December? Already?!!!!

I don't know where the last few months have gone but I had to reactivate my blog to post! Well, I do know where the months have gone - we finally have our house built and are moved in. It's so nice to have the room & especially nice to have a nice large space for my studio!

The studio is still somewhat unorganized but I'm not sure how to do it. I need some storage cabinets or shelves or something with which to store all my art supplies in an orderly and convenient manner. I suppose that will come; right now I'm having to concentrate on other things.

First, I'm trying to get some commissions out of the way for Christmas. Actually, I only have one more to do & I will try to post it when I finish. It's a pet portrait that I'm doing in pastel pencils instead of my usual watercolor. I've also started a still-life in pastel pencils but have had to put that on hold for the time being but hope to get back to it soon. Here's where I am with it right now.


This is from my own reference as some friends gave us quite a few apples from the mountains of Pennsylvania. The bowl is a yellow-ware bowl that was handed down to me by my mother and is a favorite to use for bread making. As you can see, I have quite a ways to go with this painting but I do like the pastel pencils a lot. No, they really aren't quicker than other media I've used (except colored pencil!) but I like the control if not the mess. I'm also having a bit of a time getting a variety of reds. They don't layer or mix like either cp or watercolor or maybe I just haven't found the secret to it yet.

Well, now that I've reactivated this blog, I hope I do better at keeping up with it!