Harper

 

"Harper" (conte pencil and pastel, 16x12 inches) (a sold commission)

Here's Harper, one of the handsome quick-sketch doggies from Episode 128, sped up for your enjoyment!

 

Screech Owl

 "Screech Owl" (pastel, 8x6 inches) bid or buy

Here's the star of Saturday's Paint-Along - the Screech Owl! This one's a little different... Instead of my usual pastel primer underpainting, I used some UArt paper  that had some pastel washed in with alcohol, something I had left over from someone else's workshop months ago. I figured I'd put it to use! So instead of building an acrylic-based underpainting, I basically started with a value drawing of the owl using a black Rembrandt pastel.

 See a quick speed video here!

"Finley" the Fawn

 

"Finley" (pastel, 7x5 inches) bid or buy

See a 40 second slide show video of the creation of Finley here!

"Park Trail #61" and Mark Cole Workshop

 "Park Trail #61" (pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord, 14x11 inches) bid or buy here

The first day of Mark Ivan Cole's workshop was fantastic! He demoed a wonderfully moody and atmospheric woodsy creek. Many of us were surprised by his method, which starts off very loose!

My painting here is from a photo I took "somewhere in TN" according to my endless photo files. I thought it looked like a Mark Cole scene, though I swung myself into a method I used in a workshop with Rae Smith in 2017, when I painted one of my fave landscapes, Park Trail #39. And the Pastelbord handled the many layers very well.

See some progress pics here!

Don Keyfurry

 

"Don Keyfurry" (pastel, 8x8 inches) bid or buy here

 The star of my recent Donkey Paint-Along! For your enjoyment, here's a fun speed video!

"Gurty" the White Cow

 

"Gurty" (pastel, 6x6 inches) bid or buy

Here's a quick high quality GIF for you, and guess what? I made it myself! My son showed me how. There's a program that only works on Mac or Linux... well, I won't bore you. But I'll probably have to get my son to show me again the next few times too. (PS: If this GIF doesn't play for you, click to watch it here!)

 

Gurty is short for "Yogurt" because doesn't she look like vanilla? Today's your lucky day too because I finished painting Gurty in my Virtual Open Studio Episode 118, Part 2, which I decided to make public for everyone to watch! The 30-minute episode picks up early on in the pastel process, as I had started Gurty elsewhere, but I did manage to find good enough progress pics to put this GIF together. I hope you enjoy it! (And the video too!)

Argie in his Blanket

 

"Argie in his Blanket" (pastel, 8x6 inches) bid or buy

Here's a quick speed video of Argie expertly edited by my son. Enjoy!

Muses and Buddies on my Patreon can watch the real-time video in Episode 122 here!

If you pay attention you can see when I when I wipe off most of the first try, to correct the drawing and values and paint it again!

Ramiro

 "Ramiro" (pastel, 10x17) bid or buy

Enjoy this speed video of this, my latest sheep painting! https://youtu.be/gQW-AM4FIrY

Star of the "Baby Bunny" Paint-Along!

 

"Baby Bunny" (pastel, 8x6 inches) bid or buy

Here's a little "Baby Bunny" for your enjoyment!

You might notice I used some black Art Spectrum primer over my usual gold and terra cotta on the underpainting, to get a good base tone for this black bunnyling. I did smudge some T.L. Eggplant and black pastel in there first, just to demonstrate an alternative.

I also decided to continue the little confetti-like strokes into the background to echo  the texture of bunny fur. :)

Muses and Buddies on my Patreon can watch and paint along to the full length Baby Bunny Paint-Along video of Episode 119!

See a quick speed video here!

#21 of 21-in-31 "Young Kingbirds on a Wire"

 

Day #21 of 21-in-31: "Young Kingbirds on Wire" (pastel, 10x8 inches) available, and will be with me at the Midland Septemberfest Art festival Sept 9-11, 2022.

