Busy, busy, busy!

It has been a wild and crazy last month or so around here and I haven't done much painting at all.  I did finish the double portrait of two beautiful Golden Retrievers some time ago so I thought I'd post the final portrait since I hadn't shown it to you before now. 

I was pleased with it and it really looks much better in person than here.  This was the largest portrait I've done to date and it took a while.  It was on a full sheet of either PastelMat or Colorfix Suede (I've slept many times since it was finished & don't remember which one!  lol) or about 20x27 inches.  I think the owner was pleased also.

I titled this post Busy, busy, busy for a reason.  My DH has finally retired after working at the same place for slightly over 40 years!  He started the retirement on May 1st so we've had almost a week to get used to having one another underfoot and adjusting to a different schedule.  So far it's working out ok and it's really nice being able to do things during the week at whatever time is convenient for us.

A new BJ's warehouse club opened up in a town relatively close to us - about 40 - 45 miles away - so we decided to check it out one day.  That was interesting.  We ended up joining (they give you the "opportunity" to join at a special price before you can actually shop there although they offer a trial membership also.)  I must say that I was disappointed in the experience with everything bundled so that quantities were either way too much for two people (like some of the fresh produce) or there were too few choices in items that you could stock up on.  For instance, as a vegetarian, I was very disappointed to find the one & only brand of baked beans they had was prepared with meat.  The prices weren't bad so I guess it was a good idea to join.  My husband's opthamologist is right around the corner from BJ's so I guess we'll use it some at least.

It is also the week of my husband's birthday so the kids are coming this evening to celebrate both his birthday and his retirement.  I made potato salad and cole slaw yesterday and biscuits this morning (for tomorrow morning's breakfast).  Potato salad and slaw always seem to taste best when they've had a chance to marinate and completely chill.  Later I'll be making baked beans and hush puppies so I'm taking a little break right now to make this post!  Since I don't usually cook meat, we got some pit cooked bbq from a local restaurant not too far from us.  Add a little cake and ice cream after dinner and we'll call it a celebration feast!

Another perk of my DH being retired is that we can travel some and we'll be doing a bit of that off and on.  He's a big gardener and has put in a really comprehensive vegetable garden this year so we won't be gone a lot because of that.  But, I may not be posting on a regular basis again.  I'm looking forward to getting all settled in our "new" life so I can get back to painting again!

Old Favorites

This is directed to the other artists who read my blog.  Did you ever have a favorite support that you used forever and thought was the best thing since sliced bread?

My favorite support was always velour and I rarely had a problem painting on it.  However, the paintings I've done recently have been on PastelMat or ColourFix Suede.  So I had this green velour and thought it would be perfect for the portrait of this older Golden Retriever.  It's been an uphill battle since I started and I just don't understand it!

I thought going back to a previously favorite support would be like riding a bicycle - after all, you never really forget how, do you?  Doesn't the old brain make pathways from repeated motions so those motions can be carried out quickly and easily in the future?  Of course, much of the problem has been getting the right colors. Even though the pastel is covering pretty well, the green background does affect the applied colors.  But the application has been difficult also - the pastels tend to drag and sort of skip on the surface and I can never remember that happening before.

Well, I'll quit complaining and just get back to it.  If it turns out lousy, I'll give it a try on PastelMat or ColourFix Suede!  Shoot, I may even switch media altogether and that would really stir up the old brain synapses, wouldn't it?

Double Exposure

I got this painting delivered to my gallery (the Raleigh Street Gallery) yesterday.  It's for a special exhibit for the Siler City, North Carolina Third Friday Art Walk and I'm excited about it.  The exhibit is called the Double Exposure Exhibit and is a joint endeavor between local artists and the local Chatham Camera Club.

A few months ago artists were invited to choose a photograph from a selection from the Chatham Camera Club to interpret in any size, medium and way they wanted.  Then a joint exhibit featuring both the photos and the art will be held at the Chatham Camera Club gallery during the Third Friday Art Walk in October.

I know the exhibit is over a month away but thought maybe some of you who are fairly close might want to mark your calendars and plan to attend.  I think this will be an interesting exhibit and it will be really fun to see the art next to the photograph.  I know one artist is using a medium that needs to be fired!  How fun will that be to see!

And, some of you artists might want to sign up to participate in the next Double Exposure Exhibit or maybe even start something similar with your own local camera club if you're too far to participate with this one!

