Pastel painting with my nieces

Pastel on Board

5 x 7 inches

Just a quick little pastel sketch completed while hanging out with my nieces this weekend.  We pulled out the art supplies and PLAYED!

Illustration Friday - Space and the Everson's 60/60 Event

Blue Tree 2

9 x 12 inches

Pastel on Pastelboard

 

 As promised I am posting the artwork that I completed for the Everson Museum of Art's 60/60 event in Syracuse, NY.  Happily the image also worked pretty well for this weeks Illustration Friday topic.  I have painted this tree before in a much larger acrylic on canvas version, so I decided that I was comfortable enough with the image to feel like I could complete a smaller pastel version in a 60 minute time frame. I chose to use pastels so that I wouldn't have to worry about paint drying (or not drying) due to the weather and humidity.  I did take the risk of working with my brand spanking new set of Pan Pastels that I had purchased just that morning.  I have never used them before, and they are absolutely yummy.  They lay down intense color extremely well without using up the tooth of your surface and they blend beautifully.  I also used NuPastels by Prismacolor and a few Rembrandt soft pastels.  The finished painting was raffled off at the end of the event as part the museum fundraiser.

Even though the focal point of the image is the tree, it is its isolation in space that has always drawn me to it.  This is a tree that is in a field near my previous home in Texas.  I drove by it frequently and stopped to take pictures of it throughout every season of the year.  So not only have I photographed it repeatedly, but I also seem compelled to return to it as subject matter in my art.  I supposed it is a self portrait of sorts.  I'll let you sort out the psychological meaning of it all.  Below is the acrylic painting that I completed last year.

Blue Tree

36 x 48 inches

Acrylic on Canvas

Illustration Friday - Ferocious

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I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter

15 x 24

Pastel on Paper

This is Romeo the Papillon .  He was once accused of being ferocious at the pet store because he growled at a much bigger dog that was eyeballing him.  The owner of the bigger dog became nearly hysterical and proclaimed to everyone within earshot "That dog needs a muzzle!"  Romeo is more than happy to stay home on the couch, big ferocious dog that he is.  He has also been accused of being a humming bird.  I think that is a better description.  He is constantly in motion.  This was one of the few times that he held still long enough for me to capture a quick likeness.

Illustration Friday - Mesmerizing

 

24 x 18 inches

Pastel and Charcoal on Paper

I am often mesmerized by the road on long trips.  This image was inspired by my early morning drives to Nacogdoches.  The haze is not fog, but smoke from the wildfires Texas has been suffering this long, hot, dry summer.  Thankfully we finally got a little rain this weekend.  We need more.