Unconditional Love

I have heard it said that dogs are about the only creature who give unconditional love.

An internet friend posted a photo of her sister and her dog and I thought it captured that love beautifully.  This is my attempt to translate that feeling into a painting.

Soft pastel on PastelMat.

All the Colors of White

We recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Pensacola, Florida where we went to see my husband's family, primarily his mother who is in her 90's.  Most of the time was spent visiting with family but we did take some time to go to Pensacola Beach and all the way out to Ft. Pickens which is part of our National Parks System (you can read about Ft. Pickens HERE).  The weather on the whole trip was somewhat overcast and on the day we went to Ft. Pickens, it was very cloudy and very windy!  I thought our little baby, CiCi really illustrates the strength of the wind, don't you?  lol

Anyway, I was wanting to take some photos of magnolias for painting references and looked at some under these cloudy conditions.  I didn't end up getting any photos of any but I did really look at the "color" of white in several kinds of flowers and under different conditions.

It's always amazing to me to really study a white object and see all the colors that are actually there.  You can see that our C is a white Maltese but if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can also see all the reflected colors that show in her fur.  My husband's shirt color is reflected in some areas.  There is both pink skin showing (the groomer clipped her really close this time!) and also some pink reflected from her skin onto her fur.  The pink skin also makes for sort of lavender gray shadows in some areas.  There are even some areas of yellow there!

If you've trained your eye to really see, you can look at any so-called white object and see a multitude of colors residing there!

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!

Showing You Mine

Well!  It's certainly been a while since I've posted here on my blog.  I apologize but probably still wouldn't have a post if it weren't for my blogging friend, Sue, over at PencilPix.  She and I email back and forth some and we were chatting about updating our respective blogs when she issued the challenge saying "you show me yours and I'll show you mine" - well, I decided to take her up on that challenge!

It wasn't that I wanted to neglect my blog but I'm not much for multi-tasking and there's been a lot happening in the past few months.

For one thing, I'm still trying to find and learn a medium which will allow me to produce the paintings I want to do yet not have the paintings be so fragile.

Well, you know pastel is my medium of choice and it's really not so fragile if handled responsibly but it does need to be framed under glass and I'd really like to get away from that.  So, I've been experimenting with gouache, watercolor and acrylic.  I've produced quite a few paintings in one medium or the other but still haven't become really comfortable with any and all have attributes that just don't fit my way of working.

I really like pastel for the spontaneous way I can work in it.  It's always ready to go - no squeezing out paint, searching out brushes, getting water and no mixing on a palette.  That's such a plus for me as I tend to work "a stroke at a time" and it's so easy to lay out the pastels on my work table and work "as the spirit moves me".  There's no mess to clean up after every session and I don't have to worry about painting drying up and becoming unusable.

But, I ship a lot of paintings and I really would like for them to arrive intact, hence the exploration into other media.

I kinda stretched the truth a bit when I said that I had produced quite a few paintings during my blog hiatus.  It's true that I've started many paintings but I haven't really finished many.  I get to that "ugly stage" and just lose interest so they remain unfinished!

However, I did finish (I think it's finished anyway) the portrait of the little Maltese above recently.  It's been painted in acrylics, mainly acrylic ink, and it went fairly well.  I do find that I paint more loosely with a brush than I do with a pastel stick and I don't know if that's good or bad.  I also agonize over brush strokes, color and trying to get that one last stroke that completes the painting without over-doing it.

There wasn't really a reference photo for this little fluff - it's a combination of refs along with looking at our own little one for some of the details.  I would have used our baby exclusively but I really find it hard to paint our own pets.  I just didn't want to add that pressure on top of battling with an unfamiliar medium!

OK, Sue, here's mine - where's yours?

Old Acrylic Painting

I was going back through some of my older paintings earlier and found an acrylic painting of this little puppy.  I don't remember when it was done although I know it was for practice with acrylic paints.  As I look at it here, the yellow background looks almost neon but it's not that bright in real life!

This painting was done on a sheet of canvas - one of those that comes in a pad and can be used for just about any medium.  I think the next painting will be on a gessoed hardboard panel or on a stretched canvas.  It will probably be the hardboard panel as I've never cared much for the "give" of even a tightly stretched canvas.

