New Award, New Painting

"Egret"

Pastel on PastelMat
copyright
Jan Gibson

First of all, I'd like to thank Vic, from Art With A Pencil, for the lovely award. Since I've recently received the award from another artist, you already know seven things about me and seven other artists have received the award from me so I won't repeat them. I do so appreciate the recognition from my peers though. Thanks so much, Vic!

Except for the portrait of Benjamin Capone, I hadn't been painting much up until a few days ago. Then, suddenly, it seems I couldn't get paper and paints in hand quickly enough! lol.

My husband and I went to Hobby Lobby over the weekend and there was some Fabriano Tiziano paper on sale that he insisted I buy. It really was a great deal and I'd never used it before but, it was a pad of colors that I never use so I wasn't going to buy it until he insisted.

So, of course, I had to come home and try it out. What a mistake! I'd picked a sheet of orange (the colors ranged from pale yellow to deep orange) and attempted to paint a bluebird from one of my own photo references. I could not get the paper covered with pastel. No matter what I did, including repeated sprays of fixative and added layers of pastel, that orange kept showing through the painting. What a bummer as I think I did a pretty credible job with the actual painting for a change! Live and learn! That paper doesn't layer well at all for pastel pencils!

Then, yesterday, I got brave enough to try the PastelMat that another artist (Nancy, Reflections From Life Blogspot) and I went in together and ordered from England. I'd heard about how great this paper is and I really wanted to try it but it's not available here in the US at this time.

At first, I didn't like the PastelMat much at all. Since I'd been hearing for months about how great it was, I was extremely disappointed. But, I perservered and eventually found the best way for me to paint on it. It seems to be a matter of filling the tooth to a point where blending is possible. Anyway, the egret above took me most of yesterday (working in bits and pieces of time) to complete but I'm fairly pleased with it as a first effort. The size is 4"X6" or OSWOA sized. Of course, this didn't take much pastel but it did make blending and getting into small areas a real effort!

So, do I like the PastelMat after trying it? A sort of qualified yes. It seems to almost be a mixture of my three favorite supports - PastelBord, ColourFix and Velour - which should make for a super favorite, right? Well, it may become my all time favorite after I've had time to work with it, but for right now, I think PastelBord is still my top choice. Besides, I don't want to get too attached to using it since it's so hard (not to mention, expensive!) to get!

New Blog Award

Lori, from Twin Cedars Drawing Board has give me this lovely award that I'm to pass on to seven other people. It's always such a hard decision to make as there are so many deserving bloggers out there! Oh, my, where to start?

1. Brenda Thour

2. Christine at Creative Life Studio

3. Paulette at Becoming a Renaissance Woman

4. Lisa at Creations by LisaK

5. Carole at Reading Sully2

6. Vic at Art With a Pencil

7. Jeanne at Jeanne Grant

I hope everyone enjoys their award and thanks again to Lori for giving it to me in the first place!

An Honor Indeed!

Teresa, from Blueberries, Art and Life has chosen me for an Art Blog Award. Thank you so much Teresa!

In conjunction with the award, the recipients are supposed to tell seven things that they love. I quit using the word "love" in describing objects quite a while ago when I saw that we're only to love God and people and loving anything else is a form of idolatry. So, I'll tell you things that I like a lot!

1. I LOVE God, my family and my friends.

2. Our animals are very close to my heart (2 dogs and a horse)

3. I have a passion for painting

4. I like fresh, homemade bread right out of the oven

5. I like spring when the flowers start to bloom and everything is new all over again

6. I like food fresh from the garden

7. I like the satisfaction of a job well done

I'm also supposed to pass this award on to seven other artist bloggers. It's a monumental task to choose as there are soooo many fine artists out there but I've chosen:

Barbara who is an artist in her own right. Her Poser creations are awesome!

Christine who is a first rate graphite artist - her portraits are especially beautiful!

Jeanette whose work is first rate. I don't think there's a medium she hasn't conquered.

Lori Andrews whose work I admire very much.

Lori Talbert I've been watching her grow in her art and become another fine artist.

Paulette, someone else who does excellent graphite work.

Teresa who does excellent colored pencil work and must have the patience of a saint to have chosen that medium!

Ladies, I hope you'll tell us seven things that you like very much and will pass the award on to other bloggers. If you're too busy, then just enjoy the award - you all deserve it!


There are so many more who deserve this award - again I thank Teresa for thinking of me!