My final painting of my monthly goal! Yay! This painting will soon be with me at the Midland Septemberfest Art festival Sept 9-11, 2022, unless it sells here first. ;)

See some progress pics on my Patreon Page!

#20 of 21-in-31 "Cowamel"

 

"Cowamel" (pastel, 16x8 inches) is available framed, and will be with me at the Midland Septemberfest Art Festival, Sept 9-11, 2022.

I'm finally on a roll, now that's it's almost the end of the month! That's usually the way these things go. But after #21 I really have to finish those darned donkeys!! (Maybe those can be #22? If I'm lucky..)

I'd had this cute calf partially underpainted for quite a while, so I finished it all up yesterday in front of my phone camera. I really liked the freshness of the terra cotta underpainting part, so I thought I would be able to pastel her quickly... but turns out all those subtle reflected greens and violets in the fur took a lot of attention and a really long time! Much longer than this quick speed video that my son made. 

Enjoy!

 

#19 of 21-in-31 "Mewler Contented"

 

"Mewler Contented" (pastel, 10x8 inches, available framed) might be with me at the Midland Septemberfest Art festival Sept 9-11, 2022.

Back to some of my last underpainting batch now, heading into the final paintings of my month's goal!

This was from a pic of Mewler as a kitten, sitting on my lap in the morning. First thing in the morning (before the house has warmed back up to summertime temps) is the only time he's a snuggly lap cat.

I had fun painting all these textures! I hope you enjoy this quick video of the pasteling. I was able to leave a considerable amount of underpainting showing... Mewler's coloring was a good warm match for the gold and terra cotta colors.

"Sentinel" from Richard Wilson Paint-Along

 

"Sentinel" from Richard Wilson Paint-Along (pastel, 9x12 inches) buy here

Yay! Thanks to Richard Wilson, I feel like I can now paint trees, fairly successfully. With trunks. And branches. This subject has been my bane for ever, and after this paint-along I'm feeling much more comfortable.

Richard gave a wonderful demo of this tree-lined river during Pastel Live, which I painted along to. See some progress pics and read about my thoughts here.

This painting will be with me at the Midland Septemberfest Art festival Sept 9-11, 2022 (unless it sells first.)

Day #17 of 21-in-31: "Vineyard" from the Brenda Boylan, Pastel Live Paint-Along

 

Day #17 of 21-in-31: "Vineyard" from the Brenda Boylan, Pastel Live Paint-Along (pastel, 10x10 inches) Unframed for a limited time, $425 includes US shipping.
This one was fun! Brenda is such a cheerful person overflowing with giggles. I painted this one along with her Pastel Live demo. Her approach is a bit different than mine, although she does underpaint for her light and shadow, she underpaints with blues in the shadows and yellow in the lights. So, it was about a half-familiar method!
Read about how I tweaked this one today before I felt it was finished...

"Wildflowers" from Karen Margulis Paint-Along, and what I did after

 

"Wildflowers" from Karen Margulis Paint-Along (pastel, 8x12 or 8x10 if cropped)
(And my 16th of 21-in-31 paintings this month!) bid or buy
Ok, here's one I tweaked pretty dramatically. I painted along with Karen Margulis during her Pastel Live demo... Karen was just so FAST! It was hard to keep up.  My original 1-hour painting to Karen's demo came out ok I guess, but much looser than I'm used to and it just looked kinda messy to me.
So I went at it today, using all kinds of methods I've learned from a variety of instructors lately (and some stuff I just made up, lol.) Really I was just playing with it to see what would happen. It's still messy and loose, but I like the spacing of the flowers better now. Anyway, I had fun making marks so that's what's important!
See a GIF of the changes here!

"Bird of Paradise" from Lyn Dieffenbach Paint-Along

 "Bird of Paradise from Lyn Dieffenbach Paint-Along" (pastel, 6x8 inches) bid or buy
(Also, #15 of my 21-in-31 August goal!)
My friend Lyn Dieffenbach was one of the faculty for Pastel Live 2022, and on Saturday I was feeling energized enough to try painting along to some of the demos, including Lyn's! Read about how I met Lyn, and peek at a couple of her 2007 plein air landscapes, here!