Anyway, I have done a few paintings in acrylic and would like to do more of them.  The temperature here today has plummeted with rain and wind to make it feel even colder so staying in to do more practicing sounds really good to me!

Bracken - After The Fall

I've been working more on Bracken since I dropped her portrait and am once again at the stage where I'll let it sit to make sure there's nothing more I need to do to it.

As always, if anyone sees anything that need to be done or changed, please let me know!

Dropped!

I had done some additional work on Bracken, the Golden Retriever, and was moving him off my art table to a "safer" place when I dropped her!  As you can see, the pastel came off in many places!

This is the first time this has ever happened to me although I've read about it happening to many others.  Sooooo, velour is no longer a favorite support around here.  Fortunately, I only have a couple of sheets of it left.

But, I'm not really so unhappy that it happened.  I wasn't crazy about the portrait and now I can make some changes and not worry about the tooth being filled.  I'm a "the glass is half-full" kind of person! lol

Golden Retriever - Marinating Stage

I think I'm nearly finished with Beautiful Bracken - at least I'm at the stage where I know I'm not quite there but need to let it "marinate" a little before deciding what needs to be done.

I don't know if I messed up or not but the green of the velour paper just wasn't doing it for me so I added in some other greens to give it a little variety.  That's one of the things I want to think about.

Another is the collar  - I normally leave collars off unless the client just wants it  because I find they often distract from the portrait itself.  The round tags might be ok but I plan to ask Linda if I can cover up the buckle part.  My eye goes right to it.

The other thing is the sienna coloring - for some reason it never scans or even photographs very well.  Even though I'm using Richeson, Rembrandts and Senneliers, that particular color seems to be less opaque or something and the undercolors come through, particularly in a scan.  I'll photograph it in a little while and see if I can get a better photo.

If anyone sees anything amiss, please let me know.  If I change anything, I'll post again!

Golden Retriever - WIP 3

Still just pretty much blocking in color although I have started some detailing in the head area.  Still a ways to go.

I forgot to mention that the reference photo is from LJ on Paint My Photo and is of her 11 year old Golden Retriever.  Also that I'm using green Hahnemuhle velour paper, 9x12 inches in size with a variety of soft pastel sticks and pastel pencils.

I'm going a bit more slowly than usual as it took a while to get back in the groove painting on the velour but I think we're cooking now.  If only there weren't the interruptions one gets during the course of the day - I've said it before but I'll say it again - I need a mother!  Not just a housekeeper, but someone like an old-fashioned mother to keep up with the laundry, shop for and cook the meals and keep the house clean!

Any takers out there?

Golden Retriever - WIP2

Just a bit added to the portrait of Bracken, the Golden Retriever.  It's getting easier to work on the velour but I'm still just blocking in colors.  I'll go back over it and refine the details once I have the colors in place.

Watch this space!  lol

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?

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. 

German Shepherd Dog Commission

This is the commission I was working on right after Christmas.  It was a gift that has now been given so I can post it.  I'm very relieved to say that both the person who commissioned the piece and the gift recipient were very pleased with the portrait. 

This painting is pastel on velour, my usual surface, with various pastels and pastel pencils and went fairly well,  As usual, the reference photos were not clear and did not show some parts of the dog they wanted painted.  The ruff under the neck was cut off and the eyes were "flashed" so I couldn't tell what color they were.  So, between the memory of the person who commissioned the painting and looking at similarly colored GSD's online, I made some educated guesses which were evidently close enough as the owner assured me that it looked just like the dog.

I was concerned that the fur was too long but both the commissioner and the owner told me that this dog was not at all smooth and that the fur length was right on.

So, on to the next commission which will be in gouache and I need to both finish the magnolia pastel painting and get the studio ready for the new cabinets.

Jeanne, from Jeanne Grant blogspot, left a comment about wanting to see the finished studio and I promise to post pictures.  The cabinets were supposed to be here by today but as far as I know, they haven't arrived yet.  After they do arrive, we'll have to install them (around my DH's work schedule) then I'll have to get everything tidied up to show everything at it's best - lol.  So, it might take a while but I'll eventually get pictures up here for you all to see!

