Day 21 of 21-in-31: A Distant Light

 

"A Distant Light" (8x10, pastel on Pastel Premier paper)

My final painting in my 21-in-31  challenge for May! Yay!

As usual, I was hoping for something fresh and loose, but the Tight Monster took control. So I let it. I did have fun with the sky and I think I got good value subtleties on the clouds.

See a progress GIF here!

Day 20 of 21-in-31: Wildflower Field #38

 

Day 20 of 21-in-31: "Wildflower Field #38" (pastel, 4x4 inches) bid or buy
Almost done with my 21-in-31 goal! This is the other little 4x4 I painted yesterday. This one is "Wildflower Field #38". There weren't really any flowers in this scene, but I felt like it was calling out for some delicate little pink blossoms!
I used almost the same pastels here that I used for yesterday's little park trail. In fact I painted them side by side.
See a quick progress video here!

Day 19 of 21-in-31: Park Trail #60

 

Day 19 of 21-in-31: "Park Trail #60" (pastel, 4x4 inches) bid or buy
3 paintings left in my 21-in-31 goal! So I felt like doing something quick and easy today. I pulled up a screen shot of some landscape pics and picked a couple at random and painted two little 4x4's. This one is "Park Trail #60". I liked a relatively cool palette for a change, but couldn't resist putting in a few tiny flowers!
See a quick progress video here!

Day 18 of 21-in-31: FuzzyMoo

 #18 of 21-in-31 - "FuzzyMoo"  (pastel, 12x12 inches) bid or buy for a limited time on DailyPaintworks

This cute fuzzy bear of a cow was pasteled during this week's Virtual Open Studio.
 

See a GIF of the process here!

Day 17 of 21-in-31: Sunlit Glade II

 

#17 of 21-in-31 this month "Sunlit Glade II" (pastel, 5x5 inches) bid or buy

I was in a landscape mood today so I finished (fixed, re-did, did-over) this little glade that I started as a February workshop demo.

It's sort of a sequel to "Sunlit Glade" and I gave it a similar kind of makeover. See a short video here showing how!

Day 16 of 21-in-31: The Letter

 

Day 16 of 21-in-31: "The Letter" (pastel, 16x20 inches)
This is a portrait of my niece (doubled) that was a very long time in the making! Read more about it and watch a short video of the progress here!

Day 15 of 21-in-31: Diamanto

 

"Diamanto" (pastel, 12x12 inches) ($595 framed) is my 15th painting of my 21-in-31 challenge for May. I already had used the name "Spike" but I wanted a title to to justice to his horns, so I did a little research. Diamanto is a Greek name meaning "One which is as pure, strong and sharp as a Diamond".

Diamanto was underpainted during the May 18th VOS (which video I'll be editing next) and just finished pasteling him today. Enjoy these progress pics!

 

Day 14 of 21-in-31: Don Key

 

Day 14 of 21-in-31: "Don Key" (pastel, 8x6 inches) Bid or buy at DailyPaintworks for a limited time

I'm still working on the paint-along video editing, but I wanted to share my Don Key finish with y'all. We had a fun time painting yesterday!

Of course, this will be counted as #14 in my 21-in-31 paintings for May! I did tweak just a couple little things after the paint-along, like the highlights on the neck and in the eyes.

See a quick speed video of "Don Key" here!

Day 13 of 21-in-31: Park Trail #59

 

Painting #13 of 21-in-31, "Park Trail #59" (pastel 6x12 inches)

I made the underpainting for this one in Lyn Asselta's workshop earlier this year, and never finished it. I liked the underpainting so I tried to play nice with what was there. It was a dark, mostly blue, underpainting, different than what I'm used to, on UArt sanded paper. But I liked the drips and patterns. I used my reference photo very loosely, along with another painting I had done years ago of the same scene. I left both as thumbnails on my tablet so i couldn't get distracted by details. It was still a struggle to stop while this was so loose!
But I couldn't resist tweaking the background lights after signing it and adding  some little red flowers to the foreground.

My color choices were determined by the frame I might want to put it in. I made sure to add some warm greens and bits of warm gold (and was able to use my precious Roche metallic gold pastel!)

See a quick speed video of "Park Trail #59" here!

Day 12 of 21-in-31: Radcliff

 

Day 12 of 21-in-31: "Radcliff" (pastel, 8x8 inches) Bid or buy for a limited time on DailyPaintworks

This little bull calf was so cute standing there, I wanted to give him a full body portrait instead of just a head shot.

Enjoy this GIF and progress pics!

Day 11 of 21-in-31: Coby

 

Day 11 of 21-in-31: "Coby" (pastel, 10x10 inches)

For my 11th painting of my 21-in-31 challenge for May, I thought it was a good time for a nice backlit young Hereford steer.

Bid on or buy this painting unframed for a limited time at Dailypaintworks.

Enjoy this 3-minute speed video of the painting process!

