Art Journal

"Hope"

Pastel on Uart 400 paper. 9x12.
Definitely fun to paint.
I first made the drawing and applied an alcohol wash using a dark blue Nupastel stick.

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Edmonds Art Walk! June 2015

Again, thanks to Michael from Christopher Framing and Gallery my latest work with pastels are on display at his gallery. This time, you can find a series of new brilliant colors and contrast in local landscapes - Bothell area - and some wildlife as well. The work will be on display for a month until the next month's Art Walk (July 16th). Stop by and check it out!
The opening was June 18th and a lot of people showed up. I got a lot of compliments and also some of the landscapes representing familiar areas to the visitors were drawing a lot of attention. I actually had a couple people tell me they remember me from the last art walk when I had my first exhibit. How cool is that!

Holidays

I love the look of this little guy.I used a real Christmas tree ornament as a model. It came in a set of 4 - will I paint the others? - hmmm.The background is darker than it appears in the picture and it makes his serious stand pop out of the painting a lot.Reds and purples contrast with the white of the beard. I was able to apply some gold and silver pastel pigments to give a sparkly look.Enjoy the holidays!

December 10th

It is hard to sit down and write. Especially if you are posting frequent work related stuff.
This is me trying to do something different. Something outside of my comfort zone - the landscape.

It was challenging to decide how to leave the background, yes! the background.
The front poppy has detail and all but I kept going back and forth defining the flowers in the background and then trying to make them go back further.

The effect that we usually see with a camera picture, that fuzziness well, was really hard to do.

What would be the title for this little painting? "red poppies"...dah.

How about "Right here, right now". Yes, its just flowers at first but if you look deeper I saw something different. Concentrate your life around the present, what you have right here in front of you and enjoy it. Put the past and future in the background and take what you have now.

Another Daily Painting

well... I have done it twice in a week, which for me is fantastic!

Daily Painting?

I got literally possessed by the book Daily Painting by Carol Marine. I read a few pages and off I was preparing some surfaces with watercolor paper and ground for pastels. The idea is to have paper available quickly that can be cut in sizes 5x7 or 6x6 or any other small size and use them to make some sort of art every day.

Every day is a lot of commitment. But even twice a week will do. 

Lots of research and work to do. Finding subjects is a big one. If you dont have good subjects to paint from motivation goes away at the speed of light.

Finding a theme

I finally have a dedicated space for an easel and pastels. I have always wanted to have a place where I could leave all my pastel painting materials there instead of having to put stuff away. I figured that was the best way to find time to paint.

I hit the fear to start problem again. First off, what to paint? that took me a while to overcome and a failure attempt at a landscape.

I love landscapes in pastel, but... I took a turn and realized that maybe it's not my thing. I must find something that I am good at in a natural way.

I decided to go back to the human figure - something other artists have told me I am pretty good at that is really hard for them. Back when I was in kindergarten Mom would draw ballerinas for me and I would color them. Later, I started drawing my own and apparently some teachers were impressed at how I could draw them giving a sense of movement.

Pastel is not the best medium for face and finger/hands details I found. You have to "suggest" a lot. Then again, it's not that what catches your eye in this painting, but the correct proportions and the three-dimensional effect.

I am always learning with every drawing. I am happy I found a subject that inspires me. More ballet figures coming up hopefully!