By the way, my painting is soft pastel on Colourfix Suede - I call it "King of the Mudflats" and I think this is a Little Blue Heron.  There are so many varieties of herons that I'm not completely sure but I do know that it is a heron!   lol

Foxy - WIP 2

I've done a little more to the portrait of Foxy, the Pomeranian, which I've posted above.  Most of the additional work has been in the way of adding layers and doing a little bit of refining.  I should have it finished in the next day or so.

Again, this is soft pastel on ColourFix Suede and I'm enjoying this new paper.  I really think my favorite paper is still velour or real suede paper/matboard but this is nice and, to me, is superior to PastelMat.

Both papers (ColourFix Suede and PastelMat) seem to both feel and respond the same way but I like the colors better in the ColourFix plus, there don't seem to be any flaws in the paper as there are in the PastelMat.  I just finished a painting using the PastelMat and had a little trouble covering some bare dots and also one bare line where there wasn't any surface.  It worked out ok but it's just a lot easier when there aren't any flaws.

I'll post the painting I painted on the PastelMat tomorrow and perhaps another update on little Foxy!

Foxy - WIP

This is Foxy, a cute little Pomeranian I'm in the midst of painting.  I have two nieces with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a genetic disease and I donated a gift certificate for a portrait to a fund raiser to help find a cure.

The lady who won the portrait sent me photos of this little cutie and so far the painting is going very well.  I had initially planned to paint her in gouache or acrylic ink but my fingers instinctively reached for the pastels.

This is just the beginning of laying down of the base colors and I have a lot of refining to do.

I'm using the new ColourFix Suede in the Kangaroo color.  It looks pretty gray here and in the color swatches online but it has a bluish tint to it.  The owner of Foxy said she wanted a steel blue as a background color and this seemed fairly close to that color.  This is only the second time I've used this support (& I still haven't finished the first piece!) and I like it ok.  It's similar to PastelMat by Clairefontaine but doesn't seem to have the flaws I've noticed in the PastelMat.  It seems to work the same as the PastelMat in that blending is pretty difficult until the layers are built up. 

Oh, as an aside, the pipe insulation blenders I wrote about in a previous post don't seem to work well after the initial layers and tend to remove the pastel instead of blending it.  I may just need more practice with them and the paper though.  Much as I dislike the feel of the pastel dust, the fingers are certainly the best blenders for nearly every pastel painting situation I've come across yet!

Anyway, I hope to be  able to finish this by the first of next week at the latest. 

Magnolia WIP 1- ColourFix Suede

 

I finally got started on the magnolia painting and thought I'd share the steps with you along with my thoughts on this new paper.

 

First of all, I'm just blocking in color and am working left to right since I'm right handed.  I'm using a full sheet of the white ColourFix Suede paper (14 x 18 inches in this case) and am sort of "feeling" my way with it so it will probably take a while to finish.  It works a lot like PastelMat and feels somewhat like it also.  I'll probably have to do more than one painting to really decide if I like it though.  It took me a while to get used to PastelMat but since this is so similar, I hope this will be easier to learn to work on.  One thing, it's not at all like working on actual suede paper and it's too bad the name of the paper leads you to think that it would be.

This is the first time I've ever worked on such a large painting in pastel and what everyone tells you about working large is right - it's much easier than working small as you have room to maneuver!  When I ordered the paper (which is actually a card and a very nice weight), I also ordered a set of Rembrandt 60 half sticks of pastel.  I've always liked Rembrandts and am glad I have them for this painting since they're firmer than some other brands.  I'm also using Pan Pastels but I don't have the greens needed for this painting in that set.  One of these days, I'd like to have more of the Pans but for right now, I'm just working with what I have.

I started just blocking in colors with the Pans where I could then using the Richardson and Conte' hard pastel sticks that I have.  Again, the colors are very limited in both of those sets but I've layered and blended as much as possible to get the colors I want.  It's pretty time-consuming and I can understand pastel artists having huge collections of pastels!

Anyway, like PastelMat, it helps to put down a good base of pastel and build the layers before trying to blend.  You have to sort of push the pastel into the paper and that's where the Pans, hard sticks and the semi-hard Rembrandts work well.   It could just be the way I work, though.  I've found that everyone works differently and the tools used surely make a difference also.

