Cauliflower

"Cauliflower"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  sold

This young goat was so very white, I used pure white as the lightest color, something I rarely do.

I'll be teaching my primer underpainting technique at my upcoming workshop in Ulysses, KS, April 5-7. There are a couple of spaces left - it's not too late to join us! See my workshop page for info.

Enjoy Cauliflower's progression pics below!

The reference photo with the primer underpainting

Thanks for watching. Please share!

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Marigold

"Marigold"  (pastel, 6x6 inches)  sold

Happy Easter!

Enjoy this mini demo. Share it with your family after dinner!

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Spook

"Spook" (pastel, 7x5 inches)  sold

Spook was done on the combination of 3 primers, the gold, the terra cotta, and black. See the photos below:

I will be layering primers like these in my upcoming workshop in Ulysses, KS, April 5-7. There are only a couple of spaces left! See more info HERE.

Thanks and Please share!

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'The Long and The Short of It' giclee at local auction

"The Long and The Short of It" (pastel, 32x32) original sold, giclee available here.

There is an evening of fun and fellowship coming soon on April 5th, 2013 called the Blue & Gold Dinner. A once-a-year experience that features great food, dancing, an open bar, delicious homemade desserts, a diamond necklace raffle from Americus Diamond, and one-of-a-kind live auction and silent auction items!

The latest addition to the silent auction is a framed canvas giclee of my painting "The Long and The Short of It." This is numbered 18 in a limited edition of 100. At an outside frame measure of 40x40, this is a showpiece of fine art perfectly sized for over the mantle!

The Blue & Gold Dinner will be held at Legacy Hall at Boulder Springs. Tickets are only $25 per person, which will benefit John Paul II Catholic High School. Where can you fine an excellent meal out with all of these extras for that low price?

CLICK HERE for more details, menu and ticket information, including a photo of the diamond necklace! 

Hope you can make it!

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Gilly

"Gilly" (pastel, 7x5 inches) sold

Another on the layered gold and terra cotta primers! See the photos below of the primer underpainting process...

These are Golden brand fine pumice gel toned with Quinacridone Nikel Azo Gold acrylic color, in two or three layers. Since it's quite transparent, it gets darker with each layer. Then I apply Art Spectrum pastel primer in Terra Cotta for under the darker areas of the image.

Thanks for watching. Please share!

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"Audrey with Flowers at Seven" in the Artist's Magazine

"Audrey with Flowers at Seven"  (pastel, 28x22) is in the Artist's Magazine Competition Spotlight in the newly released May 2013 issue! (Page 80.) I think I bragged this weeks ago, then forgot all about it. I got my issue in the mail last week and didn't even look at it until I received my extra copies today from the publisher - oh yea!
Click the page image below for a closer look!

What a great ending to a fantastic weekend at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston. I had the best sales of any art fair - ever! I sold both of my largest paintings, and close to twenty small and medium works, including ALL the cows! (Guess more cows will be on the easel soon! Lol)

Here are 'before' and 'after' shots of my booth from Friday to Sunday:

Picture this with more small works on the outside of one side panel, and more works filling up the backside of the rear panels.

This is what was left at the end of Sunday. That's it. Nothing in the back. Nothing on the side. You see it all.

Thank You BCAF for a top-notch event! And Thank You all you old and new clients for deciding to purchase my work on this beautiful spring weekend!

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Two Tired Chicks

"Two Tired Chicks" (pastel, 5x7 inches) $245

Available this weekend March 22-24, 2013, at the Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park in Houston, TX.

Below is the progress of the primer underpainting with gold and terra cotta pastel primers.

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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Sugar

"Sugar"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  sold

This painting sold today at the Bayou City Art Fest in Houston this weekend, March 22-24, 2013.
But there's more where this came from! Come see me in booth #5!

Below is the progress of the underpainting using pastel primers. This is Golden brand fine pumice gel toned with Quinacridone Nikel Azo Gold acrylic color, in two or three layers. Since it's quite transparent, it gets darker with each layer. Then I apply Art Spectrum pastel primer in Terra Cotta for under the darker areas of the image.

Thanks for watching. Please share!

Tarmac

"Tarmac"  (pastel, 6x6 inches)  sold

Available this weekend March 22-24, 2013 at the Bayou City Art Fest Memorial Park in Houston, TX.

Find me in booth #5, just inside the main entrance!

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Rex

"Rex"  (pastel, 8x8 inches)  $300

Available this weekend March 22-24, 2013 at the Bayou City Art Fest Memorial Park in Houston, TX.

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Diamond

"Diamond"  (pastel, 6x6 inches)  sold

Available this weekend March 22-24, 2013 at the Bayou City Art Fest Memorial Park in Houston, TX.

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Blizzard

"Blizzard"  (pastel, 6x6 inches) $245 

This painting will be with me at the Bayou City Art Fest in Houston this weekend, March 22-24, 2013.

I thought this goat looked like a "Snowflake" but I had already used that title on a white calf. Then I thought about it and realized that, being a goat, this innocent face most likely belies a nature that would be a lot more trouble than a single snowflake...

Below shows the underpainting that I made by layering Golden brand fine pumice gel toned with Quinacridone Nikel Azo Gold acrylic color, and Art Spectrum pastel primer in Terra Cotta. I've been using this sort of underpainting-with-primers method for quite a while now and always seem to gravitate back to it. I just love the brushed-on gritty texture and the warmth of these two colors together.

On another note, "Bandit" (below, pastel, 8x6) won Third Place in the Portrait category at the Austin Pastel Society Juried Member Exhibition (Thank you Terri Ford! :)

I never miss entering the APS Juried show. They always have such excellent prizes! Here's a pic of what I won! (All just for a Third Place!) Yum!

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Over The Hill

"Over The Hill"  (pastel, 6x6 inches) sold

I finished this one on Monday. It was the last underpainting from Sunday and I didn't have time to finish during Terri Ford's workshop. I loved my underpainting, and now wonder if maybe I should have let the Red Rule! and ignored the local color of my photo reference. Well, I can always try it again. I do like how this try turned out, too. But I LOVE the red! (Maybe this is why I like the Terra Cotta pastel primer under most of my paintings? Kind of the same effect...)

Below is the underpainting and the photo.

Unwashed underpainting with photo.

Washed-in underpainting with the beginning of blue sky in pastel.

This painting will be with me at the Bayou City Art Fest in Houston, next weekend March 22-24, 2013.
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On the Drive Home (and Invite to the APS Reception!)

"On the Drive Home"  (pastel, 6x6 inches) sold

Here's my third little painting from Sunday. For this one I used a combination of almost-complementary and almost-analogous colors in my underpainting. For the blue sky and gravel road I used pink and orange, and for the dark greenish shrubs, shadowed house and green grass I used a violet and a dark teal. I'm really enjoying Terri's underpainting method, especially with the more adventurous colors! I just bought my own tin of denatured alcohol yesterday so I can do more!

I'd like to do this one again a bit larger, as soon as I'm done with my current batch of small cow paintings which I prepped today to finish at the New Braunfels Art League tomorrow (Stop by and say Hi if you're in the area!)

 The underpainting colors, unwashed. (On mounted Wallis paper)

The reference photo, and the underpainting washed in with alcohol.

In some other news, You are invited to join us in Austin this Sunday, March 17, from 3-5 for the Austin Pastel Society's Annual Juried Member Exhibition Reception and Awards! The exhibit is at the Chase Bank Corridor of Art at Lavaca and Seventh in Austin, Texas. Click the link above for details and important parking info! This show keeps getting better every year - hope you can make it!

My paintings below are included, and I heard it from the little birdie that I have an award of some kind (don't know what yet!)

"Lunch Al Fresco" 18x14

"Park Trail #17"  3x5

"Bandit" 8x6

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