"And Now For Something Completely Different"

I'm working on a painting right now, but it's going pretty slow.  Since it's not ready to post, I thought I'd show you something I did last month, when I started playing with oils again.  My goal with this painting was to stay loose and colorful, and try not to blend.  It takes a lot of concentration for me to paint like this.  Normally I paint on autopilot, but I have to be completely conscious and aware the whole time in order to stay loose.  Even so, it was quite a fun project.

"Lesli"

12" x 12"

Oil on Canvas

Sun Kissed

I hate to waste good paper, so I painted this little picture of my daughter enjoying the sunlight to use up a small scrap piece of La Carte.  As you can see, I didn't do a whole lot of blending on this one.  Just quick and fun.

Sun Kissed

3.5" x 4.25"

Soft Pastel on La Carte

Tribute to Karin Jurick

Karin Jurick

10" x 8"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Along with 117 other artists, I painted Karin Jurick’s portrait as a “thank you” for all her efforts with the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog.  The DSFDF blog has been an inspiration to many artists, and I’ve enjoyed the benefits of participating in the challenges.  In addition to stretching my skills by painting things I might not normally choose to paint, I’ve met many great people through the blog.  I have appreciated the time and effort Karin devotes to the blog, and I’m happy to be able to participate in this tribute to her.

Portrait of My Uncle

In the last two years, I've lost three people who were important to me. When I was a kid and first realized that we were all going to die some day, I felt gypped. And afraid. I didn't want to lose everyone I loved. I still don't. But that's part of life, isn't it? We will lose people we love until they lose us. I suppose the only positive aspect is that it teaches you to appreciate what you have while you have it. There was a line about life in a comic strip that has stuck with me: "It ain't nohow permanent."

I painted this portrait of my uncle, who passed away last year, as a gift for my aunt. He was a great man. I hope he knew we all thought so.

10" x 8"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Painting Different Folks

This is my portrait for the current Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. We were paired anonymously with another artist and given their photo. Since no one was going to see the reference photos, we could free ourselves up and use unusual colors or not even worry about getting a good likeness. Sounded like wild and crazy fun to me.

I had just finished rereading “Harley Brown’s eternal truths for every artist” when I received my photo reference, so I grabbed a piece of suede matboard and smeared pastel over it to “show it who’s boss,” as Harley advised. I was really impressed with myself for a couple of seconds, but I had no idea what to do next (I thought I had learned something reading that book, but it’s so easy to get distracted by the pictures). So I decided to block in the shapes as usual, but do it colorfully with blues, greens, yellows and oranges. Am I wild and crazy or what? It didn’t last long, though.

Here’s what I learned about myself: I have to get a good likeness. I can’t not do it. It makes me crazy. I started layering on normal colors and turned it upside down to check my proportions. Pretty soon my portrait was looking like the original photo. Just to compensate for my boringness, I put some wild color into the background. Plus, I’m slightly off and I’m not even going to correct it. Yep, that’s me, living on the edge.

10”x8”
Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

One thing that did stick with me from Harley's book was this: "You can't go looking for style."

Portrait of Frankie

This is my second and last portrait for EBSQ’s 2008 Portrait Swap, the lovely Frankie Paquin. I had three photos to choose from, but this one appealed to me the most. It was also the most difficult composition. I left the mirror until I was three quarters of the way finished, mostly because I was dreading it. Sometimes when I’m painting things like that I get confused and I can’t really see it correctly. In the end, it was easier than I thought it would be. I just started placing the highlights in the approximate place I thought they should be, then went progressively darker. Of course, it’s not exactly accurate, but I was more concerned with getting the feel of the mirror than an exact replica.

Frankie
8”x10”
Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard

Another Portrait on Velour Paper

This is a portrait of artist Tracey Allyn Greene and her cat. I had planned on painting Tracey in oils, but when I saw her photo with Poe, I decided to use soft pastels on velour paper instead. After I was about two hours into the process, I realized that my choice of paper wasn’t a good one. I debated trashing it, but Tracey was already alive on the page, so I decided to persevere. Although I wish I had done it on suede matboard instead, I’m pretty happy with the results.

Tracey & Poe
12” x 9”
Soft Pastels on Velour Paper

Another Portrait

This is a small painting of my daughter. My intention when I started was to create something loose and expressive. So I didn’t draw it out first, I just blocked in the shapes and then refined from there. And refined, and refined. I should have stopped earlier, when it was still somewhat loose, but I couldn’t do it. I was obsessed. I finally stuck it in a frame to keep myself away from it. If it wasn’t framed, I’d still be working on it. A little blending here, a little shading there.

4"x6"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Equality in Art

Do you remember when you were a kid and you thought everything had to be fair? Your sister got a brownie, and even if you didn’t really want one, you had to have one too. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair. Well, that’s spilled over into art at my house. My son is complaining that I’ve painted my daughter more than I’ve painted him. He's right, of course. Since I just painted a pastel of her as a baby, I decided to do one of him as a baby. Can’t get more fair than that, right?

This one is on La Carte paper, which is textured similar to sandpaper. It was really hard to get used to, and I made plenty of errors. Fortunately, this paper holds a lot of pastel. Once I figured out where I was off, it was easy enough to correct. One thing I really like about this paper is that it sharpens the pastel as you use it. Nice for details.

12"x9"

Soft Pastel on La Carte Paper

Pastel Portrait on Velour Paper

“New Hat”
12”x9”
Soft Pastels on Velour Paper

This is a portrait I did just for myself. I love the look of pet portraits on velour paper, but hadn’t yet done a people portrait using velour. I chose a picture of my daughter when she was a baby for my reference. Once I got the hang of layering colors to get the skin to look the way I wanted it to look, it was easy. I’m very happy with the results, and I love this velour paper! But I still have more papers to try, so stay tuned…

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.