PAL Juried Exhibition

I'm very happy to report my painting "Daily Habit" won a Jack Richeson & Co. merchandise award in Peninsula Art League's 11th Annual Juried Exhibition.  The Richeson company is unbelievably generous with their support of artists, and this is my third certificate I'll use this year.  It's been fantastic for my art supply budget (is there anything better than free art supplies?).

The PAL exhibition is being held at the Harbor History Museum in downtown Gig Harbor until October 5, 2013.  There is some excellent work in the exhibition.  Be sure to check it out if you're in the area!

"Daily Habit"

10" x 25"

Soft Pastel

Pastel 100 Winner!

For those of you who don't know, the Pastel 100 is the Pastel Magazine's annual competition where judges choose the best 100 paintings out of thousands of entries (almost 3200 this year!).  There are 30 top prize and place winners and 70 honorable mentions in five categories.  The winners are published in the April issue of the Pastel Journal Magazine.

I'm very happy to announce my painting "Banana Bread" won Fifth Place in the Still Life & Floral category:

"Banana Bread"

9x12"

Soft Pastel

(SOLD)

And my painting "Daily Habit" won an Honorable Mention in the Animal & Wildlife category:

"Daily Habit"

10x25"

Here are the pictures of the magazine pages for those of you who aren't likely to buy the magazine.  As you can see, I'm in excellent company!

Click here for information about the competition.

Recent Commissions

Here are a couple of recently finished commissions.  I was lucky to be working with some wonderful (and wonderfully patient!) people who wanted me to paint their dogs and grandchildren.  I was especially looking forward to painting the boys.  They are so adorable, and I love painting little hands and feet.  I'm super happy with the way these paintings turned out, but disappointed in my inability to get the colors to show up accurately in the pictures.  I hope you'll take my word for it that they look much better in person!

22" x 28"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

18" x 24"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

PSWC Distinguished Pastelist

My painting "Nap Interrupted" won 3rd place in the Pastel Society of the West Coast's 26th Annual International Open Exhibition!  This is my third year entering the exhibition, which gives me my PSWC signature.  It is also my third award, which means I am now a PSWC Distinguished Pastelist!  In order to receive Distinguished Pastelist designation, you have to win three awards in the international exhibition within five consecutive years.  There are only 31 Distinguished Pastelists in the PSWC, and I'm thrilled to be one of them!

"Nap Interrupted"

14" x 24"

Soft Pastel

Here are the comments from the Judge, Lorenzo Chavez:

The works that became the top award winners all had two things in common, mastery of drawing, and the artists created from the heart. Congratulations to all and wishing you much success. (Comment on the painting "Nap Interrupted" by Kari Tirrell.) "This is another great example of a big interesting design and fine, fine craftsmanship. The animal portrait is handled with such love and emotion. Every time I viewed this from across the room, it grabbed my full attention. Outstanding!"

The exhibition is being held at the Art Center Morro Bay until June 23, 2012.  

Latest in my Soft Pastel Dog Series

I wanted to paint something fun and easy after the Venice painting, so I decided to add to my dog series.  I definitely think the idea of painting the same subject repeatedly has merit.  Of course, I know my subject very well, but I feel like I'm improving in certain areas.  Or maybe that's just my imagination.  This one didn't take me very long, though, so at the very least I'm improving in speed.

"Nap Interrupted"

14" x 24"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Best of Show!!

My painting "Old Friend" won Best of Show at the Northwest Pastel Society 2011 Members' Exhibit!

The reception was very well attended (it was packed in there!), and I got to meet some people I have known online for a while but hadn't met in person, which is always fun!

There are many excellent paintings at the exhibit, but my favorite paintings of the show were by Sandy Byers, who won the NPS Director's Award for her painting "Symphony of Swans."  Take a look at these paintings online and you will see how beautiful they are, but it doesn't prepare you for how absolutely stunning they are in person.

If you can get to the Kirsten Gallery to see the show, it's definitely worth it!

Dog Painting in Soft Pastel With WIP Pics

I've had a computer in my studio now for a year, and I love being able to paint from it.  I used to print out a picture on photo paper, and paint from that.  It's so much better using the monitor!  I can enlarge the reference and see much more detail now, which makes my job a lot easier.  I can also use PhotoShop to help compose the image.