There are a lot of tight places in spite of the size of this painting and, while I do like the Sofft tools, I find myself using the Loew Cornell Style Styx more often.  I'm very glad I found these and plan to stock up on them the next time I go to Hobby Lobby or Michael's.  The Style Styx seem to be firmer without being rubbery like the color shapers.  They're a really dense, firm foam rubber and I think they were designed to use with water media but they've been an exciting discovery for me.

Well, let me get back to it - I'll try to post another WIP as soon as I can.  My DH has tomorrow off work because of the MLK holiday and it's sometimes difficult to work with another person in the house!

ColourFix Suede - It's Here! Now What?

The art supplies I ordered have finally arrived and now I'm in a real quandary!  I don't know which color of the new ColourFix Suede to use first!

I ordered the rainbow package which consists of the colors shown HERE as well as an extra white and an extra black.  I've decided to paint one of the magnolia photos that I took a couple of years ago but I really can't decide which color to use.  I'm really drawn to the Blush which is more of a light peachy pink, (or maybe a light shrimp?) than the more brownish color that shows on my monitor.  I think it would look good under the creamy color of the blossom but I'm not sure and would hate to try it only to find that I'm wrong.  I guess I should use the white since I do have more of it and I can underpaint to suit myself.

So, I'm dithering about trying to decide after getting so ticked off because it didn't get here as quickly as I'd hoped!  Or, maybe I was ticked because I knew I'd need some extra time to decide on a color!  lol

I will say that the colors are wonderful and richer than they show online.  The Kalangadoo isn't so much a light gray as it is a very light tan.  The Jacaranda is a sumptuous deep, bluish-purple that looks the color of a woods violet or maybe a deep purplish pansy.  The Tasman Sky is really a lovely soft sky blue.  Their colors are good but I do hope they come out with more at a later date.

In the meantime, I'll never be able to report how I like this paper if I don't get off here and try it!

UPS Basic, ColourFix Suede and Revised Mallow

I don't know if you can really see any difference but I followed Dors' advice and darkened under the petals some more,  I'd said I'd probably have to do a bit more glazing and I did.  Thanks, Dors, I'm always concerned about overworking and, while I probably could go even darker, I think I'll leave it for a few days and see what it needs then.


On another subject, I still haven't received the order I placed with Jerry's Artarama and it's a week today.  Since the order comes out of a warehouse in a city only 60 miles from us, it's kind of aggravating.  Since I noticed that their free shipping was through UPS Basic I decided to find out what exactly that is. 

I found that UPS, FedEx and other shipping companies are taking advantage of a program with our postal system where they can become "consolidators" for US Postal Service mail and qualify for very reduced mailing costs.  Since mail order companies were shunning UPS (& FedEx) because of their very high shipping fees, the shipping companies could reduce their costs and fees and win these mail order companies back by becoming USPS mail consolidators.  It was a win-win situation for both the mail order companies and the shippers but it's a real PITA for their customers and our local mail carriers!

It seems that UPS/FedEx picks up packages at the mail order companies and ships them to the local hub where their drivers pick them up and take them to the local post office.  Then the packages are taken to their final destination by the local mail carriers.  They say it saves money because their drivers don't have to drive all over rural areas for one delivery when the postal carrier is doing it anyway.  That does makes sense but why not just ship USPS to begin with?  Why can't mail order companies negotiate with the Postal Service for a reduced rate when they ship so many packages or something?

My order shipping confirmation included a tracking number for both the UPS leg of the journey and another one for my local post office.  From those tracking numbers, I found that my packages sat at the UPS hub (a city about 45 miles from us) nearly 3 days before it was put on a truck to take it to the local post office.  A friend in business locally informed me that the local UPS driver has been on vacation and the substitute drivers have been very slack so I guess it doesn't surprise me that the packages weren't immediately taken to the post office.  As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure the packages will even be taken to the post office even though they're supposed to be on the delivery truck.  While I was researching this so-called "service", I found that it seems to be up to the drivers as to when to deliver the packages to the local post office!

I know, I know - the shipping was free and I shouldn't be complaining but I only ordered from Jerry's because of it's proximity to me plus the Jerry's website said that delivery would take about 2 - 4 days!  And I also know that our ice storm was probably a factor as the UPS hub city was hit very hard and normally doesn't even see such weather.  It just seems that if the UPS truck from Raleigh could make it to the hub, trucks could make it out also.

