Pastels

First pastel experiment. Took this picture in Giardi Naxos, Sicily, on the way up to Taormina. the myth of Naxos (the Sicilian town takes its name from the Greek Island of Naxos, where Theseus left Ariadne before taking off on his adventures. This is probaby Poseidon or Neptune.

Pastels are exicitng, but very, very messy! I think they are great for backgrounds (I HATE doing backgrounds for colored pencil work -- too tedious for me) and for certain subjects.

Olivia

Here is my little Renoir girl. Olivia's birthday is this weekend, so I slipped her in ahead of her big brother. This is from a favorite photograph of her.

San Diego Art Walk on a beautiful Sunday was so inspiring. Bought some Rembrandt soft pastels and promptly got messy! In the car. Going home. With a tiny sketchbook I keep in my purse. I don't know quite how my husband puts up with me, but I am sure glad he does.

a little slower, please

Had some kind of flu or spring fever, maybe. So, this is the only completed piece I have for last week. Have a series of dark floral studies to add to this series.

San Diego Art Walk this weekend!

Happy Birthday to Me

Anticipating and quiet birthday and maybe a trip to San Diego Museum of Art or the garden pavilion. Here are last week's challenges. Having a lot of fun with rendering reflections of light on glass and ready to move into reflected images.

This zebra piece is watercolor and watercolor pencil and is just for playing with the media.

Title: "But, Mom! Dad? Please?"

Don't have any sage aphorisms or weighty thoughts on getting older. Actually, I think I feel younger than I did a decade ago! More willing to just let it go -- -- whatever "it" is.

Gus

"Gus" 8 x 10, on buff mi teintes pastel stock. 2009 ddp

What better way to start the series of grandchildren with "numero uno"? Took this from a photograph with both of us in it while visiting San Antonio for August's birthday in 2007. The original background is a deep rich earthy red, but I am tired of doing backgrounds, so I experimented on colored ground.

Challenges

Between some art instruction books/DVD's and online art groups, I am swamping myself with challenges. The challenge here will be to blog them once a week. Sort of an virtual journal and gallery to track my progress

WetCanvas.com This website is a tremendous repository for all things art, from beginner to professional.

Colored Pencil Forum - Monthly Challenges for April 2009
Tom's Hands

Sunset Sea.
















Drawing and Sketching Forum - Weekly Drawings

March 23-29, 2009
Filtered Sunlight




















March 30 - April 5, 2009
Apple Blossoms

Watermedia Form - Monthly Challenge

This space reserved for Zebras

(Yes. Really.)

Classical Art Forum - Various masters are studied and then submissions are done in the style of that artist. There are several ongoing projects. Klimt, Botticelli, and Japanese antique-style.

I haven't done any of these yet, but they are fascinating.

And, I have my birthday present, Sanda Angelo's colored pencil course, Level 4-1. Below is my first attempt on colored paper. Most of my lesson projects are actually better drawings than Madame Plum Blossom here, but they are in my sketchbook and I don't want to scan that! It would be like scanning one's underwear.

Artistsnetwork.com

All-media Paint-outs (you can win $50!)
#12 Five Objects 4/6/09 - Dear John

#13 Non-floral Spring 5/18/09

Please place umbrellas here.
(Not kidding here, either.)

Everytime I do a lesson project, or a challenge, I learn something the fun way. Better than real life, where I learn everything the hard way!

My First Portrait

From photograph taken in Montana, 2006. "KEL". 8"x10", graphite on Strathmore drawing paper. Now that I post this, I can see things I could have "fixed". But, all-in-all, I'm pretty happy with this one. Makes me want to do more.



So, I have started a series of (whatelse?) grandchildren. Namely, mine (of course). Here is my WIP, Olivia.