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!

#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.

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 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 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!

Sunday

Finally! For your enjoyment, here's a little speed video of last months' Paint-Along Cute Calf, named "Sunday" (pastel, 8x8 inches) bid or buy here

You can enjoy the actual paint-along here for a $10 pledge on my Patreon page!

Mr. "Smith" goes to The Woodlands too!

 

Here's another favorite picked up from the gallery I just got out of. "Smith" (pastel, 10x10 inches) A classy Braford bull (Hereford Brahman mix.. I just found that out today!) I just love that little strip of late afternoon sunlight on his face... my favorite kind of light.

I painted him just before the pandemic, during one of the festivals where I do caricatures. I would sometimes take underpaintings along to pastel during slow times. (With my then-new Heilman sketchbox and Richeson pastels that I bought at the 2019 IAPS convention!)

Smith is with me at The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival this weekend, April 9&10. (If you're in the area, find me in booth 404 by the Watercolor Terrace in the center of things!)

See progress pics here!

T is for Tiger

 

"T is for Tiger" (pastel, 12x12)

Among the few paintings I picked up from a gallery last month, this is one of my favorites from my Alphabet Series. I started the series a few years back to get myself out of a painting slump. It worked, as the series is still not complete!

I was really happy with the looseness I was able to achieve with this tiger. I really don't know why he hasn't sold yet, when the Lion and the Meerkat and the Dolphin and the Hippo and many others (even the Quail!) all sold pretty quickly. But that's to my benefit now, because I can take this Tiger to The Woodlands Waterway Art Fest next weekend (near Houston TX.) If you're in the area be sure to stop by, I'll be in booth 404 by the Water Color Terrace near the center of things!

Enjoy these progress pics of "T is for Tiger"!

C is for Cheetah

 On my way back from Florida, I stopped and pulled my work out of the only other gallery I was still in besides my partnership in the Carriage House Gallery in Boerne. Nothing had sold there in quite a while. I know, there was the pandemic, but still. Stuff was still moving (a bit) in Boerne during that time.
So I feel some relief to have one less thing to keep track of, and now I feel like showing off some of the pieces I picked up from there, some of them have aged well!
This is "C is for Cheetah"  (pastel, 20x10 inches, $800 framed) one of the largest paintings in my still unfinished Animal Alphabet Series of 2016. I felt this needed a fairly decent size in order to do justice to the spots.
It also might very well be the ONLY pastel cheetah.   I.  Ever.  Paint.
...Ever.
(OMG, those spots! I don't know how all those wildlife artists do it!)
My favorite part was the reflected light under the chin.
Enjoy this quick GIF and the attached progress photos I dug up from my files.
An alphabet series is a great way to break yourself out of a rut! This worked for me, as evidenced by the fact that I dropped it at "T is for Tiger" (..which I'll post soon!) One of these years I might continue the series and get it done!
What things have you done to get out of a creative rut?

Little Glass Carafe

 

"Little Glass Carafe" (pastel, 6x4 inches) click here to bid or buy

This is one of my little daily paintings from earlier. I felt like something different that week.
Normally, I don't believe in doing still life from photos, but a friend of mine in Frederickburg has a wonderful collection of THINGS, that the last time I was there I took tons of pics of bunches of her stuff, in the light of a lamp.

Here are a few progress pics:

Resting Rhinoceros

 "Resting Rhinoceros" (pastel, 12x12 inches) bid or buy here

I was scrambling around my studio in the days before my workshop trip to Minnesota, trying to pack for the workshop and an art festival, and right after returning from doing caricatures somewhere else. It was a hectic time! I needed to prep some demos for the workshop and another (preferably larger) demo for after their meeting. So I grabbed this rhino that I had just barely started the first layer of underpainting somewhere around 2018 I think (so long ago I can NOT find the first photo of it anywhere!) and it was still hanging out in my studio...  I figured I could finish painting it as my demo for the Lake Country Pastel Society meeting on the second evening of the workshop.

Read more and see a couple of progress pics here!

30-in-30 Paintings in June ... Finished!

 

June 2021 Daily Paintings poster.

I can't believe I really did  it; 30 paintings in 30 days. My usual month in past years had been November because it's otherwise fairly slow. I really wasn't ready in June but I had missed November last year (I missed a lot of things last year, lol) and I was really eager to do a month of paintings. Now July is going to be full of everything I couldn't get done  in June... commissions, paperwork, groceries... but I've proven to  myself that it can be done even when I think I'm too busy. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to look back on the month and see all the paintings. And several of them have also sold, so there's that too!