Max and Allee WIP Final Perhaps

I think I've just about finished the portrait of Max and Allee.  I've sent the photo of it to the client to see if they have any requests for changes and I'm going to let it "marinate" for a while but I think I'm pretty much finished.

This photo is cropped pretty tightly so only the puppies show, btw.

If anyone sees anything, please let me know!

Spent most of this morning at the Art of the Carolinas Trade Show put on by Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh and got some new art supplies.  Actually, I bought more at Jerry's store than I did at the show as I didn't need as much and it didn't seem that there were as many vendors there as in years past.  I only purchased from one vendor this year - Savor Faire - and I got some Cretacolor pastel pencils and some kind of mega white charcoal stick.  They had the sticks in several colors but I wasn't really into them enough to buy more.  I did play with them and liked that they went on smoothly but just didn't have a need for them right now. 

I also played with the Sennelier oil pastels there.  They only had expensive sets at the show and I don't know that I would ever get into oil pastels so I waited until I got to the Jerry's store and bought a few individual colors that I thought I'd use.  I also got some acid-free foam board which I can rarely find around here and it's way too expensive to order.  I wish Jerry's was closer as it's sure nice to be able to get items like that locally but ----. 

Derwent had a booth at the show but didn't have any of the new pastel pencils with them.  I was disappointed but stuff like that happens!  lol

The highlight of the morning was getting to chat with Brenda Mattson.  I've wanted to take her pastel pet painting workshop at the trade show forever but it's never worked out so I could.  I had hoped she'd eventually put her workshop on dvd but it doesn't sound as if she's much interested in doing that.  She also didn't seem to be interested in publishing a book.  She said her workshop this time had 21 people in it and she didn't like to have more than 10 so she could give everyone individual attention.  That's why it would be so nice if she had a dvd or book showing her methods.  She's a really nice person and I'm glad I was in the right place at the right time to meet her. 

Tomorrow it's back to the grindstone.  I have at least one more portrait to do and am still waiting on the pictures on another but I still may take a little time out to play!  lol

Two Little Coton deTulears

This is Max on the left and Allee on the right.  They are Coton de Tulears and are what I am working on currently.  I got to meet these two little fireballs and fell in love with them instantly.  They're very active but also very, very sweet.

I'm using various pastels and pastel pencils on PastelMat from Clairefontaine for this portrait  Although I've worked on the PastelMat in the past and was beginning to like it, it has a little quirk that just popped up with this painting that I really don't like.  It dents very easily and the dents are hard to cover.  I used my Jack Richeson semi-hard pastel square sticks/and pastel pencils for sketching the two dogs and I had to bear down quite a bit in order for the color to show.  This dented the surface of the paper and it's been very difficult to cover.  Also, using the pastel pencils in the eye area for instance has also left "furrows" in the base of soft pastel and on into the paper.  The only way I've been able to cover them is to use the very hard white pastel stick that I received in the Derwent samples not too long ago. 

I guess it could just be this particular piece or maybe even color of PastelMat as I hadn't noticed this happening the other times I've used it. 

Anyway, it's going pretty well and I got so involved in working on it that I forgot to stop and take any photos of the progression.  It's still not finished as you can see so I'll try to be a little better about photos as I go. 

And, no, Christine, I don't have the eyes completely finished yet but I did add a little highlight in Max's eye just for you!  lol

This is the second update on Kelly, the commission of the Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix.  I think I'm getting into the short rows but am awaiting comments from the owner.

Kelly's portrait is for a Christmas gift and I want it to be perfect, of course.  Trying to determine her coloring has been a bit touch and go as each of the photos I received from the owner has been pretty different.  She also sent a link to a dog online that she said she thought had similar coloring.  So, I hope I got it right.  The biggest challenge has been the dark areas.

The owner said Kelly's dark areas had gotten darker as she aged and she didn't want them as dark as they show in the reference photo.  I've lightened them considerably and, again, hope they're what the customer wants.  It's really difficult when the reference photos show one thing and the client's memory is different.