#14 of 21-in-31 "Rooster Mini"

 

"Rooster Mini" (pastel 4x4 inches) bid or buy

Oh what a day! Today was the last day of Pastel Live and I decided to actually paint along to 4 of the demos... Karen Margulis, Richard Wilson, Brenda Boylan and Lyn Dieffenbach... Whew, I'm exhausted and pumped up! (I wanted to paint with Albert Handell too, but it was way too late and simply watching was wonderfully inspiring.)

I think I probably want to tweak most of those in the next few days (having only one hour each to work on them 🤪) so here's the last mini from Tuesday's VOS... (Which Muses and Buddies on Patreon can watch me pastel in real time in Episode 115)

Enjoy this quick speed video of the whole process. I just love backlit rooster combs!

#13 of 21-in-31 "Hereford Mini"

 

Day #13 of 21-in-31: "Hereford Mini" (pastel, 4x4 inches) bid or buy

What a month! Only 8 more days of my challenge left, and I still have the Rooster Mini to post tomorrow. Pastel Live is almost over. I missed most of today by having to go Costco shopping (yeah the boring normal life of an artist mom...) and since our nearest Costco is 35 minutes away, it's really an all day trip.

But... we had Rana Tagliatelle Grilled White Chicken with Portobello Mushroom, and imported French cheese bread for dinner. 😋 A good trade off.

Tomorrow (Saturday) I hope to get back out to the studio, watch some more Pastel Live demos with half a brain while working on the Donkeys (yes, finally!!) Or maybe I'll be brave instead, put the Donkeys off for another few days, and paint along to Karen Margulis and Brenda Boylan ...and Lyn Diefenbach!? Oooo! That might be a good way to accomplish 3 more paintings for my month? If it doesn't take me six more days to tweak them all up to standard, lol!

Meanwhile, please enjoy this little Hereford Mini speed video! Muses and Buddies on my Patreon page can watch Episode 115 when I pasteled this half-Hereford along with the Baldy Mini, the Busy Bee Mini, and tomorrow's Rooster Mini!

#11 of 21-in-31 "Baldy Mini"

 

#11 of 21-in-31: "Baldy Mini" (pastel, 4x4 inches) bid or buy

I thought I'd mark my half-way point with a half-faced cow! This was one of the 4 little paintings I pasteled at my Virtual Open Studio on Tuesday.  

Next up will be my Pastel Live demo! Whoohoo! (Though it was pre-recorded, it will "go live" Thursday at 3:40 ET) and then I'll get to post it! What a fun week this is! 

Meanwhile, enjoy this little video of this little Baldy!

#10 of 21-in-31 "Busy Bee Mini"

 

#10 of 21-in-31 "Busy Bee Mini" (pastel, 4x4 inches) bid or buy

I pasteled FOUR little minis at today's Virtual Open Studio! Here's the last one first because my son likes it best.

The Episode 115 video is still in editing, but will be posted soon for Muses and Buddies! Meanwhile, enjoy this speed video!

#9 of 21-in-31 "Summer Road Trip"

 

 

"Summer Road Trip" (pastel, 8x8 inches) bid or buy

Here's the first star of Saturday's "Summer Road Trip" Paint-Along, so I titled this painting the same. This is painted on white Art Spectrum Colourfix paper with a pastel underpainting washed in with alcohol. I liked the result! I clipped out some key still shots from the video to make a little slide show video for you of my process.

I only tweaked it a little bit afterwards, adding some green (with pastel pencil) to the sky and other little bits of color, including some pink in the distant fields, to pull the color harmony together.

Enjoy!

(Muses and Buddies can see the entire paint-along here!)

