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!

 

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!

"Taj" the Brahman steer (and Speed Video!)

 

"Taj" (pastel, 16x16, $1025 framed) 

I'm about to take off into a painting frenzy for my upcoming solo show! Here is "Taj" the Brahman steer. I loved how his symmetrical face and horns filled this square format. I'm also very happy with the freshness of this one - I kept control of my liiiiight touch!

"Taj" will be available at my Solo Exhibition Kindred Spirits, at the ARTS for Rural Texas in Fayetteville, March 27 - May 29, 2021. Opening Reception March 27, 5-7pm.

For a $10 pledge you can watch the full-length complete process video of the painting of Taj on my Patreon Page. Full of instructional tibits and description of my process the whole way through.

Or, enjoy this 2-minute Speed Demo video!

Taj, framed:

New work at the Gallery at Brookwood

"T is for Tiger" (pastel, 12x12 inches) $550

The rest of my current inventory from the year has been delivered to the Gallery at Brookwood for the winter. These are most of what I have there now. Hope you can take a visit, their gift shop and gallery are a sublime shopping experience!

Not only that, but all art sales help support the citizens of Brookwood.

"Twin Fawns II" (pastel, 18x18 inches) $975

"Shadowfire" (pastel, 24x24 inches) $2300

"Cow Lick" (pastel, 18x24 inches) $1730

"Twilight Road" (pastel, 9x12 inches) $475

"Smith" (pastel, 10x10 inches) $475

"Peggy" (pastel, 12x6 inches) $390

"Banded Archerfish" (pastel, 4x6 inches) $250

"Butterball" (pastel, 6x4 inches) $250

Later this month I'll be enjoying my first international workshop, in Montreal, Canada! I'll try to make some new posts while I'm there.

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Day 30 - Shadow

"Shadow" (pastel, 12x6 inches) click here to bid or buy

Day 30 of my 30 Paintings in 30 Days of November!

Whew! Did it! Tomorrow, I might make a poster showing off all 30 days, if I have time!

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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Guava

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

I had fun with his colors!

Phantom - day 20

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

It's nice to be back to some cows for a bit!

Here are some progress shots:

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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Nori - day 19

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

Had a few days of difficulty with keeping up with my self-imposed goal of 30-paintings-in-30-days of November (originally it was 60-in-30, to create for Dec as well as Nov; what was I thinking!?) but have finally got a good long day in the studio and am feeling really good right now! I have 4 new paintings and if I'm lucky I'll be able to save some of them for December like my original plan! (If I can get out to the studio early tomorrow, and Friday, and over the weekend, and all next week...)
Lol, well, I'm still confident I'll have my 30-for-November in any case...

Here are some progress shots of Nori:

3 layers of gold primer (excuse the color variance)

For those of you that are not familiar with my underpainting method, I start with some pastel primers brushed onto Gatorboard. The 3 layers of gold primer are shown above. This is Quiacridone Nickel Azo Gold fluid acrylic color mixed into Golden (brand) Fine Pumice Gel. The gel is clear, so the color mixture is semi-transparent, and gets darker on each application.
Then (below) I add Art Spectrum (brand) Pastel Primer in the terra cotta color. When working with a black-furred subject, this is my medium-value primer. (When the subject has no black, the Terra Cotta represents my darkest values in the underpainting. See this blog post for a good example of this!)

the terra cotta primer added

Then I use the black Art Spectrum pastel primer in the darkest areas of the subject, and scrub and dry-brush it into the medium values of the terra cotta to continue the value scale and add more depth to the monochromatic underpainting.

the black primer added

 (Excuse the variance of exposures of these first photos.)

the photo with the primer underpainting

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Charlie

"Charlie"  (pastel, 7x5 inches) Private Commission

Charlie is the actual name of this steer, who belonged to a client near Fredericksburg, Texas. We've been going through her inventory of animals, past and present, and filling her home with paintings! I painted her donkey "Blue" last winter, and she bought a white calf painting last year that looked just like her darling "Texas Pearl"! This week I'll be finishing an 8x10 of Pearl and his mom, Baby. (Yep, the mother's name was "Baby"!)

Here are progress shots of Charlie:

Thanks for watching! Please share!

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