I'm also still working on the Cotons and will be posting a wip of that painting in the near future since I told a couple of regular readers that I would.  I've just gotten the color choices for the bows in the little girl Coton's pigtails though so I haven't done enough on her for you to see much right now.  I've made a pretty good start on the little boy though.

I'm really staying busy right now but will update here as soon as I can.

Kelly - New Commission WIP

This is Kelly, a Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix who crossed the bridge a while ago.  Kelly was much loved by the husband of the lady who commissioned the portrait and the portrait will be his Christmas gift.

This is pastel on velour with a mixture of various brands of semi-hard pastel sticks, soft pastel and pastel pencils.  I'm just in the blocking in stage right now so it looks very weird, I know. 

The reference photos were from hard copies which weren't the best in the world but I got the opportunity to talk to the customer at length about Kelly's coloring so I hope to be able to portray her accurately.  She looks to have been a beautiful dog with many features of a Golden Retriever.  That helps a lot since I've painted several Goldens.

I can see that she looks a little scrunched down here when in reality she has a very alert, proud bearing in the reference photos.  I'll address that as I proceed.

I'll also be posting a couple of Coton de Tulears that I'm working on.  I've started on it also but am not at the stage where you could make much sense of a photo of them!

So, don't be alarmed if you don't see much of me here - I'm busy working in the studio but I'll try to post more wips as I paint!

Framing Paintings on Suede

A couple of posts ago, I was singing the praises of using suede paper as as support for pastel painting.  This post will tell you how difficult it is to frame paintings on suede supports!  lol

I'm participating in an arts festival the weekend of the 23rd of this month and am trying to get paintings selected and framed and just stuff ready for the event. 

The painting of the dog (Chevy) that I'd painted on the suede paper gave me a very hard time.as no matter what I did, the pastel would fall off.  I sprayed it several times with fixative and even that didn't seem to help. 

I ended up tapping the back of the painting to get rid of as much loose pastel as I dared then I attached the hanger wire holders to the frame and attached one end of the hanger wire.  I left the frame in an upright position, cleaned and inserted the glass into the frame, added the top mat, then the inner mat turned to face the painting (to capture any pastel dust that might still fall).  Finally I added the painting and the backing board. 

After trying several times to frame this painting and cleaning the glass numerous times after each failure, I finally got the dog framed!  I guess the secret is to leave the frame upright during the whole framing process!

Still Playing Fast and Loose

The challenge last month at Paint My Photo was to paint a photo in an hour or less and Teresa at Blueberries, Art and Life has been doing some remarkable paintings in 20 minutes or less.  I'm a slow painter so I've been trying these exercises to try to speed up at least some. 

The idea is to paint as quickly as possible and still retain the quality you want your finished piece to have.  That means deleting unnecessary elements and keeping the important ones.  It means making every stroke count.

This is one of the Cotons I've been commissioned to paint as a Christmas gift.  She's an absolutely adorable dog and I thought I'd practice quick painting with her.  I think I need more practice!

Watercolor on Kilimanjaro cold pressed paper

On a Painting Binge

I've been on somewhat of a painting binge here lately and just finished the portrait on the left yesterday.  It's from the Paint My Photo site and is from a reference photo by Carrie Layne Mashon.

This is Conte, soft pastel, and pastel pencils on some suede paper from a scrapbook supply store.  I've been wanting to try the suede matboard that some artists use but it's not available locally that I can find and it's pretty pricey to order since there's a 10 sheet minimum.  The paper I bought is acid and lignon-free and I thought it would do well for experimenting.  The size is about 8 x 10 inches.

I really, really like the suede for use with pastel and the painting went very quickly with little to no dust!  I used a brown color paper for this painting and the light-colored, harder pastels didn't cover that well and that's really my only complaint with the paper.  I have one Sennelier soft stick in white that works well so I can see that if I intend to use the suede much, I'll have to invest in some softer pastels!

Oh, just thought of the new suede paper from ColourFix!  It's still not available where I shop but I'm really hoping it's as wonderful to paint on as this was!   Just think, I can get new paper and new pastels!  I'd better hurry up and finish the commissions that are waiting as I see a shopping binge coming to match my painting binge!  lol