Lucky the Cat

"Lucky"  (pastel, 10x8 inches)  sold

Lucky was my last demo from the workshop, and a portrait commission from before Christmas. The girl who commissioned it had just received a 5x7 portrait of her dog, commissioned by her sister and painted by me. So this is her sister's cat, as a return gift. As soon as I saw the photo I knew I had to work larger than a 5x7 head shot! It just had to be the whole "kitten caboodle!" as my client put it. And she agreed.

This one was a lot of fun! Everyone was so entranced, no one took shots of the progress. But here I am finishing up, with the painting and photo...

Second View from the Drive

"Second View from the Drive" (pastel, 8x10 inches) click here to bid

Here's my Saturday morning demo from the Raymondville workshop earlier this month. Many of the students preferred painting landscapes, so I did this one from a photo of the lot next to my house. The photo was taken from our driveway. Years ago, on an irresistible misty afternoon, I stood in our drive and did a little 5x7 plein air of the lot across the street, and called it "View From the Drive":

"View From the Drive" (pastel, 5x7)

Here are some progress shots of "Second View from the Drive":

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Cadbury

"Cadbury"  (pastel, 8x8 inches)  click here to bid

This was my second demo for the workshop at the Willacy County Art League earlier this month. Mu one regret of the weekend was not assigning a 'photographer' from the attendees to take shots of my progress! Anyway, they were all thrilled and enraptured with watching me throw all kinds of colors into this bunny. For some reason he reminds me of the Cadbury bunny, but instead of just chocolate, I see all kinds of other flavors!

Lentil (and the Raymondville workshop)

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

Finally getting to post the demos from my workshop in Raymondville TX.  Sorry for the delay. Facebook challenges and an overdue commission ganged up on me and sucked up all my spare time. (At least that's what I'm claiming. Yea. I refuse to call it laziness!)

The workshop was great! The weather was awesome, we almost decided to paint outside on Sunday. But we didn't. I did get a ton of great photos coming and going, which I may paint from in the next weeks. (Did you know the deer in Port Mansfield are practically house pets?)

Here are the lovely gals of the workshop, we're posing outside the Raymondville Historical Center and Museum, home of the Willacy County Art League.

The girls at work:

Aurora

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

Finally, I've begun to shake off my Holiday lethargy and have started to get back to 'work'! I've prepped a few underpaintings today for my upcoming workshop this weekend for the Willacy County Art League in Raymondville, TX. I'm looking forward to the full 2-day workshop!

Aurora was my demo from my Jan 3rd afternoon workshop in Houston, for the Pastel Society of the Southwest. What fun that was! My morning demo at their meeting overflowed the room! Below are some progress shots of Aurora:

 First I layered up the primers. 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. 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.

 Then on to the pastel..

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Pansy

"Pansy"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  $249 The Gallery at Round Top

I've been a little down lately about taking so much time 'off' from posting and painting. Not really my fault (of course! ha) I can blame it on the December craft show, and then my kid's Christmas break was a contagion of laziness.

Well, tonight I was taking some time to update the 'sold' status on some paintings and mark some new additions to my inventory at The Gallery at Round Top, and I discovered that Pansy (painted in October) had never been posted! Shock! I don't know how that happened, but I'm happy to have something to post tonight!

She's from the same group of photos as Parsnip and Pearl, both sold. She's now in a new temporary home at The Gallery at Round Top, in Round Top TX, until she finds someone to take her to a more permanent home!

Saturday I had a great workshop with the Pastel Society of the Southwest in Houston TX. I'll post some photos tomorrow (or one of these days. Haven't even unloaded the truck yet. The laziness is proving to be pernicious!)