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Sunbathing Still working on pastel and experimenting with color block and bolder skin tones.   I wanted to work larger, so this is 16"x20".   Since I don't have pastel paper that size I decided to try painting it in that technique I had used for pastels.   It really didn't work out the way I imagined.   So experiment time began. I was working on hot press watercolor block and after I blocked in all colors I added a layer of clear gesso.  Now I thought I would be set up for working with pastel.  It buckled a bit, was not too much.  So I then began to add similar colors to the darker underpainting and I was off.   Now I know there is a lot of color and not sure I would go again with this palette, but I think it is interesting.  I was worried about the hair but think it actually turned out ok.     While I worked with a posterized palette I ended up not using the reference and tended to add different colors into the wide ...

STUDIO ORGANIZATION REVEAL Yesterday I was Miss Build It, and I assembled the organizational furniture for the art room.  Just me, a wooden hammer, and a couple of wrenches was all it took.  I felt pretty fortunate to find both of these, which think will fulfill my needs and was able to do it for under $100.   Both are quite lightweight.  No particle board or formaldehyde either.   I have been searching on and off now for a couple of years to find something to help me keep better organized.   But it really has been a pity to see how flimsy the plastic storage is and how much they want for it.  Seems there was nothing between plastic and heavier furniture.  I have art tuff, I just never can find it, even in my crates I forget what I got.  I have limited horizontal space where I paint and really want to use it when I am painting.   So had to find a place to stash the junk that was preventing that.  Also time to throw out ...

Straw Hat Got to say that the heat here has finally broken and I got to tell you it really changes my disposition.   Do you hear my husband clapping?   Anyway It really shouldn't be mid 90s in October.   Still no rain, but at least we can come and go outside without fainting. So, I guess that has kind of encouraged me to get on an art roll.   Got lots of ideas, am making GIMP do some work for me and actually getting some results that I think I can repeat.  Also broke out a set of Gallery pastels that I have had hoarded for years, the Sennilers are next on the agenda.   Tomorrow I am getting some things I ordered that should help organize my studio.  Have threatened to do for for a while and didn't spend the money.   But found some things (a plastic cube system with doors that you can make open any way you want, a rolling tray cart, that can function like drawers but is much lighter than all that fake-wood furniture) reasonably that I th...

The Future Well am doing the happy dance.  This is my second attempt at visitation by posterizing the picture.    I have been try8ing to learn how to do GIMP and figured out how to do that and take a color picture to gray tones.  Minimizing the number of gray tones also help to better see tones.  I actually took the colored reference and postruized ti down to 5 tones, but ended up having to add a few extra to get the look I was going for. This is pastel and I tried going with pastel mat.  I have worked on the pastel mat previously and wasn't super happy with it.   You just can't blend as well - at least not initially.   But the good news is that it doesn't dust everything and does hold lots of layers. Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Spirit Keeper One of the things I enjoy about art is that I have to constantly learn things.  When doing this painting I wanted to portray a young Indian who would learn the tribes tradition, culture, language, spiritual teaching and respect for animals.   I couldn't think of a title that would convey he would be the person to take it to the future, The Hope, just seemed too generic.  I looked up the Cherokee word for hope, but it is a string of letters no one would know.  Since most of the native historical traditions are oral I next went to learning about the storytellers.   Storytellers are a key person in the tribe and impact their knowledge to the future generations through the native schools.   That led to me understand how desperate the US government had been to stamp out and eradicate all indian cultures.  It is truly shameful. this is acrylic and I played around with the bokeh background to keep it simple and the focus on the connection...

Secrets I haven't take a log of classes so I am not sure if the way I am doing my online lessons is correct or not.   But while I watch the videos I don't usually do the actual photo reference, usually try to find a reference similar but then work through the process with that photo.    This is a lesson that Kara Bullock did in my online course and, well, it was just fascinating to me.  So in this case I made an exception as I really like the pose for this.   I looked for something similar but didn't find it.  The lighting in this is really interesting and hard to come by. However, I took a little liberty with the background as I always struggle with making them interesting. Learned so much in this lesson, the colors are not what I would normally use in the skin tones so really just expanded that option so much. Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Into The Mist It is always good to mark milestones on your journeys, and I feel like I have made one in my art over the last few weeks.  Not what you would call consistent, but I think I have hit onside winners.  I am trying to analyze what exactly is different, but not really sure what it is.   I think I am working with more with:  contrast, layers, different palette colors.  It seems there is more solidity and depth, overall a more pronounced presence in these paintings that I really like.   This is a combination of two photos, one from Neil A. Kingsbury of PMP, and another of a small girl with the cloak that I liked.  The word prompt was "in the mist"  I changed it up a bit and turned it "into the mist" as I really liked that hand coming out at you inviting you to what?????? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.