New Painting!

If you can believe it, I just finished a new watercolor painting! It's called "Almost There." This is my first watercolor painting in over a year, which is completely ridiculous. School keeps me so busy that there isn't much time for anything else but I've been trying to paint for at least an hour a day. I also recently finished a new miniature watercolor. It was a fun challenge. :)

I've been posting quite a bit to my Instagram page (@angelasexpressions) if you want to see more. :) Hope you all are well!!

Back in Bloom

"Back in Bloom" Original Watercolor, 5 by 7

 

If you can even believe it, I've finished a new watercolor painting! I started it about a week ago, and forgot to post a WIP photos. I thought I would ease back into painting slowly with a small piece (5 by 7) and with a subject that I'm comfortable with (flowers of course). I had so much fun working on this, even though I was slightly worried that it would be a disaster and that all my painting skills have gone out the window. I'm rather pleased with the way it turned out though. The pencil lines are a little dark though, and because of the fixative I used, I couldn't erase them. Oh well, now I know for next time. :)

 

This painting is available on Etsy if anyone is interested.

 

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Sphinx - Custom Pet Portrait

"Sphinx" - Custom Pet Portrait

I've been working on this pet portrait for the past few days and it's finally complete. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the way that it turned out. I was a bit more loose with the cat than I would normally be. I applied the pastel to the face and then blended it. I really liked the effect that I achieved in doing that. I think the cat looks more soft than other portraits that I've done.

"Sphinx" is a surprise birthday gift and I hope the recipient is pleased. :)

Have a great day!

Kitty Green Eyes

"Kitty Green Eyes" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

SOLD

Kitty is finished! I really didn't think I would be able to finish this by today, but I worked on it for a while last night and finished it this morning. I have to say, I love painting cats! Actually I'm beginning to fall in love with painting animals in general.

"Kitty Green Eyes" was painted with soft pastels and pastel pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord.

As I said in my last post, I'm going on vacation tomorrow, just for the weekend, so I won't be around until next week. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Purple Water Lily

"Purple Water Lily" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

"Purple Water Lily" is the painting of the day. I completed the drawing for this painting yesterday evening so that I could get started right away this morning on it. This painting is inspired by a photograph by Altagracia Aristy on Flickr. Thank you Altagracia for allowing me to use your photograph!

This painting was done on Wallis, and completed with pastel pencils. All in all, I think it turned out pretty good. I'm still trying to get used to this new painting surface. I'm going to be painting some more flowers, in an effort to possibly start a new venture (more details to come soon).

Have a great afternoon!

Quote of the day: "Painting seems to be my obsession. I feel some resentment at all the other things in life that take me away from my studio. This obsession constantly judges all other calls on my time and energy." - Sue Cowan

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! :)

Poppy

"Poppy" 5 by 7 Pastel Painting

I completed another painting today, and I thought you might like to see my process and also my little painting area.

When I paint small (which is almost all the time) I just sit at my desk. When I paint larger, I like to use my easel, especially when I’m painting water and skies. I have my pastel pencils off to the right and a small amount of pastel sticks just in case. I also keep my sharpener and baby wipes handy.
I like to stabilize my painting surface, so that it’s not moving all around. I painted on a piece of Bristol board today, and I just used a little piece of tape to stick it down to my clipboard. I fold up a kitchen towel and place it underneath the clip board near the top. This puts my surface at a comfortable angle for painting. You can barely see the drawing here, but I complete my drawing before I adhere the paper to the board.
When I’m painting realistically, I like to outline my main subjects first. I outlined my poppy in green, which will be my background color. I use a very sharp pastel pencil to do this. If I don't outline my subject first, when I take a pastel stick and try to cover the background, I will lose the pencils lines.Then I like to complete the background. Sometimes I use pastel pencils for this and sometimes I use pastel sticks. It just depends on how much paper I have to cover. I had a difficult time with the background for this one because I was using Bristol board again, and you cannot apply as many layers of pastel as I like to. Next, I outlined my poppy to maintain the outline and began painting it piece by piece.
I like to work in one direction and not jump around when working on a piece like this.
Almost done with the petals.
Once I’ve “finished,” or covered all areas of the paper, I will take a little break. When I go back to it, I add highlights and darken darks, and sometimes rework the background if needed.
And the finished product.

This is only the 2nd time I've used Bristol board, and I'm definitley not used to it. I really want it to work for me, so I'm going to keep playing around with it.

I have to thank Pat from Back Porch Musings for allowing me to use her beautiful photograph. Thanks Pat!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Amaryllis

"Amaryllis" 4 by 6, Pastel Painting

Well, I gave the Bristol board a try today and I'm not sure how much luck I had with it. It is so unlike any other pastel surface that I have used before. It certainly was easier to achieve fine lines and details, but it didn't take many layers of pastel. I think if I were to change my usual approach to painting, it just might work. I'm definitely not going to give up on it, because I'd really like it to work for me. The Bristol board is archival and acid free, so it will hold up and last many years.

I used all pastel pencils for this little painting. In fact I used all CarbOthellos. After seeing the scanned painting, I see a couple little tweaks that I need to make.

Thanks to Melissa Clark who allowed me to use her beautiful photograph!

Have a nice afternoon! :)