Dog Painting From my Live Presentation Last Night

I’d like to thank all of you who attended my EBSQ Live! Presentation last night. It was great to meet some new people, and overall a very fun experience. My presentation will be in the EBSQ archives (click on the “Learn” icon on the web site) at some point, so you’ll be able to see it there eventually.

Here is the painting I used for the demonstration. It is my dog, in one of her favorite sunny spots in the house.

10” x 20”
Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

A Live Presentation on Soft Pastels at EBSQ!

I have been asked by EBSQ to give a Live Presentation on soft pastels this Monday, 7/13/09 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific. Anyone can attend, and you’re all invited! The presentation will be held in EBSQ’s chat room. If you’re not a member of EBSQ, you’ll need to register as a patron (it’s free!) in order to attend. Then at 6:00 p.m. Pacific (look up the equivalent in your time zone) log into the chat room.

I’ll be talking about the materials I use, then going through a painting from start to finish, step by step. I’m using my dog as a subject.

I’d love to see you there!

Summer Bounty

This was painted for the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. I started it last Thursday, thinking I’d whip it out really quick instead of waiting until the last minute. I was very impressed with myself for not procrastinating. Unfortunately, I only got it about half finished and didn’t have a chance to paint until now (no procrastination involved, honestly, just super busy). Still, I’m a week early, so that’s an improvement!

7" x 5"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Cherries

Here's one I just finished. It will be available this weekend, along with some of my other paintings, at the Peninsula Art League's sale during the Maritime Gig Festival, June 6 & 7. The sale will be set up in the old Ship to Shore building by the new museum. If you're close to Gig Harbor, make sure you stop by and see all the great original art!

3.25" x 5.25"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

New York Street

I painted this picture for the Different Strokes blog. Even though I had three weeks, I waited until the last day to paint this and got it in just under the wire. It’s not that I was procrastinating, I’ve just been really busy. Okay, I was procrastinating. I hate painting buildings. And I actually have been very busy, so it was easy to put off. It was just as well that I waited until the last day, because I didn’t have time to overwork it.

7" x 5"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Springer Spaniel Portrait

This is a portrait of a beautiful tri-color Springer Spaniel named Cassidy. I donated a pet portrait to English Springer Rescue America (ESRA) for a fundraising auction, and Cassidy's parents were the winning bidders.

10" x 8"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Diana’s Companion

7" x 5"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

People have been asking me lately about my process. Unfortunately, I don’t have an easy answer because I don't have a set approach to painting. I may do things differently based on subject, size, purpose of the painting, my mood, whatever. I decided to turn this Different Strokes challenge into a WIP, so those people who are interested could see one of my methods for tackling a painting.

Unless my painting has to be perfect, I prefer to skip measuring. It makes things tedious and takes the fun out of it. For this particular subject, I’m not concerned with perfection. Close is good enough, because no one will likely know if it isn’t perfect. Which means I’m not measuring (hooray!).

Step 1: I cut a 7” x 5” piece of suede matboard and tape it to a piece of cardboard. I then crop and print the reference photo to the same size, taping it next to the board. This will allow me to check size, values, and shapes, and is particularly useful to check accuracy when standing five or six feet back.

Next, I pick out pastels in a light, medium, and dark value. Not the lightest light, or darkest dark, of course – that’s like dessert for me, so I save it for later. I use the light pastel, making marks where the lights are in the ref photo, then do the same with the middle and then the dark values. Now I have a basic sketch.

Step 2: Obviously, I’m going to be using some pastel pencils with this piece. Her face is only ½” big. There’s no way I’ll get enough detail with these fat pastels. Using a gray pastel pencil, I define the figures.



Step 3: Going back with the pastels again, I work on the values.



Step 4: I alternate between pastel pencils and pastels, refining the drawing.

With the finished painting next to the ref photo, it’s very obvious where I’m off. But since no one is going to see the ref photo next to the painting in real life, I think it’s close enough.

Here is the finished piece again, larger. Lots of fun, and no tedious measuring. My favorite way to paint!

Hot Off The Easel

My first few attempts at painting in oil were small (5”x7”) paintings of my daughter reading. When I painted them last year, I decided it would be a good subject for a large painting. Of course, at the time I was planning on doing it in oil, but I never got around to it. Since I recently got a full set of Mount Visions pastels, I’ve been playing large. I thought it would be fun to see if I could paint this in pastels instead of oils. Turns out, it really was fun.

24” x 28”

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

The skin tones are smoother in person. I don’t know why orange tones tend to jump out in photos, but someday I’ll make friends with Photoshop and hopefully learn to get a more accurate representation of color. Right now this is the best I can do.

Recycled Idea

This painting is based on my “Choir” painting. I wanted to see how it would look in a bigger format, but didn’t want to do the same exact picture. It went through quite a transformation as I made up people, then wiped others out, etc., but I think it turned out okay.

I could not have done this without my daughter. She posed for me, without complaint, whenever I needed her. It’s very convenient having a willing model in the house.