It's HARD to be a true Daily Painter (completing and posting a new painting every day) so it's become more popular to do it one month at a time. It's a lot easier to accomplish 30 days in a row than 365+ days! I highly recommend a Daily Painting practice for anyone wanting to improve their painting skills and work habits. I also find that Daily Painting and Working Small are inevitably connected, so I want to share this blog post on Why to Paint Small. It might help inspire you to greater smaller daily paintings!

Now I'll have a full booth at the #rockportartfest hosted by @rockportartcenter this weekend, and hopefully a nice couple days to kick back and relax a bit.

This poster has not been ordered yet, but I'll take pre-orders to see how many I should get. It will be 16x20, $25 includes US shipping. Let me know if you'd like one!

Fuzzy Jenny (Warm Fuzzy #73)

 

Warm Fuzzy #73 - "Fuzzy Jenny" (pastel, 12x6 inches) buy here

I painted this adorable baby donkey a few years ago ("Fuzz") but thought she deserved another go!  

This time she was my subject for a demo for the Arizona Pastel Artists Association. They have the zoom video link on their website; check this page under Pastel Demonstrations and Presentations. I hadn't quite finished the demo at the time, so I finished at one of my Virtual Open Studio days, and will be sending that video to the APAA. They might put it up on their site too!

I just love my job, painting cute fuzzy animals! 😁

"Big Little Bull" (Warm Fuzzy #55) Speed Video!

 

Warm Fuzzy #55 "Big Little Bull" (pastel, 12x12 inches) $575 framed

My latest warm fuzzy from Tuesday's Virtual Open Studio day. This little bull is a miniature Hereford, he was so cute, only stood as tall as my chest!

photo

 

I hadn't done a Speed Video demo recently, so I decided to make one for "Big Little Bull."

It's just the pastel part, since I had this one underpainted from way back.

You can watch the 80-minute full-length recording of the demo for a $10 pledge on my Patreon page here.

Here's how he looks in his frame.

"Baby Sea Turtle"

 

"Baby Sea Turtle" (pastel, 6x12 inches) $390 framed

I wanted to title this in my "Warm Fuzzy" series, but...   hmmm...

He's still cute! Painted much larger than life, this baby was about 2 inches long! I caught some photos of this baby at a zoo on my travels a couple years ago. I had a lot of fun painting the strange color temperatures of the aquarium lighting.

This little turtle was pasteled last week in my Virtual Open Studio, and underpainted last month. You can see the full-length video of the pastel process here on my Patreon page (with a subscription.)

"Baby Sea Turtle" will be listed among my paintings available at the Online Woodlands Waterway Art Festival next month. They're doing a really good job of setting up an online gallery and virtual experiences for artists and collectors. I'm still getting my artwork organized and uploaded to the system.

Here are some progress pics from the underpainting and the pastel video:

Warm Fuzzy #41 - Magnolia (to benefit the Fire Relief Fund)

 

Warm Fuzzy #41 - "Magnolia" (pastel, 10x8 inches) $300 unframed

I've painted this pretty miniature horse for a charity fundraiser initiated by my friend Lisa Rico. Proceeds benefit the rural farms and communities ravaged by the recent fires in her California area. 100% of the (unframed) selling price will be donated to the Travis Credit Union Foundation - Fire Relief Fund  to support those affected communities.

Enjoy this 3 minute speed video demo, edited down from the recording of the painting during my Virtual Open Studio, Episode 18! 

 

See the full length video and more at https://www.patreon.com/RitaKirkmanStudio

Warm Fuzzy #40 - La Moomba

 Warm Fuzzy #40 - "La Moomba" (pastel, 10x10 inches) click here to bid or buy

I painted this fat mama cow from another reference pic several years ago as a 5x7.

("Corabelle" 7x5, 2013, sold)

Sometimes it's nice to go through my old photo files to see what other images can be used in a new painting. 

I painted La Moomba at a one of my Virtual Open Studio days last week, and have posted the full length demo video on my Patreon Page here (for my Bunny Buddies and Moo-tastic Muses!) You might want to consider subscribing if you love watching informative demo videos; you can find this one and many more like it among my Patreon posts.

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