#8 of 21-in-31 "Twilight Road II"

 "Twilight Road II" (pastel on UArt 320 dark, 6x8 inches) bid or buy here 

This is one of the paintings I did for the Summer Road Trip Paint-Along on Saturday! I really liked the photo and painted it almost just like it was. Nice when that happens.

 

The paint-Along video is in editing progress and hopefully will be posted by Monday some time. But of course with my 21 goal this month I wanted to post these! Stay tuned for the other Road Trip painting tomorrow.

 

It was a great group at the Paint-Along. I'm eager to show off their paintings to you! meanwhile, enjoy this little GIF, here!

#7 of 21-in-31 "Fiesta Chick"

 "Fiesta Chick" (pastel, 6x4 inches) is on auction for a limited time at DailyPaintworks.

All right, it's the wrong time of year for Fiesta, but everyone needs a fun party now and then right?.. This Chick looks like she had a little bit too much fun last night, lol. It's funny how baby chicks do have such serious expressions, and those eye bags! Like they're older than their years (weeks, days?)

 

Enjoy these progress photos of the painting process! The last photo is of the colors I used.

#6 of 21-in-31 "Field Guards"

 "Field Guards" (pastel, 14x11 inches) available unframed for a short while

 This is my 6th painting of my 21-in-31 goal this month. I really enjoyed the playing with the grassy field on this one! (and the cows, of course. It was fun to paint them so small, hadn't done that in a while!)

Watch a short video montage of the process here!

#5 of 21-in-31 "Baby Blackbird"

 

"Baby Blackbird" (pastel on black Richeson surface, 7x5) bid or buy here

Here's something different.
Ok, it is another bird, but it's on the black Richeson pastel surface. That surface has a lot of rough texture, but it's a uniform texture. I've used it a few times and always like it, especially for landscapes actually. But this bird was so very black I felt it called for starting with a black surface.
I set my phone right in front of my painting today as I worked this one. It was fairly quick (but not this quick, lol) and I like the looseness.

Enjoy this little speed video!

Day #4 of 21-in-31: "Lorikeet II"

"Lorikeet II" (pastel, 7x5 inches, bid or buy here)

Ok, I'm slooowly catching up! This Lorikeet is one I've painted before. It's one of the best pics I've got of a Lorikeet, such personality! Maybe someday I'll do a painting of me with a hat full of Lorikeets from the family vacation that garnered me this pic. LOL

 

See the first "Lorikeet" painting from 2017 on my blog. This time, I flipped the image, and made the arched perch into a branch. 

Enjoy these progress pics of "Lorikeet II"!

#3 of 21-in-31 "Cheeky Chick"

"Cheeky Chick" (pastel, 4x4 inches) bid or buy here for a limited time

Here's my third painting for the month! I know I know, I'm only averaging every other day so far instead of the 2 out of 3 I aught to be, but I'll be catching up with many that I underpainted yesterday.

See a GIF of this cheeky chick on my Patreon page! 

#2 of 21-in-31 "White Cockatoo"

 

"White Cockatoo" (pastel, 12x6 inches) bid or buy here

My second finished painting this month! Seems like I'm getting a slow start... it's already the 5th day... but, I did finish a batch of 6 underpaintings today, and a little chick for posting tomorrow! Yay! I'll catch up as the month goes on.

 

Tomorrow I'm working my gallery in Boerne. We're having our Too Hot to Handle sale this month! Check out some of the deals here!

 

Meanwhile, you can watch a quick speed video demo of this Cockatoo on my Patreon page!

#1 of 21-in-31 "A Peaceful Morning Walk"

 

"A Peaceful Morning Walk" (pastel, 8x10 inches)

Available on my website unframed for a limited time. 

See progress pics here!

Mimzy

 

This was a sweet little commission job I just painted at my last Virtual Open Studio. Her name is "Mimzy". It suits her don't you think?  (8x8 pastel from client photo) Moo-tastic Muses and Bunny Buddies on my Patreon can watch the entire video here!

Enjoy this quick speed video!