23" x 19"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Twice Tapped

I’ve been given the “Passion for Painting” award by two of my online artist friends, James Parker and Edward Burton. I am supposed to list seven things that I love, and then pass the award on to seven other artists.

The seven things I love are:

1. My family
2. My friends
3. Painting
4. Sitting on my deck in the summer with wine and good friends, or a good book
5. Being able to watch hummingbirds, bald eagles, the occasional deer, or even seals while I do the dishes or lounge on the deck
6. The sound of my kids laughing
7. The smell of the air in summer, when the sun heats up the pines

Here are seven very talented artists whose work I particularly enjoy:

Jennifer McChristian
Jason DeGraaf
Alvin Richard
Nathan Fowkes
Todd Ford
Justin Taylor
Edward B. Gordon

Thank you, James & Edward!

Sushi

I took a quick break from the painting I’m working on to paint this for the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. I debated doing several different things with it, but in the end left it pretty much as is.

I've decided I like eating sushi more than painting it. I really wanted sushi the whole time I was working on this. Although truthfully, I’m a wimpy sushi eater. California rolls are about as adventurous as I get, but I love them. My kids and I make them occasionally, and they are so addictive!

3.25" x 5.25"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

First Place!

My “Moored” painting won first place in the Peninsula Art League small works show. If you’re local to Gig Harbor, stop by the library and see the show!

"Moored"

This painting is part of a small works show at the Peninsula Library in Gig Harbor. I wanted to paint something with a bit of local flavor for this show, and this little dinghy seemed just right. It will be on display until March 30.

"Moored"

5" x 7"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

Painted Ladies

This is my submission for the current Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. I found the reference photo intriguing, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. I decided to pick out a few of the manikins that I liked, then put them against blocks of color to give it a modern feel. I printed the reference in grayscale to keep myself from attempting to make them exactly like the photo. It was an interesting challenge.

8” x 10”
Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Buddha

This is a painting of my favorite statue at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the big island of Hawaii. I suppose because of the cold and snow I’ve been daydreaming about the summer vacation we’ve planned, which includes another visit to the Hilton Waikoloa. We had such a fabulous time there, and I am so looking forward to going back. This statue was by our hotel tower, so we saw it every day as we boated in from or out to another part of the resort. For some reason, just looking at it made me happy.

8" x 10"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

Victorian Rooftop

This is my submission for the current Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. As is often the case with the DSFDF challenge, this is something I would never have chosen to paint (if you ever see me painting a building, you can assume it wasn’t my idea). I dread painting windows, columns, staircases, etc., so it was with a fair amount of reluctance that I approached this painting. Luckily, I was able to paint it fairly quickly.

2.75" x 5.5"

Soft Pastels on Paper

I had a tiny piece of La Carte paper (a sample that came in the box with my Sennelier pastels) which I decided to use for this piece. I cropped the photo reference to minimize the number of windows I would have to paint. I started out drawing with a pastel pencil, but quickly realized I was going to have to use a regular drawing pencil and a ruler if I were to achieve a decent level of accuracy. Once the tedious drawing was completed, the painting part was actually fun.

Choir

This one was really fun to paint. I wanted to keep it somewhat loose, so I tried very hard not to obsess about detail. It took me quite a while to get the results I wanted, but it was worth it. I'm so happy with the way it turned out!

"Choir"

10" x 8"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Jefferson Memorial

Our current challenge on the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog is painting the Jefferson Memorial at night. I was happy to try my hand at this, as I think pastels are perfect for this sort of painting. I blocked in the shapes and refined from there, finishing the painting relatively quickly. Unfortunately, I've spent many more hours photographing and playing with it in Photoshop than I did painting it, and I still can't seem to get the colors to show up accurately. It is more vibrant in person, but this is as close as I can get to the original.

5"x7"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

Brothers

My mother-in-law asked me if I could paint my nephews, so I did this for her as a Christmas present. This was one of those times when I was happy I was doing it as a gift and not a commission, where the stress would have been much greater. I struggled through most of this one, and not just because of the usual challenges that can arise when you paint more than one person; moving figures to fit, having to paint what isn’t visible in the photo, etc. I got the baby in quickly and fairly accurately, but not so with the older boy. After a long struggle, though, I pulled out my ruler and was able to figure out the problem. One of the reasons I love suede matboard is that it’s such a forgiving surface; I can change, cover, or even move things around and no one can tell. This is as close as I could get it to the reference photo, and my mother-in-law is happy, so I’m happy.

“Brothers”
10”x8”
Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

Happy New Year!

Buzz and Baby

This is a Christmas present for a good friend of mine. Buzz is the sweetest dog you’d ever meet. He’s also my dog’s boyfriend (does she have good taste or what?). They are fun to watch together – she puts up with his kisses, and even shares her bones and toys with him, something she’s never done with any other dog. When the family took in two underage kittens, Buzz was their surrogate dad, allowing them to snuggle with him and even try to nurse. I've painted him with one of the babies as a Christmas gift to his mom. Isn’t he handsome?

8"x10"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

Happy Holidays to you all!