Triple Quick Sketch at the San Antonio Rodeo (and more!)

Triple Quick Sketch at the San Antonio Rodeo (conte pencil and pastel, 16x12 inches)

Oh, I've been so overworked this last week. Candice, My #1 protege, has been promoted  (within Kaman's Art Shoppes, my 'alma mater') and had to leave for Ohio last Wednesday. So I've been alone ever since. (For those of you in the 'know', I've made new price signs for the weekends, with a $4 price hike over my weekday prices.)

I'm gearing up for the last weekend, which might be busy or might not be - depending on the weather, as usual. We've got another cold front coming. But maybe the cold will send all the guests to the indoor markets like the coliseum and other buildings!

You can find me in the Coliseum (The Texas Star Marketplace) booth 400.

Meanwhile, you, my blog subscribers, can get an exclusive preview of my latest work, done for the International Association of Pastel Societies Master Circle Exhibition, which will show during the annual convention in June. The deadline is March 1, so I've been concentrating on this painting these last 2 weeks (yes, while at the rodeo!) and finally have it finished!

I'm calling this one "The Flower Queen" (20x15 inches, pastel on pastel primer and pumice gel, over gold leaf)

I am so relieved to have this done, you have no idea! Literally every spare moment of my time has been devoted to this painting since the beginning of the month. I have several small underpainted animal 'dailies' at my booth since early on, and if tomorrow is slow enough, I'll get one or two done and will have some new auctions in a day or two!

If I have time, I'll post progress shots of this one in a few days. It was a real bugger, with lots of stops and backups, and was like nothing I've ever done before!

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Floppy (The Return of the Bunnies!)

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

The bunnies are back!

Last month took me back to Pflugerville, TX, where an incredibly inspiring petting zoo comes to the Deutschen Pfest. Along with the usual baby cows, donkeys, goats and pigs and occasional chicken, their piece de resistance is the dozens (or is it hundreds?) of bunnies of all shapes and colors. My short series of rabbits from last summer was exclusively from references taken in Pflugerville.

Today's bunny I call Floppy. She has an uncanny ability to look like a stuffed toy, so I painted her a colorful room to sit in.

I only took a couple of progress shots because I was into the zone big time. The first is with the reference photo:

But to satisfy your curiosity a bit more, here are the primer underpaintings that I prepared this weekend for several new small 'daily' paintings including Floppy, which I will finish with pastels this week:

I use 2 or 3 layers of gold primer which is the Golden (brand) Fine Pumice Gel with Quinacridone Nikel Azo Gold acrylic color added. Because this is transparent color, it gets darker with each application.

Then I use Art Spectrum Pastel Primer, the terra cotta color, for the dark areas. Some of this I will 'scuffle' or dry-brush where I want a transitional value or texture. One of the bunnies will also have some black primer - the second bunny at the top - which will have black ears and interesting patterns across his face.

Stay tuned this week for more posts!
Thanks for reading and please share!

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