Beau

 

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

 Here's "Beau", from VOS Episode 124 Part 2, which I finally finished. (Muses and Buddies on my Patreon can watch it here!)

See a quick speed video of "Beau" here!

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!

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!

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!

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!

#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.

#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!

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!

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:

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 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 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!