For instance, I can put my reference image in PhotoShop and "Posterize" it to show only a few values.  This can help me work through my initial drawing.  Here is the ref posterized:

First I pick a light tone and draw out the highlights:

Next I take a middle and darker tone and place those in the appropriate places:

Next, I use a pastel pencil to work out my drawing:

I add in the background, and continue to work out the drawing:

Still working out my drawing while filling in local color:

Now I'm starting to fill in detail:

Now I've worked out the values for the most part, and just need the foreground and finishing touches:

Finished:

"Dog Tired"

14"x24"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

(SOLD)

(I took these pictures at different times of day, in different lighting, which is the reason for the varying colors.)

If you've seen the demo on my web site, you'll have noticed that this is the same method, with the exception of using the computer.  Isn't technology wonderful?

My Latest Commission and Happy New Year!

This last day of 2010, I’d like to thank all of you who have followed my blog and supported me and my work throughout the year.  I appreciate you more than you can possibly know.  

Since Christmas has passed, I can now share a painting which was commissioned for a Christmas gift.  This is a little Westie named Morgan.  He’s an old dog (14, if I remember correctly) and I had the opportunity to meet him once during the painting process.  I hope I was able to capture his sweet personality in his portrait.

White dogs are challenging to paint, particularly when they have long, wavy fur.  Despite this challenge, I really enjoyed painting Morgan.  I absolutely loved his over-the-shoulder pose.  I chose a square format, which I thought complimented the pose, and made it slightly larger than life to make it more contemporary.  I was very pleased with the results!

"Morgan"

15 x 15”

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard
(SOLD)

I wish all of you good health, happiness, and prosperity in 2011!

Yellow Lab Portrait in Soft Pastel

I just finished this commissioned portrait of a yellow lab named Henry.  Water can be difficult to paint, and I've never painted a wet dog before, so this was a bit of a challenge.  Overall, though, I'm happy with the result.

16" x 20"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

SOLD

Painting on Pastelmat

This is my first attempt painting on a new paper called Pastelmat.  Since I often paint animals, I thought I’d first test how suitable the paper is for fur.  I used my dog as the subject.  My usual method of painting fur didn’t work on this paper, so unless I figure out a way to get the results I want, I won’t be using this paper for animals in the future.  I can see great possibilities with other subjects, though.

"Old Friend"
12” x 19.5”

Soft Pastel on Pastelmat

Pastelmat is an amazing surface.  It is so smooth, you wouldn’t expect it to grab onto the pastel, but that’s exactly what it does.  I’m looking forward to experimenting with different subjects and discovering what I can do with it.

BEST IN SHOW!!

Last night was the artists’ reception for the 7th Annual Peninsula Art League Open Juried Art Exhibition. I entered three pieces to the show, but only one got in, so I was feeling lucky to be included. Imagine my surprise when I found my painting had won Best in Show!

"Sunny Spot"

10" x 20"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

My dog got a huge, well-deserved helping of turkey when I got home last night!

Pastel Dog Portrait

I painted this pooch for EBSQ’s Pet Portrait Swap ‘09. This year I paired up with one of my favorite EBSQ artists, Lauren Cole Abrams. Lauren doesn’t have a pet, so I painted her mother’s dog, Rocky.

10” x 8”
Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

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. Here is the painting I used for the demonstration. It is my dog, in one of her favorite sunny spots in the house. If you missed the demo, you can see it on my web site here.

"Sunny Spot"

10” x 20”
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!

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!

Annie: A Portrait

"Annie"

12"x9"

Soft Pastels

This is a painting I completed for the Pet Portrait Swap show on EBSQ. I love doing this kind of work. The instant gratification of pastels, the challenge of making the dog come to life, the pleasure I feel when I've accomplished my goal. Well, I suppose I feel that with all artwork, but the instant gratification aspect is what really compels me to use pastels. I just love them. The velour paper is perfect for fur. Not always easy to work on, but once you get the hang of it, the results are lovely.

Check out the Pet Portrait Swap on EBSQ.