Anyway, researching the UPS Basic service was very interesting reading.  So, now I'll know next time not to order if the company offers only the Basic shipping or unless I'm willing to wait several more days than I've waited in the past!

Maybe I'll eventually get my ColourFix Suede paper - if & when I do, I'll let you know how I like it!

More Snow, Colourfix Suede and Other Stuff

We are having a really, really weird "snow/no snow" day today!  It was cold with a very heavy frost this morning but the sun came out and it was really pretty for a little while.  Then we had a 2 minute flurry of heavy snow with high wind - almost like a mini blizzard!  Then the sun came back out again and since the weather forecasters had said all the snow would be in the morning hours, we decided to go to a Hobby Lobby about 30 minutes away.  We set off with the sun shining and got about 10 miles before we ran into blowing heavy snow again.  We thought it would end just as it had before but it only seemed to get worse so we turned around and came back home!  Bummer!

I didn't really need anything at Hobby Lobby but it seems that I've been stuck in the house forever and just wanted to get out for a bit.  The reason I didn't need anything is because I just placed an order with Jerry's Artarama yesterday evening.

Yep, I finally ordered the new Colourfix Suede paper along with some other things I've been wanting.  It should be here towards the end of next week if all goes well.  Sue, from Pencilpix blog, told me she'd been dithering over what support to use and had effectively put off starting a new painting.  I think that's the case with me and I hope having a new support to try will get me revved back up again!  The cold and lack of sunshine really zaps my creative juices and I haven't wanted to paint at all lately.

I have several things on hold that I really need to get going on but it seems that if I start something when I'm not in the mood, I struggle with it and sometimes end up starting over anyway.

I'll keep you posted on how I like the new suede paper - just hope I'm in the mood to try it when it gets here!

Colourfix Suede!

I'm very excited as yesterday I saw that Jerry's Artarama and Dakota Pastels both have Art Spectrum's new Colourfix Suede pastel paper listed in their online catalogs!  I checked Dick Blick's website but they still don't have it listed as of yesterday and I haven't check Cheap Joe's or any other online vendor that I order from.

I called the Raleigh Jerry's store but they do not have it in stock at this time - bummer!  I was going to go get at least a sheet in spite of the distance and the snow still lingering in the shady areas around here.

I just haven't had time since I found out about the paper being available to figure out what I want to order but plan to do so today.  In the meantime, here are links to Jerry's and Dakota Pastel's catalog pages for it.  At least you'll be able to see the colors available and the current price.  When I get my hands on a sheet and have time to work on it, I'll report on what I think of it. 

And if any of you beat me getting a sheet of it, please let me know how you like it!

Now, here are those links:

Jerry's Artarama
and
Dakota Pastels

More on ColourFix Suede in the US

I just read that Art Spectrum (or it's distributors) is having problems getting the new ColourFix Suede paper into retail markets in the US.  It appears that it will be after the first of the year before it's widely available.  Bummer for an arts supply junkie like me.

I've also heard that it is similar to Clairefontaine's PastelMat as I suspected and which I'm beginning to like more and more.  Hopefully, the ColourFix Suede will be as good, in better colors and cheaper than the PastelMat!

I'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

Art Spectrum's Colourfix Suede Paper

I think there are several readers here who use Art Spectrum's Colourfix paper.  A while ago it was announced that they were introducing a new paper - Colourfix Suede.  Being the art supply junkie that I am, I had to find out all I could about it.

I received the following email today concerning the availability of the new paper here in the US.

Hello Jan,

Thank you for your interest in Art Spectrum 

Colourfix Suede Paper.   It is so new
that it has just arrived in the United States 

last week for the first time!!!  Right
now it is available in just a few select 

stores, but we have recently shipped some
to the following store and you will be 

able to order it by mail in the near future:
 
Dakota Art Store, 1-888-345-0067, 

www.dakotapastels.com 

Please let me know if we can be of further 

assistance.

Kind regards,

Lori Villalonga
Armadillo Art & Craft 

Armadillo Art and Craft is the US distributor for Art Spectrum products and I'd like to thank Lori for her prompt reply to my query about the suede paper.

I don't have any idea about the price or anything much else about it but have heard it will be available in 8 colors and 2 sizes.  It's supposed to be a "softer" version of the current Colourfix paper.  Hmmmm, don't know exactly what that means but it sounds somewhat like a PastelMat competitor.

If anyone tries it, please let us know how you like it!