Miss Lilly Rose

"Miss Lilly Rose"  (pastel, 15x8 inches)  $1375

Well, I've learned my lesson from the last post, never to mention the weather in advance. South central Texas from San Antonio up past Austin and miles to the east and west of IH-35 received massive amounts of rain, severe thunderstorms and flash flooding all weekend long. Kerrville had a 40% chance of rain, and sure enough, it rained just about exactly 40% of the weekend.

Thanks to my excellent weekend in Houston last month, and my imminent solo show, I wasn't too bummed with the low sales. It helped a lot that it did not rain during closing and tear-down time!

View from my booth, midday Saturday

Artists socializing

 So now my attention is on my solo show in Breckenridge, TX, for which I have to deliver 25+ works this Friday. I almost have my list complete, and am even trying to finish 2 new pieces by Thursday. "Miss Lilly Rose" will be there!

.

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!

.

Gracie (and the Quick-Sketch Portrait - day 5)

"Gracie"  (pastel, 7x5 inches)  sold

I finished this pretty Brahman today. I loved her elegance and sweet expression. Her subtle gradations of color and tone were challenging, but I'm happy with the result!

____________________________________________

Today at the Rodeo was quite slow, as expected of the first Monday. Here's a Quick-Sketch Frontal of a girl from west Texas. Bought by her husband as a Valentine gift.

Sunday Morning

"Sunday Morning" (conte and pastel pencil, 18x14 inches)

Here's another drawing made to fit an old frame.
Available at Cactus Jack's in Gruene, Texas, until further notice!

The Girl and the Goat - Study #2

(conte and pastel, 12x17 inches)

I've been finding work to fill old frames this week. Here's a sketch I did as a study for a painting (the eventual painting was from another pose.) This drawing is available at Cactus Jack's in Gruene, Texas, until further notice!

"Jealousy in Black" pastel 12x9

"Jealousy in Black" pastel, 12x9

The look on her face can be interpreted many ways. And I like how you don't notice the gun at first.
You can find this piece at The Gallery at Round Top, in Round Top, TX

New Page with InfinityArtGallery

My page at InfinityArtGallery is up! I have some new works that no one has seen yet -- take a look!
www.infinityartgallery.com/portfolios/kirkmanr

New Cowgirl in Old Frame

This week I've been working on re-filling some old frames, in a vain effort to clear out some clutter and get rid of old, icky artwork. This new Cowgirl is about 13x17, made to fit in an ivory double mat and a very nice 16x20 handmade mesquite frame with copper stars which until recently held an old cowboy portrait due for recycling!

Unfortunately, when it was finished, I didn't like it in the mat. In my painting enthusiasm, I'd created a lovely vignette effect around the portrait which I now did not want to cover up.


I had 2 other old mats in the closet that would fit the frame, and I surveyed some friends for opinions...

Well, the object of this exercise was to re-cycle and save some money on framing, but it looks like I'll be finding some new matting for this one. Popular opinion also liked more of the paper showing, but the 3rd mat, which does this, is not the right dimensions for a vertical format. I might try a small linen liner...

*sigh* ...The things we go through for our artwork! But then, presentation (or "packaging") CAN make or break a work of art, and I've gotten a lot pickier as my artwork improves.