Beach Sunrise #6

 

"Beach Sunrise #6" (pastel, 6x8 inches) bid or buy here

This was the other version of the beach sunrise I painted at Saturday's Paint-Along. This one's on UArt 800, black. I had never used the 800 before. It's VERY soft and almost like velour, but with the holding power of UArt. Nice! But I think I do prefer a bit more texture. This one was demanding lots of intricate details with pastel pencils. I almost want to work even smaller on this fine grit paper!

See progress pics here!

Beach Sunrise #5

 

"Beach Sunrise #5" (pastel, 5x7 inches) bid or buy

Here's the first beach sunrise painting from Saturday's paint-along ...well, kind of the first and last, as I underpainted it and then painted the second one (coming soon) while the underpainting dried, then finished the pastel after the second painting. This one is on white Ampersand Pastelbord with a pastel underpainting washed in with Gamsol mineral spirits. We had a lot of fun at the paint-along, and I tried some new things! I think this might be the first time I have used the white Ampersand Pastelbord. I hadn't used the colored ones in a while, and I really like the texture of it.

Enjoy this quick speed video!

Blue Chairs - at IAPS 2022

 Hi y'all! Here's "Blue Chairs" (pastel, 6x8 inches) my first painting of IAPS 2022. bid or buy on DailyPaintworks

Today (Tuesday) was my "off" day at IAPS (The biggest pastel party on the planet!) I ran some errands, got some groceries and relaxed a bit. In the afternoon, Laurie Basham (president, Piedmont Pastel Society,) with whom I'm sharing a house with along with my road trip buddy Esther Jones, came back to the house and we sat on the patio chatting. Suddenly the sun came out, and I said "We should paint those chairs!"

And so we did. Even thought the sun went away again a few minutes later (ah, the joys of plein air) it was nice enough to come back out for us right as we were finishing up! Laurie caught some little vid clips of me painting, so I put them together with the pics I took, for your enjoyment.

See a brief montage I made of "Blue Chairs" here!

Sunrise on a Wave

"Sunrise on a Wave" (pastel, 20x10 inches) $650 framed

I pasteled this at my Wednesday Virtual Open Studio, the last before going to IAPS! I had underpainted it in Lyn Asselta's workshop in March but hadn't gotten to finishing it then. The underpainting is pastel washed in with denatured alcohol, on Wallis professional paper (yes, I still have a few sheets!) The reference photo is from a family vacation years ago, somewhere on the east coast. I remember we had stayed in a little motel with a patio that led on to the beach, and I was so eager to get sunrise pics, I woke up before everyone else and snuck out with my camera!

See a quick speed video here!

 

Half-Faced Hereford

 

"Half-Faced Hereford" (pastel, 12x6 inches) bid or buy

Thank you to the Pastel Society of Southern California for having me do a Themed Thursday with them on Zoom last week!  This was an informal "paint-along" demo, and I decided to paint this simple half-faced Hereford cow, because I like the colors, and the light/shadow value patterns.

So, yeah! Since their Themed Thursdays are free events (some of you were there after I posted about it earlier,) the resulting video is also free! Whhoo-hoo! 😀 Here it is on the PSSC YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/1AEBQrjtyOw

You can find future PSSC Themed Thursdays on their events page when they have one coming up. Past events are there too!

Highlander

 

"Highlander" (pastel, 6x8 inches) bid or buy

Here's the star of my Highland Cow Paint-Along from Saturday! The reference photo was generously shared by my friend and fabulous animal artist Frances Daunt. She lives in the UK, with easier access to these shaggy darlings than I have in Texas. 🙂

My Moo-tastic Muses and Bunny Buddies can access the entire paint-along video! Meanwhile, enjoy this speed video!

Snowy Bun

"Snowy Bun" (pastel 8x6 inches)

Bid or buy for a limited time on DailyPaintworks

The Fremont Art Association had me demo for them on Wednesday. They like my cute fuzzy animals so I did this cute fuzzy bunny for them! 

Enjoy these progress pics from the video: