Golden Fluid Acrylics, 2″ x 1.75″, including frame
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This is the third time I’ve painted this little Monet copy of Red Poppies at Argenteuil in miniature format. I love doing these little jewels! There are a couple more I want to do soon. They’re such a nice change from my larger pieces. I take them as far as I can with just my glasses on, then switch to a lit magnification lens to finish, all with teeny tiny brushes!

These miniatures are always sent out in gold gift boxes and make elegant gift items for that special occasion. You can commission a scene of your choosing, a scene from one of my other paintings, or a copy of an Old Master that is no longer under copyright protection.

4×2″, Golden Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas, miniature easel included
The quote above is inscribed around the stretcher bars on the back of the canvas. Quarter is in the image for size reference only.
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

I immediately thought of this quote when I set up to do this painting. The canvas is gallery wrapped, and the image is painted around the sides of the canvas, so that it can be viewed from all sides. The miniature easel will be shipped with the painting.

It is so difficult to get good photographs of miniatures. They always look much better in person. This one has a fairly dark background with some sheen, so it was impossible to get rid of all the glare from the lights when I took the photo. Here’s another image of it, with a Coke can for additional size reference:

For such a little painting, I used a tremendous palette! Colors:
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Pyrrole Red
Cadmium Red Medium
Alizarin Crimson hue
Cerulean Blue hue
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Oxide of Chromium
Jenkins Green
Titanium White
I had a few other colors out there as well, but the ones listed above were the ones I used.

I toned the mini canvas and the sides with a mix of Transparent Red Oxide and Ultramarine Blue Golden Fluid Acrylics. Those dry quickly, so with a little help from my hair dryer, I was then able to use Golden OPEN Acrylics to paint the rest over that toned canvas.

I started working on the basic placement of shapes, and then worked more and more toward contrasts and details. I use blu-tack to adhere the mini canvas to a larger piece of foam board. That way I can hold it securely in one hand when necessary, while painting with the other.

1.5×2″, Golden Acrylics on 4-ply Rag Bristol, framed
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

These miniature gems are too much fun to be legal! This is a miniature version of an 8×10″ painting that I did en plein air in the spring. You can see that painting by clicking here. I enjoy doing different size versions of the same scene. It gives me a chance to play with the composition and colors and try to turn out something even better each time. In this case, I shortened the peninsula so that the eye has a path around it to travel to the lighthouse.

My miniature paintings come with a gift box and buyer’s choice of either a little table easel, or a golden thread affixed to the back and a tack for hanging salon style.

Here’s a slightly larger, cropped photo so that you can see the painting better. I wish this camera had a better lens so you could really see all the teeny tiny brushstrokes in there!

So much goes into doing one of these miniatures. They take me longer than paintings many times the size. The first step in the process is to cut the support for the painting. In this case, I used four-ply Strathmore rag bristol. It’s a very expensive support, but at this size I could probably get 100 paintings from a sheet! I size that with Golden Matte Medium, because I love the way acrylic paint takes to that sized surface.

Using a template previously cut to size for that frame, I place it on the new support and draw the rectangle around it. When I finish the painting, I’ll cut to the lines and will have a painting that will fit perfectly into the tiny frame.

I put a tiny dot of blue-tack on the back of each corner, and affix my support to a piece of black foamcore that has also been sized with matte medium. The black helps reduce glare as I work, and makes it easier to support the tiny painting.

I set up my painting reference next to my easel, and put a photo reference of the scene up on the computer. I can zoom in and out of the photo reference to help me with the details, while using the color from my plein air piece.

I sketched in my composition with just a few pencil lines, the coated the whole surface with Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide. That served the dual purpose of sealing the drawing and killing the white of the support.

This is as far as I was able to get without magnification! I have a goose neck lamp with a flourescent bulb and a built-in magnifying glass. I brought that over and worked a couple more hours to finish off the painting. The painting was then cut with an Xacto knife to fit in the frame.

For the sake of the photo of the finished painting, I put it into the frame temporarily. It will actually have to come out to be sealed and then varnished in a week or so. Once that is dry, it will be glued into the frame, and a backing put on that will cover the painting and frame from behind, so it will look like it came straight out of a high end frame shop!

Hopefully you now have an idea of what goes into turning out one of these little gems. They make great gift items.

3×3″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on stretched canvas, easel included, painting is beautifully gift-boxed
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

Some time ago, there was a fantastic rainbow over the lake just before sunset. I grabbed my camera and ran outside to get some photo references. This was painted from one of the photos I took. The light and colors were almost too amazing to believe.

