Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Ellie

"Ellie" (pastel, 8x8 inches)

The other painting I finished at the Carriage House Gallery last Saturday. Ellie will be with me at my Montreal workshop this weekend, as an example of my work!

Ellie is short for Elouise, since I painted her from another photo a while back. Such a sweet little heifer.

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Monday, October 21, 2019

Ozzie

"Ozzie" (pastel, 12x6 inches) $300 unframed for a limited time

One of two paintings I finished at the Carriage House Gallery on Saturday, since I needed at least a couple of paintings with me to my workshop in Montreal this weekend. I haven't been painting any "inventory" (aka: Non-Commissioned Work) recently and so I didn't have any new available unframed paintings... and since I'm flying to this workshop, I can't just toss all my stuff and a bunch of framed artwork into my van...

Anyway, I really like Ozzie, I think he's cute. And I'd kill for those eyelashes!

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Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Ruby Princess - Best of Show at PSST

"The Ruby Princess" (pastel, 8x6 inches) $1150

One of my new Renaissance portraits is in the Pastel Society of Southeast Texas National Juried Exhibition, Art of the Pastel, ​October 19 - November 16, 2019 at The Gallery at Round Top, 203 E. Austin, Round Top, TX.

I wasn't able to attend the reception on Saturday, but I was so excited to receive a text that my Ruby Princess won Best of Show!! Wow! A huge thank you to show judge Jeannette Cuevas, and congratulations to all the other winners!

See all of this year's winners here:

Some progress pics:

 I started off too light in the highlights so I wiped off that side and went more slowly in the lights.




 The background was too "cotton candy" and the blue wasn't working... so I wiped it off, added more thinned terra cotta primer, and went with some warm greens.


 I used some of my precious Roche iridescent gold pastel here and there..




Monday, October 14, 2019

Young Diana

"Young Diana" (pastel, 10x8 inches) $1200

One of my most recent themed portraits, Young Diana is currently in the Connecticut Pastel Society Renaissance in Pastel 26th Annual National Juried Exhibition, at the Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, CT. The show will run from October 11 – December 6, 2019.

Many thanks to Jurors of Selection Judith Leeds, Jeanne Tangney and Kurt Weiser for selecting my painting to be included!

Artists Reception: Sunday, October 27, 2:00 – 4:00 PM

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Roxy - a Quick-Sketch Portrait

"Roxy" (pastel, 16x12 inches) sold

This is one of what I call my "quick-sketch" portraits. These are very popular in the Holiday Season and throughout the year as a lower-priced gift option, at $75/face.
I use burnt umber and white pastels, and sometimes sepia conte pencils (more of the pencils on human faces.) These take about 30-40 minutes from a photo, or 15-20 minutes from life (mostly with still-sitting humans for that kind of timing!)

This is one of my portrait options at Rolling Oaks Mall in San Antonio during their Christmas craft show. The dates this year will be December 6-24, 2019. If you want to order early and beat the rush, just send me an inquiry through my pencil portrait site, RitaKirkmanDrawings.com, and mention "quick-sketch portrait".
Roxy's photo
 I can get one of these done by mail usually within 4-6 weeks, but in December it's quicker, as the portraits are all I do then. But if you need it shipped back in time for Christmas, don't wait!

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Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Razorback

"Razorback" (pastel, 6x6 inches) sold

My last leftover forgotten image from the summer, this one was a demo at the IAPS pastel convention in June, and also one from my multi-demo process. (Read about this process on yesterday's post.)

This was an Arabian colt I was lucky to get photos of at a ranch in California years ago. It was early evening and the light was amazing.

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Monday, October 7, 2019

Cassandra

"Cassandra" (pastel, 6x6 inches) sold

Another overlooked demo from July's workshop in SD. Purchased by a student, I had forgotten to get a photo when she was done, and luckily the gal who bought her was able to send me a pic before she framed her.

But I did have a photo of the underpainting. Cassandra was one of my assembly-line underpainting demo...

When creating my small "daily" paintings, I spread one layer of gold colored primer across large pieces of Gatorboard (or Yupo), then cut to size and transfer my drawings, working in 'batches' of 6 to 12 at a time. Then I underpaint in an "assembly-line," working each layer of primer on each painting in a row, then going back to the first for the next layer. I like to demo this process in my workshops with a "multi-demo", where I show this assembly line approach on 3 or 4 small paintings at once.

These first layers are gold colored. This is Golden brand Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold fluid acrylic color mixed into Golden brand Pastel Ground at about a 1/4 (color/gel) ratio. The gel is clear, so the color mixture is semi-transparent, and gets darker on each application. I usually apply 2 more layers of the gold to get the light values of the underpainting established.

The final layer of primer here is the Art Spectrum (brand) Pastel Primer in the terra cotta color. I lay it into the darkest areas, then scrub and dry-brush it into the medium values of the gold to continue the value scale and add more depth to the monochromatic underpainting.

Occasionally on animals with black fur, I enjoy using the black Art Spectrum primer, or a mixture of the Golden pastel ground with Ultramarine blue fluid acrylic, which over the terra cotta color shows as a nice, rich dark value.
A cow underpainting with gold, terra cotta, and ultramarine blue.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

New work at the Gallery at Brookwood

"T is for Tiger" (pastel, 12x12 inches) $550

The rest of my current inventory from the year has been delivered to the Gallery at Brookwood for the winter. These are most of what I have there now. Hope you can take a visit, their gift shop and gallery are a sublime shopping experience!
Not only that, but all art sales help support the citizens of Brookwood.

"Twin Fawns II" (pastel, 18x18 inches) $975

"Shadowfire" (pastel, 24x24 inches) $2300
"Cow Lick" (pastel, 18x24 inches) $1730
"Twilight Road" (pastel, 9x12 inches) $475
"Smith" (pastel, 10x10 inches) $475
"Peggy" (pastel, 12x6 inches) $390
"Banded Archerfish" (pastel, 4x6 inches) $250
"Butterball" (pastel, 6x4 inches) $250

Later this month I'll be enjoying my first international workshop, in Montreal, Canada! I'll try to make some new posts while I'm there.

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Thursday, October 3, 2019

Otter

"Otter" (pastel, 10x8 inches) sold

Just one of my demos from the South Dakota workshop at Abbey of the Hills, that had slipped by without getting posted! I caught several photos of this otter through the underwater window of his enclosure. He lives at the Bramble Park Zoo in Watertown, SD. It's a small zoo but well worth a visit!





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Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Sophie - a pet portrait commission

"Sophie" (pastel on Canson paper, 16x12 inches) 2019, from client photo

My most recent pet portrait, and a sweet memorial! Another client gifted Sophie's human mom a portrait of her dog Chelsea 14 years ago, so Sophie's mom came to me for a portrait when Sophie passed into doggie heaven.
"Chelsea" (pastel on Canson paper, 16x12) 2005, from client photo
It's always interesting to see the changes (dare I say improvements?) in my style and technique over so many years.

If you or someone you know loves their pet and would like a commissioned portrait, contact me! There's still time to make it a Christmas gift. See more pet portrait samples on my website gallery here.

See the price list here. (Scroll down to the Pet Portraits list)

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