Cheesecake Anyone?

"Drizzle" 5 by 7, Original Pastel Painting

 

 

This week's sale item on Etsy is this original pastel painting, Drizzle. It's $10 off with free shipping.

 

It feels like ages since I last blogged... School has been keeping me incredibly busy, plus my brother and sister were visiting this past week. Time to get back in the swing of things.

 

Have a great week!

Peppers

"Peppers" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I'm back to pastel today. This lovely woman on Flickr, Nancy Rose, has given me permission to use her photographs as references for my paintings, and this one called out to me. I was attracted to the bold colors and soft curves of the peppers.

This painting was done on pastelbord with pastel pencils. The colors are more fresh and bold in person, than they appear in the photo.

Don't forget about the "Painting a Day" event that Laura Trevey is hosting on her blog this month. Here is the link.

Pears On Deck - Painting of the Month

"Pears On Deck" 8 by 10, Pastel Painting

$95.00 plus free shipping

My painting of the month is finished. This turned out a little more loose than I was originally going for, but I like it. I have to thank Aran Goyoaga for allowing me to use her beautiful photograph for this painting.

This painting was completed on Ampersand Pastelbord with pastel sticks (mostly Mount Visions) and a few pastel pencils.

Pears On Deck - WIP

I don't generally post works in progress, but I thought I would today. The picture isn't that great, but you get the idea. I'm working on my first "painting of the month." It was a goal of mine this year to begin doing a painting of month, which is just a larger more detailed piece. This painting is only an 8 by 10, which isn't too large, but I'm low on large pastelbords.

I'm quite happy with the way this painting is progressing so far. I couldn't wait to get to the pears. I used masking fluid around the edges so that I wouldn't completely lose the lines when I did the background. Removing the masking fluid was a nightmare.

I'm going to continue working on this today, but wanted to show you what I have so far.

I hope you have a great weekend!

Pears

"Pears" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

"Pears" is my last painting of 2010! It's kind of sad, but I'm so excited for the new year. I have had many exciting things happen this year which has been so incredible. I have to remind myself that I've only been painting seriously since June. I know I have a ways to go and a lot to learn, but I'm excited to continue on this journey.

I really appreciate all of you who have been following my blog posts and leaving me such kind feedback over the year! I hope you'll join me for the next one! :)

I wish you all a happy new year!!

Apple Line Up

"Apple Line Up" 9 by 12, Pastel Painting

NFS

I completed this painting this morning in an effort to loosen up. I went along with a demonstration in a book I have. I didn't start with any drawing at all, which wasn't too difficult because they're just apples, but it was a different approach than I'm used to. I didn't want to use one of my pastelbords for this practice piece, so I used colorfix paper instead and I wasn't able to apply nearly as many layers of pastel.

I also completed this painting standing up at my easel, which I have never done. I usually paint small, so I find it easier to sit, but I enjoyed standing. I also think it may help me loosen up.

Have a great day!

Apples & Limes

Apples & Limes, 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I set up another little still life today. I had a little fun and put one of the limes on top of the apple. I thought setting up my own still lives was going to work out really well, but I'm not so sure. I think I prefer working from photographs. Maybe I'll experiment with setting up the still lives, and photographing them.

This painting was done on pastelbord, and completed with Mount Vision pastels, and a few Carbothello pastel pencils.

Just a little other news, I have been juried into Contemporary Fine Art International, and am now a member. Along with that, I will now be contributing to the Daily Painters of Wisconsin blog as well as the Pastel Artists International blog. So, I'm excited to become a part of this great art community. :)

I hope you have a lovely afternoon.

Apple & Pears

"Apple & Pears" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I set up my very first still life today and painted from it. I can't tell you how much the thought of painting a still life (not from a photograph) has intimidated me. But as I become a little more comfortable with my paintings, I'm willing to challenge myself more. I bought this fruit the other day, just for painting. I can see a few things that I wish I would have done differently, but overall I'm happy with it. And most importantly... it was fun! I can certainly see a lot of possibilities coming out of this! It would definitely be nice not to have to be restricted to using photographs all the time.

Well, I hope where ever you are today that you're warm! We're under another winter storm warning, and I think we've gotten 1 1/2 to 2 feet of snow already. I haven't stepped foot outside and I don't plan to. It's nice to have days like this once in a while. :)

Have a great weekend!

Apple Tea

"Apple Tea" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had with this painting this morning. I've never painted a background like this before (with the sheet or fabric draped behind). I had a lot of fun with all the loose strokes. I began layering and blending, but as the background started coming together, I decided to leave a few strokes expressive (not blended out). I think this adds a lot to the piece, and I might have to start doing it more often! I've thought for a long time that if I want to paint realistically that I have to blend my pastels, but I don't think that's true.

I was originally drawn to the photograph for this painting by the blue and red combination. I think the colors are just beautiful together. This painting was completed on pastelbord and I used a lot of Mount Vision pastels for the background, and mostly pastel pencils for the tea pot and apple.

I hope you have a nice afternoon!

An Apple a Day

"An Apple a Day" 8 by 10, Pastel Painting

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away," right? I guess I wouldn't know because I don't eat too many apples :). This painting is a little larger than the ones I normally do, it's an 8 by 10. My representation at the gallery begins next Monday and they want to put a painting of mine in the front window. I thought I should have something a little larger than 5 by 7, so here it is. I think this will be perfect.

This painting was completed with a combination of soft pastels and pastel pencils and the surface is Pastelbord.