This miniature is shipped in a gold gift box, with a gold bow. The easel is included too! It makes the ideal present for any art lover, and looks great set on a small table or shelf. Quarter is shown for size reference.

2.5×3.5″, oil on canvas, framed, plus easel/stand included as shown above. (Quarter is for size reference. Sorry about the glare on the glossy, varnished painting!)
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Mary’s Boat at Sunset

This is a painting of my friend Mary’s boat, out on the lake beside our house at sunset. The clouds were especially spectacular that evening. It is painted on unstretched canvas, with artist grade oil paints, and mounted on rag board to give it a permanent, artist grade, archival support.

3″x2″ visible painting size, 5″x4″ including frame. Easel stand shown is not included, since the frame has an easel back so that it can stand up on its own. It also has a hanging hook on the back if you’d prefer to hang it.
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I ran out of varnish and had to drive all the way to Norwalk CT to get the kind I wanted! I spend the remainder of the day varnishing paintings and then priming panels…..No painting for the weary!

So, today’s painting is an older work that I enjoy a lot, which has not been shown here. It’s a 3×2″ miniature painting of my friend’s boat out on the lake. The painting is already framed in this elegant, gold wood frame. It is the perfect accessory for a side table, coffee table, dresser top, or shelf.

Golden OPEN Acrylics on 100% rag board, framed
2″ x 1.75″ framed size
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Painting will be sent with miniature display easel and gold gift box.

You can click here to see more of “Jamie’s Jewels Miniature Gems”. If you don’t see one you like, consider commissioning one from your favorite scene! They make great gift items, and are budget-friendly original works of art.

This miniature sunrise is the perfect size to wear as a pin, or to set on the miniature easel where it can be admired. It is set in a beautifully detailed, classic gold frame. The quarter is there for size reference, so you can see what a tiny gem this is!

Here is a closer view:

On my monitor, this is about actual size. Depending on the size of your screen and your resolution, it may show larger or smaller for you:

I think this is one of the best miniature paintings I’ve done, so I’m pretty excited about it!

3×5″, Oils on Multimedia Artboard
This painting will be sent beautifully framed in a gold, wood frame and ready to hang. If you’d like the painting unframed, please contact me.
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I found four gorgeous gold wood frames for miniatures in an art store, and am doing some paintings for these beautiful frames. It may sound a little bit backwards, but it works! The painting size is 3×5″, and with the frame it is about 6×8″.

This painting was done from a photo I took on a Lake George sunset cruise. The colors were just magnificent, and the little islands in the lake provided the perfect silhouetted foreground elements for the colorful backdrop.

Here is what the frame looks like with the painting, though I think the painting colors above are more accurate.

1.5×2″, Golden Fluid and Golden OPEN acrylics on rag bristol
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This little gem is just off my easel. My tiny paintings, which I fondly refer to as “Jamie’s Jewels”, make ideal holiday gifts. You can commission a favorite scene, or choose one of the unsold miniatures already available. They are only $100 and come gift-boxed. Take a look at some of them by clicking here and then scrolling down the page beyond this post.

You’ll see that they can be either on tiny, unframed, gallery-wrapped stretched canvases, or I can paint these postage stamp size minis and put them in beautiful gold frames. I ship them in gold gift boxes with gold ribbons, so they are ready to put under your tree or in Somebody Special’s Christmas stocking. They can be prepared to be hung on a wall, or set on a miniature easel like this one. Surprise a loved one this holiday season with a creative gift from the heart!

I took a photo of this painting with a tape dispenser so that you can better see the scale of this tiny work. The paintings are done under a magnification lamp with very small brushes, and actually take longer to do than paintings many times the size. Plus, they come beautifully framed!

1 3/4×2″ framed, Golden OPEN Acrylics on rag bristol, gold gift boxed
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
FREE SHIPPING special on this piece for limited time only!

The Micro Master series of my “Jamie’s Jewels” paintings have been among my most popular sellers. Always a perfect gift item, they are sent out, fully framed, in little gold boxes with gold bows as shown below, complete with hanging hardware attached and a brass tack from which to hang your gem. (Quarter is for size reference only.)

This painting is a copy of the famous painting, Van Gogh’s Chair. The chair was a symbol of stability in his world of continual crisis. He painted this in December of 1888 through January 1889.

I love doing these tiny copies, as it makes me closely examine paintings that I so admire in terms of their composition, rendering style, and color harmonies.