New Dictionary Paintings

Howdy!

I have not been blogging much lately, but I have been painting!

Here are the 3 latest from my Dictionary Series (posted on eBay every Monday)

"Seacoast" - my take on a fantastic J.S. Sargent painting.

currently on eBay

"Illuminate" painting candles from life is tough.

"Spill" My kids did get to eat the cookie after I painted it.

The next post will show you a few of the major works that I have finished in the past few months.

American Girl "felicity" painting

Hello again. This is a quick note to all of my friends with American Girl oving daughters that might want a cute (and cheap) Don Ripper orginal painting.


The ebay auction ends this Evening! (click here to go to the auction)
or go to ebay and search don ripper


Some of you know about my weekly "Dictionary" series that I paint on the pages of my old grade school dictionary. This weeks word is "Doll" you can view the entire series here


I painted my daughters Felicity doll just as I paint any of my serious portraits.





I start with charcoal



then paint



and keep on painting. (notice the barrette change)

See you all soon,

Don

New Stuff

Hi everyone!

I am trying to get better with getting the word out on my latest work.

I have been on a roll lately and want to share with you a few new projects I have been working on.

"The Dictionary Series"

A weekly project painted on the pages of my high school dictionary.

"Antietam" currently 19 paintings of the rural landscape

I have also been working on several portraits that I will get together for next weeks post.

Thanks for all of your support! I could not do it without you.

If you have any great ideas for me, or just want to chat, please feel free to drop me a line.

mailto:donald.ripper@verizon.net

http://www.donripper.com/

I am Back yet again!

This is the Antietam Series.

So far it has 19 paintings. Go here to see the first 7

One day a couple of years ago I was on my way home from Nema-Colin Woodland Resort. The traffic was horrible and I decided to take the Sharpsburg - Antietam exit to see what I could find. I was rewarded with these fantastic farm scenes that I sketched and painted until the traffic let up.

Using the sketches and small plein-air paintings, I developed this series that I loosely title Antietam. There are 19 paintings in the series, but I have not photographed them yet. Almost all of the series is either sold or spoken for, but if you are interested please contact me and I will let you know if another painting becomes available.

Back from the Beach!

Howdy!
I am so fresh and recharged from our family vacation.
Sitting on the beach, playing with my kids, and painting all day long makes a week go by awfully fast.

I painted under a big umbrella sitting right in the sand. I finished 5 paintings, and nearly finished 3 more. Of the finished paintings, 3 were sold right off the easel! There is no better feeling (artistically) than selling a plein air painting to strangers who shared the same perfect day that you captured on canvas.

The painting above was the first painting of the week, and was the first to sell.




These are someone elses kids (mine were moving around too much)




Here is my sandy paintbox.
Thanks for a great time Rehoboth!

Shady Side Beach

I painted this beauty with the wife and kids out on the eastern shore.
I did most of the work fighting the wind and gulls on a long pier.

It was a great weekend in which I started 7 paintings. This one measures 11" x 14" and is waiting to be framed. I will show you another later in the week.

This painting is available for sale in my Del Ray Gallery 709-519-6949. Please let me know if you are interested.

Don

Lynn's Lilies #2

I finally got around to taking a photo of part two of my water lilies.
It measures 18" x 14".

Just as the other painting in this series, the light is from the evening. I may well go back before the end of summer and paint more.

Spring Lake Study

I did this painting on site at my hometown lake.

It was my first true spring painting of the year. I enjoy finding the early touches of light green when they are outnumbered still by the winter browns.

This painting measures 11" x 14" and is available in the Del Ray Gallery.

Below is a picture that I took by hanging the camera from a nearby tree limb.

Jenkins Farm House

I finished this commission a couple of weeks ago. It measures 4 feet wide by 2 1/2 feet tall. It is painted on grooved panel. The red tin roof from the farm house sparked the texture and color pallet for the painting. I was lucky to have a pair of wonderful patrons for this commission who gave complete freedom to experiment.

After planning originally to paint on red tin, I chose the wood panel because the smaller scale of the grooves were a better fit. I painted it with several coats of red primer on the front and back to prepare for the painting. In the end I found it interesting that the most dynamic element of the painting, the red tin roof, was entirely unpainted in the finished painting. I simply painted around it and let the red primer show.

Snow Road

This is really truly my last winter painting of the year.

This was in the works a month or so ago, and I have grown comfortable with it. It has an abstract quality to it. I started it as a study for a commission I have been kicking around all winter.

She measures 11" x 14" and is drying in the Del Ray Gallery.

Winter Road

With the weather trending warmer I proclaim this my last winter painting for the year.

I have been tweaking this for a while. Originally it was quite monochromatic. I later spiced it up by adding some warmer colors. I then found that the the painting looked too happy (sappy). I finally removed some of the color and dimmed the lights by shifting the values lower.

There is a ton of texture in this painting! She measures 30" x 40" and will be available soon.

On to warmer things....

Brothers and Sister

This was a fun painting. (oil on linen 19" x 16")
I had great subjects combined with an even greater mom.
I was very late in finishing this and never once did I fear for my life.

Water Lilies for Lynn

Here are some Water Lilies that I have recently finished.
It has a nocturne feel to it. I love painting flowers as long as they are not overly happy.
This is the first of three related paintings. I started them in the fall. and have been kicking them around ever since. I painted them for one of my favorite clients. I hope she likes them....

New Years Resolution

It has been a long time since I have posted, but I will be doing it a lot more in 2007!

I have been painting a ton over the past few months. My goal this year is to post 3 times a week. I may on occasion put a painting up for sale on eBay, but most of my next few paintings are spoken for.

Thanks for hanging in there with me! I appreciate all of you kind emails!

Some of you might know where this is. It is a salt water taffy shop on the boardwalk of Rehoboth Beach Delaware. I finished it this past fall, and it is currently hanging in my new gallery in Delray.

Back from vacation!

I am back from a very refreshing vacation in Rehoboth Beach.
I feel ready to paint up a storm! Speaking of storms, this is how the ocean looked as tropical storm Ernesto came ashore. I can't decide if I am going to throw this up for sale on eBay, or save it for our new gallery in Del Ray? If you are interested in it, please drop me a line.

Don