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend! :)

Green Grapes

"Green Grapes" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

This is my second painting on the Wallis paper. I do love this painting surface. You can blend pastel so nicely on this paper. A fellow blogger told me that she loves Pastel Card by Sennelier. I had a sample of it, and it's really nice too. I may order some bigger sheets to experiment with.

This painting was fun to do. I never would have thought that I'd be painting still lives, but I have to say that I enjoy them. Although I would like to try some different subjects soon including animals and people.

I used all pastel pencils for this little painting.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I plan on making a trip to the pumpkin patch! :)

Marbles

"Marbles" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Well I finally decided to try a new painting surface. "Marbles" is done on UArt 800. I've had this paper for a while, but I've really been enjoying my pastelbord, so I didn't see much of a reason to try anything else. However, lately I've really been going for more a realistic look with my paintings (at least my still lives) and the pastelbord doesn't suit that style, at least not for me. UArt 800 is a very smooth paper. It was my first time using it, and when switching painting surfaces, there is a learning curve. It was easier to achieve a realistic look with this surface, but it still isn't quite what I'm looking for. Anytime I tried to blend the pastel, the texture of the paper came through. I do like the paper though, and I see myself using it occasionally.

I have some Wallis paper that I was going to try, but for realism, I don't think it will work. A friend of mine paints realistically in pastel and she uses Bristol board, which I never thought of using. But I purchased some, and it's a very smooth surface and you can't really see a texture on the paper. The only concern I have about it is that there really isn't much of a "tooth" to the paper, so I'm not sure how many layers of pastel that I could apply. But I'm excited to give that paper a try.

I used all pastel pencils for this painting (CarbOthellos mostly but some Faber-Castell's as well). I also got a new electric sharpener which I'm excited about. Ha-ha.. I know it sounds silly but to achieve any kind of realism, it's essential to get the sharpest point possible on your pencils.

I hope you all had a great weekend! :)

Framed Paintings

You guessed it, I decided to keep my latest painting ("When Life Gives You Lemons") for myself. I really had no intention of doing so when I was working on it, but once it was completed I realized that it went really well with my other painting, "Fruit Tea" (which I also decided to keep for myself). I had these adorable white frames that I thought would be a perfect fit for these paintings and I think I was right! I hung them up in my studio today. :)

I now have 5 by 7 prints available of these two paintings in my Etsy Shop.

When Life Gives You Lemons

"When Life Gives You Lemons" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! I don't know where that saying came from, but I like it, and I was thinking about it as I was painting these lemons today. This was such a fun little still life to paint. It's on Ampersand Pastelbord, and was completed with pastel pencils.

I'm not quite sure if I want to sell this painting, or keep it for myself :). If I decide to keep the original, I will make prints available in my Etsy shop.

Bowing Down

"Bowing Down" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available for purchase here.

I began this little painting yesterday and got to finish it this morning. The painting surface is Ampersand Pastelbord, and I completed the painting using soft pastels and pastel pencils. I've had this photograph for a while, and I've just been waiting to paint it.

I've been painting all day, outside in the hot sun. Unfortunately it wasn't this kind of painting. My Fiance and I were re-staining our deck. We have to do this about every 2 years. We ran out of stain with about 6 boards left. Oh darn, looks like we'll have to finish tomorrow! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Bowl of Cherries

"Bowl of Cherries" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available for purchase here

"Bowl of Cherries" is my latest pastel painting. It was done on Ampersand Pastelbord and is 5 by 7. I used a combination of soft pastel sticks and pastel pencils to complete this painting. I don't know what my fascination is with cherries lately, but I can't get enough of them! I even went to the market today and bought cherries just so I could paint them! I don't really like painting my own still lives, so I just took some pictures of them outside, and hopefully one of those will be good enough to paint! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Fresh Fruit

"Fresh Fruit" 8 by 10, Pastel Painting

SOLD

I started painting "Fresh Fruit" two days ago. I wanted to try a painting a little larger than what I've been doing lately. So I pulled out one of my 8 by 10 pastelbords and got to work on this still life. I soon learned that I really prefer to work small, at least with still lives. But this painting was a lot of fun to complete. I particularly enjoyed capturing the fresh, bold color of the fruit.

This painting is listed in my Etsy shop and can be purchased here.

Summer Cherries

"Summer Cherries" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

I completed "Summer Cherries" yesterday afternoon. I think this will be the first of many cherry paintings for me! I had such a wonderful time completing this painting. This painting was done on Ampersand Pastelbord, and was done with soft pastels, and pastel pencils. It can be purchased here.

Have a great Sunday!

Fruit Tea

"Fruit Tea" 5 by 7 Pastel Painting

"Fruit Tea" is the painting of the day. This is my first pastel painting since I completed Creativity Boot Camp. I think I just might be hooked on still lives after all of the ones I did for CBC. I've so enjoyed painting them lately.

This painting was done on pastelbord and completed with pastel pencils.

Prints of this painting can be purchased in my Etsy shop.

Creativity Boot Camp Day 8

"Ornament" 5 by 7 Pastel Painting

"Ornament" is my painting for day 8 of Creativity Bootcamp (only 5 left!). With the word prompt of the day being "ornament," I wanted to think outside the box and not do a Christmas ornament. I've been wanting to paint this vase for such a long time and this was the perfect opportunity. The colors of this bottle are so beautiful! I had a wonderful time doing this painting, even though it took nearly all day! :)

The original photograph was taken by an incredible photographer, Kate Young. She has graciously allowed me to use her photos as references for paintings. I didn't realize it until today, but this is the 4th photo of hers that I've used for this bootcamp! You have to check out her blog, she's wonderful!