Oops! I totally forgot that I meant to post a charcoal portrait of my daughter in the last post! That was a major reason I did a non-art post, but I guess that’s what happens when you have someone like me, posting about who-knows-what. I try to stay on topic of art, but sometimes, I gotta stray. Portrait of Anna Granted, this portrait was done years ago, and I’m painfully aware I should do an update. Plus, I have other family members who have waited patiently for their turn, but since theirs is free, they have no choice but to sit back and… wait some more. Portrait of my Dad So now we get to go down memory lane…to 20 (yes, TWENTY!) years ago. I did a portrait of my dad that I submitted and won 1st place in a Father’s Day event. Looking at it now…I can honestly tell you his lips were not that “pretty”.
charcoal
New Pastel Painting: Alaskan Malamute
So the original post disappeared shortly after it was highlighted on another webpage. Sorry it’s taken a few weeks for me to get the energy to piece it back together. (Very strange and since I don’t know WHY it happened, or even know HOW to find out why, I’m just going to add the photos back and go from there). The beginning didn’t start out the way I wanted and I quickly discovered that my sketch wasn’t right. I remedied that by covering the entire panel in charcoal and then bringing out the lighter pieces with a kneaded eraser. At this stage, it’s pretty loose and messy looking. Beginning stage using vine charcoal and a kneaded eraser Now I’m adding more detail now that I’m satisfied with the placement, but still using just charcoal and eraser. (There might be a little bit of pastel on the right ear). Refining the detail It becomes more obvious that I’m adding color now,
Donkey: WIP
I’ve been working on my newest animal piece on pastelbord. As you’ve seen, I did this cow with charcoal and a kneaded eraser. (For you city folk, this is NOT the donkey…) I used vine charcoal only – which are the skinny ones on the left. This eraser is my favorite…my progress stops completely if I can’t find one of mine…it’s called “kneaded” because…well, here’s what Cheap Joe’s says on their website: “These erasers are great because they can last just about forever. Many beginning artists don’t understand just how great a kneaded eraser is because no one ever shows you how to use one.But, here is a tip. These erasers are stretchy. This is great when you want to shape these erasers to fit into tight spaces or when you want to ball them up to eraser a swath a few inches wide. They are also kind of like silly putty in that you can shape them, then place
Art Updates…
The writing gene apparently did not rub off on me, which is probably why I don’t post more…yep, that’s my excuse. Maybe I need to write less and post more pictures. I’ve been working on quite a few pieces since I last posted here, so I’m going to update everyone! Let’s see…I finished a charcoal drawing of a local dairy cow… this is 16″ x 20″ on pastelbord… I finally finished the Lily of the Valley (it’s a Flower of the Month for May). It’s 8″ x “10” on Stonehenge paper…and yes, it was white paper that I painstakingly darkened. (Reminder to myself that there are other papers to choose from!) I also finished the tiger lilies here, that I believe is on Aquabord (Ampersand). It’s 10″ x 8″ and is framed without glass. The poinsettias are actually small – 4″ x 4″, almost coaster size, which is exactly what my family thinks it should be… Another flower of the
Tuesday’s Portrait
Tina II, charcoal, 12 x 14 inches Just in case you were wondering, last week’s class was canceled. Sorry about that – I guess I could have said something, but I was in a funk. This week’s model was Tina, which I was happy to hear that someone recognized to be the same model as one of my other drawings. (That always makes you feel good – that a person comes out recognizable!)
Tuesday’s Portrait
I’ve posted the portrait I did last night from our class. You can always tell who got to the class late…because they’re usually delegated to the sides and end up doing the profile portrait! This model asked for the portrait at the end of class…I told him to come back next week since I wanted to take a photograph of it first.
Carrboro Portrait Class
OK, so I’m not sure if this will work – the picture above should be a slideshow of 7 portraits done from life. (Press Play – I had to make it into a movie). Five of them were from my last portrait class, one was done at home and the other was done at Art&Soul Studios during an opening we had in November… If it doesn’t work, I’ll try something else. If that doesn’t work, then I’m stuck just pasting 7 images in the blog. Tomorrow starts another session of portrait classes for me – I’m taking them with Herb Slapo at the Carrboro Arts Center. (Not to be confused with the one I’ll be teaching in Mebane!) I have a really fun time going there and being with other artists and drawing from life (from a willing subject). Notice the slides above from the last session (if it works) – the first week started with the pencil portrait and
Portrait
Leah and Ian, charcoal 11×14- WIP! I’ve taken a longer break than planned, so I apologize for that. Somehow, December came in, I blinked, and it’s gone. I didn’t even post a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, Happy New Year to everyone! So…yeah, what I just said. Now that all of the holidays are over, we get back to work! I’ve been working on a commission since my last post. This is Ian and Leah, two beautiful children in Connecticut. It’s still a Work In Progress, since I still need to smooth things out a bit. Pending the feedback I get, I should have this done this week. (I really need to start taking these photos during the day!)
Charcoal Portrait…and Travel
Lilly, 8×10, charcoal I’ve been out of town this week, travelling for business. I thought I should bring along a few portrait commissions just in case I was inspired in my hotel room. The one above, of course, is a really bad picture, taken from my phone. It’s a smaller one, 8×10 and was done fairly quickly. It is charcoal, so the photograph should just be black and white (no blue in real life!). Once I return home, I will prop it up and look at it again, and tweak it before giving it to the client. I was hoping to return home yesterday, but I was among the many many people affected by the winter storm. I was trying to fly out of Providence Rhode Island. The snow is a gorgeous site for us not used to seeing it! Being from North Carolina, we see more ice than snow, and even the ice is rare…To see the snow coming
Pencils, Pastels, and Paint 