stick and stood over him for a few minutes of actual time out. Later I decided I wanted to paint it and “Noah’s Time Out” was born. It is not the type of childrens portrait that one would normally set out to commission however it is a rare gem. The story with the strong compositional elements and simplicity of the painting  makes it  a family heirloom. As an artist I am always looking for glimpse of  “personality” with each commission, it is a delight when one comes shinning through with your own kids.

While the original is in our private collection, limited edition giclee prints are available.

Children’s Portrait Painting-Angel for a Calendar

These clients came from Cheyenne. Turns out they are kindred spirits. I was looking for some more young ladies for my angel calendar and came across this young angel with her Dad and sister at a hotel pool. Perfect for an Angel childrens portrait painting. I told them what we were doing with the calendar and encouraged them to come out for a photo-session to be used for photo reference.

Here are is  the painting.  There are a few images from the  photo session  we had at the river (whats left of it) in the slide shows.  We would have let mom and dad leave the kiddies in a heart-beat.  We had a blast!!! Did some ice-cream at the park, rides and oh yea and shot some pics.    Great job you guys!!!

An Angelic Childrens Portrait