Sharing a Commission

Now that Christmas is over, it's safe to share a commission piece I did this month for a friend of mine. It was to be a Christmas gift for her daughter.  Their dog Sasha had passed away, and she wanted a special keepsake to give to her daughter that would remind her of the special bond and love she had for Sasha.  I'm so thrilled to have had the opportunity to spread some joy.  

Note to self:  Time to clean the easel !!!

Experimenting

Winter Song pastel 6 1/2x10 inches available $48.00

Well Christmas has come and gone ~ I hope everyone had a very memorable Christmas this year! I know I did!  During some hustle and bustle down time I decided to go to my paper stash to begin another painting and what I found was Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.  I'm just about out of every type of painting surface and with all the Christmas shopping, I'm also out of extra funds to buy more supplies for at least a couple of weeks.  So I put my thinking cap on and found that I have tons of backing boards.  The boards I place behind paintings for sturdy shipping.  Why not try those?( I asked myself).  I had a jar of Elephant Gray Pastel Primer made by Art Spectrum, grabbed a paint brush and covered the board.  The result was a very nice painterly look.  I liked it so much I covered a very large board for a painting I hope to complete this week.  Until my supply stash is refreshed, this will be my surface of choice. 

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post - I completely got caught up in Holiday "stuff", and forgot to post the winning title for last weeks No Name Monday.  The winner........ drum roll...... Rose! With Snow Day. The Painting, along with proper title can now be found on my Etsy page. When seen in person, the falling snow is literally sitting on top of the paper - a really cool 3D effect.  

Snow Day pastel 9x11 inches available $75.00

No Name Monday

I haven't had a chance to post a No-Name Monday painting in a while - so here it is.  For a bit of a back story on this one..... This is the first painting that I decided to add to after I had signed it.  Usually when a painting is signed that's that, but this painting needed something more.  SNOW.  Falling snow to be more precise. 

This is the painting before the falling snow was added.  Not sure why the over all color of the picture looks a bit golden, but you get the idea.  I thought I was finished, but as I kept looking at it, I knew it still needed that extra punch. 

So how do you achieve the look of falling snow using pastels?  I scrapped the side of a baby blue Rembrandt with a palette knife.  I really love the big chunks that show up here and there.  After the scrapping, I laid a piece of wax paper over the painting and pushed in the snow with the same pallet knife.  I love this effect!  But this painting still needs a name.  Submit your best idea and I'll have my name choosers (my children) pick their favorite.  On your mark..... get set.....GO!

Winter's Dawn

Winter's Dawn 9x9 Pastel available $60.00

Having computer issues this morning - so now I'm running late for work and don't have time to post a lot of information about this painting except that I was drawn to the bright sun coming through the trees and the reflections coming off of the snow.  Have a beautiful day everyone!  I really hope Santa brings me a new computer!!!!!

Colors of Snow

Almost There 9x11 Pastel on Black Sandpaper available $75.00

I've been busy working on a couple of commission pieces which I'll share in a future post, but I had some spare time today to work on painting snow.  It's amazing the colors you can use to create the illusion of snow.  In fact, there is only 5 very small marks of white - the rest of the snow was created using blues, purples, green, gray and a very light pale yellow.  This painting is preparing me for the snow they say Maryland is getting on Friday. Ugggh. I still have time to work in a couple more commissions to have ready by Christmas.  If you have something you'd like painted, just message me and we can work out the details.