#10 of 21-in-31: Dior

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

I named her Dior because she reminds me of the black and white gemstone called Diorite. Plus, she just looks so elegant. She really did have those shaped eyebrows! I met this heifer at a friend's ranch while up in Minnesota last fall.

I had fun with my mark-making on this one, and used a relatively limited palette.

Enjoy this video montage of the painting of Dior!

Day 9 of 21-in-31: Camilly

 

Day 9 of 21-in-31: "Camilly" (pastel, 6x4 inches) bid or buy here

I pasteled this darling baby camel the same day as Moofasa and Mimoo. Finally posting her! I had her underpainted since February, but didn't get to finish her then. She was the last little underpainting I had left over from the February batch.
I saw this baby at the Minneapolis Zoo last fall.

See progress pics and reference photos here!

Day 8 of 21-in-31: "Mimoo"

 

Here's Day 8 of 21-in-31: "Mimoo" (pastel, 7x5 inches), the little cousin of Day 7's "Moofasa"! They were both with me at the Boerne Art Waddle yesterday.

See progress pics here!

Day 7 of 21-in-31: Moofasa

 

I've been afraid of slipping behind in my goal of 21-in-31 this month, so I marathoned 3 little pastelings yesterday of some little underpaintings I got done on Wednesday. Here is Day 7 of 21-in-31 "Moofasa" (pastel, 7x5 inches). He'll be with me this Saturday at the Boerne Art Waddle. map here. Stop by the Carriage House Gallery booth on the creek if you're in the area!

Tomorrow I'll post Mimoo, his little cousin, who will also be there!

See a quick GIF here!

Newborn II

 

Day 6 of 21-in-31: "Newborn II" (pastel, 11x14 inches) $590 framed

I started this one just last night as a Virtual Open Studio demo, and  finished it today. I'll be taking this one to Boerne for the Art Waddle this Saturday May 14th. I'm calling it "Newborn II" because I painted "Newborn" from the same photo shoot of a mama doe who had given birth in the  backyard of a friend down the street from me. She called me over and we  took pics out her kitchen window!

Enjoy this quick speed video of "Newborn II"!

Two More Birds on a Wire

 

"Two More Birds on a Wire" (pastel, 8x10 inches)... my 4th painting in my 21-in-31 goal for May!

Bid or buy this painting for a limited time at DailyPaintworks

I really enjoyed painting these birds. I felt it was a bit of a different style from my usual, maybe you can't tell, but it just felt like it to me. More painterly somehow. But as I said during the VOS, I let the painting sit for a few days and when I went back, I saw that indeed, it was done! So I signed it.

 

Muses and Buddies can watch the real-time painting process in Episode 100 here! 

 

See a quick speed video here!

Mother's Day Rose

 

"Mother's Day Rose" (pastel, 8x6 inches) bid or buy

Happy Mother's Day! Here's a fresh rose (painting, that is) for you on this lovely day!
Also to be my painting #3 of my 21-in-31 goal for May!
See a quick GIF here!

Izzy

 

Painting #1 of 21 - "Izzy" (pastel, 8x10 inches, from client photo) is the star of my Virtual Open Studio from April 13, but I'm going to count him as my first painting of my self-imposed 21-in-31 in May anyway, because he hasn't been posted yet and that fits my lenient "rules"!

I'm catching up with editing my VOS videos from last month (and a new Patreon Index page, coming soon!) and then I'll be painting some new stuff for the rest of my challenge!

Moo-tastic Muses and Bunny Buddies on my Patreon can watch the full length video of Izzy's painting here!

Meanwhile, enjoy this quick and fun speed video!

Park Trail #58

 

Here's the other little landscape from the "Walk in the Park" Paint-Along last month. "Park Trail #58" (pastel, 8x8 inches) (bid or buy) In contrast to "Park Tail #57," posted yesterday, this one had no underpainting. Instead I worked it up directly on a mid-toned gray-ish Pastel Premier paper. The interesting thing is I used pretty much the same pastels for both paintings! What a difference the surface color makes!

Moo-tastic Muses and Bunny Buddies on my Patreon page can watch and paint along to the complete Paint-Along video here!

Enjoy this quick GIF of Park Trail #58 😎

Park Trail #57

 

Wow, I had forgotten to post the Park Trails from the "Walk in the Park" Paint-Along in April! Oops! So here's "Park Trail #57" (pastel, 6x8 inches) (bid or buy) the first of two I did for the paint-along. This one I underpainted in the same manner as most of my paintings; with the gold and terra cotta acrylic-based primers. You can really see the warmth shining through the cooler greens and blues. We added wildflowers (bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes were my choice) just to celebrate springtime.

Tomorrow I'll post "Park Trail #58" which has a totally different color look!

Moo-tastic Muses and Bunny Buddies on my Patreon page can watch and paint along to the complete Paint-Along video here!

Enjoy this speed video of Park Trail #57's process!