Tofu - day 30

"Tofu"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid

Quick post today. Today I'm cooking our turkey, since Thanksgiving we went to my sister-in-laws and ate their turkey! Yes, our holiday plans are always last-minute, and not well organized.

Kebab - day 29

"Kebab"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid 

Sorry I didn't get progress shots on this batch of cows lately. I painted these last four on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, forgot to take my camera out to the studio with me, and said "heck with it, I'm not goin' back to the house!" Today (Saturday) was my docent-day at the New Braunfels Art League and I got four more done, but was so 'in the zone' that my photos were pretty sporadic. It's actually kind of nice to work right through without stopping to think (or shoot.)

I've been enjoying some new varieties in my background colors lately. I'm finding that pinks work really well in grassy-ness!

And, YAY! My month of November is officially done! Today's paintings will carry me to December 2cd! I'm glad I got those extra 2 in... that makes up for the 2 days I posted older paintings for 'brags' this month, and it means I really did paint 30 new paintings in November! SUCH a feeling of accomplishment! Y'all should try it!! :)

(Dec 3 I'll make a new poster like I did in September..)

Meetbohl - day 28

"Meetbohl"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid

Decided on a dark background, for a change.

Potpye - day 27

"Potpye" (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid

Hope you all feel as stuffed as Potpye looks this day after Thanksgiving!

Grace - day 26 (Happy Thanksgiving!)

"Grace"  (pastel, 6x6 inches)  click here to bid

Thanksgiving is the cow's favorite holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

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Daughter & Mother - a portrait commission - day 25

"Daughter & Mother"  (conte pencil and pastel pencil, 8x10 inches)  sold

'Tis the Season! As Christmas approaches, my commissioned portraits will be taking precedence over my daily paintings. As I complete one, I'll post one from an earlier year, to protect the current Christmas surprises!

To inquire about commissioning a portrait for a Christmas gift (there's still time!) visit my Drawings Site: www.ritakirkmandrawings.com.

Chick Profile #4 - day 24

"Chick Profile #4"  (pastel, 4.25 inch circle)  click here to bid

A young rooster today, to go with yesterday's gal. On auction for a limited time unframed. The paper (about 5" square) is stretched and primed Arches 300# hot pressed watercolor paper, suitable for matting or trimming to fit a round frame. Progress shots below.

Chick Profile #3 - day 23

"Chick Profile #3"  (pastel 4.25 inch circle)  click here to bid

I'm planning some more circle paintings as a possible theme for a small solo show that I've been invited to have in Rockport Texas next May.

For a limited time I'm offering this little gem of a study on auction, unframed. It's painted on Arches 300# hot pressed watercolor paper that has been stretched and primed with my usual pastel primer underpainting method. This has the advantage of a surface essentially the same as the primed gatorboard, but in a thinner package that can be matted, or trimmed to a circle and framed without a mat. The paper is approximately 5x5 inches square.

Lunar - day 22

"Lunar"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid

Well, it happened. I missed yesterday's post. I had it ready, but got invited to go see "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" and forgot all about my blogging! Scandal!! (What can I say, I'm a fan.) So what to do? Well, I saw that Blogger will allow scheduling a post for an earlier date, so I posted "yesterday's" painting ("Bruiser" pastel, 10x8) and scheduled it for Nov 21. Voila! It's dated Nov 21! Downside is it didn't get sent out to any subscribers in time for the feedburner (or the DPW email, although it did show up in their main page when I pulled the post over.) I'll have to squeeze in some extra FB posting for both paintings today.

Today's painting I really like. I decided to go with a similar background to what I saw in the photo, because I liked the look. I think the expanse of coolness throughout really sets off the slices of warm light on Lunar!

See the progress shots:

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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Bruiser - day 21

"Bruiser"  (pastel, 10x8 inches)   click here to bid

Doesn't he kind of look like a bouncer or a hired thug? Something about a rooster viewed directly from the front that's a little bit scary. I decided to set him slightly off center in this portrait, as if he wouldn't hold still for the shot.

Here are some progress shots:

Thanks for watching, please share!

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Phantom - day 20

"Phantom"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid 

It's nice to be back to some cows for a bit!

Here are some progress shots:

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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Nori - day 19

"Nori"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid

Had a few days of difficulty with keeping up with my self-imposed goal of 30-paintings-in-30-days of November (originally it was 60-in-30, to create for Dec as well as Nov; what was I thinking!?) but have finally got a good long day in the studio and am feeling really good right now! I have 4 new paintings and if I'm lucky I'll be able to save some of them for December like my original plan! (If I can get out to the studio early tomorrow, and Friday, and over the weekend, and all next week...)
Lol, well, I'm still confident I'll have my 30-for-November in any case...

Here are some progress shots of Nori:

3 layers of gold primer (excuse the color variance)

For those of you that are not familiar with my underpainting method, I start with some pastel primers brushed onto Gatorboard. The 3 layers of gold primer are shown above. This is Quiacridone Nickel Azo Gold fluid acrylic color mixed into Golden (brand) Fine Pumice Gel. The gel is clear, so the color mixture is semi-transparent, and gets darker on each application.
Then (below) I add Art Spectrum (brand) Pastel Primer in the terra cotta color. When working with a black-furred subject, this is my medium-value primer. (When the subject has no black, the Terra Cotta represents my darkest values in the underpainting. See this blog post for a good example of this!)

the terra cotta primer added

Then I use the black Art Spectrum pastel primer in the darkest areas of the subject, and scrub and dry-brush it into the medium values of the terra cotta to continue the value scale and add more depth to the monochromatic underpainting.

the black primer added

 (Excuse the variance of exposures of these first photos.)

the photo with the primer underpainting

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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