Friday Freebie

I recently began working on some themed paintings that I plan to turn into note cards and bookmarks. This is one of the designs for a flower themed note card set which I hope to have available by the end of the month along with bird and butterfly sets.  I'm researching printing companies and when I settle on the company that best fits what I'm trying to achieve, things should begin to take off. 

I didn't have a chance to post a freebie at all last month, so this month I'm going to have 2 freebie Fridays. Keep your eyes open because the Fridays chosen are going to be a surprise.  If you'd like to have your name in the drawing for this painting all you have to do is comment with "pick me" and I will announce the winner on Saturday. 

Wish me luck with this month's 30 paintings in 30 days - - it seems to get harder and harder to find the time to paint and post.  Or could it be I'm just getting lazier - 

Starting off the Month of March with Another 30 Paintings in 30 Days.....I Hope

September Sway 16x20 pastel available $264.00

I came across this photo and just fell in love with the colors in the grasses and the dramatic reflection and knew I just had to paint it.  I went out and bought a 16x20 pastelbord because I felt this one should be larger than what I normally paint. I started with a quick sketch with vine charcoal.

Using a nupastel in spruce blue, I filled in all the dark areas rubbed it into the board and applied it once more.

It was time to begin working on the sky still using nupastels and also some Rembrandts in various blues, pinks, violets and green.

I added two shades of orange working on both the sky and the water simultaneously. When a color was added to the sky, I immediately added it to the water.  I did some blending along the way to give a smoother look.

Next came the really fun part. The greens! I used 5 different shades of greens for the back trees and also the grasses. It's at this point that the painting starts to all come together.  

Time to bring out the crème de la crème or in other words, my Terry Ludwig and Sennlier pastels. The Terry Ludwigs are the perfect shape for pressing in grasses and the Sennliers are velvety smooth to add chunks of color.  It was at this point that I thought I was finished, but after walking by it a couple of times I felt it needed a bit more.  Can you spot the differences in the 2 paintings below?

My Super Bowl Activity

Dock of the Bay 16x20 Pastel available for sale $245 with Free Shipping

While most of the population was glued to the TV watching this years historic Super Bowl and attending parties, I was glued to my easel completing "Dock of the Bay", I thought I'd share some of the highlights to the process that went into this work.

I began by first painting gesso onto a thin board and a fairly loose drawing. I picked out the main pastels to achieve the colors for this painting and went to work. I added in some darks of blue violet and phthalo blue - both Rembrandts, 

And then the light colors consisting of yellow, cream, orange and pink.

And finally all the middle range colors of greens and blues some violets and reds. I then left it up on the easel to evaluate and to take a break to cook all our yummy Super Bowl party foods, and every time I passed by the painting, I added some finishing highlights.

Dock of the Bay 16x20 Pastel available for sale $245.00 with free shipping

Coming up with a title stumped me for hours, but then the song Dock of the Bay came into my head and it was a perfect fit.  

A Winter Walk

Along the Stream pastel 8x10 available $60.00

I looked out from my kitchen window after last weeks snowfall and was immediately drawn to the orange color of this tree against the snow. I just had to paint this scene.  I put on my coat and trekked outside to get some photos. Luckily it wasn't too awful cold so I took a walk into the woods to get a lot of reference photos for future paintings.  

I couldn't decide on whether to begin with a gamsol wash or to just begin..... I'm very impatient when it comes to painting, so I just jumped right in with the pastels.  That's my favorite thing about pastels and why I'm so drawn to them - no mixing of paint needed just choose the color you want and put it to paper. For the impatient painter it's the perfect solution.  

This is the reference photo I was using - the colors seemed much brighter in person, and I exaggerated the colors even more to really give that tree center stage.  

Using the side of Terry Ludwig's square pastels and pressing firmly gives a sparkling finishing touch to highlighted tree branches.  

A Peek Inside my Studio

In the Midst of Silence 18x12 inches available $165.00

For the last couple of months The Pastel Society of America has been posting pictures of artists studios. Most of them are very large spaces with lots of natural light flooding in and hundreds of paintings hanging on the walls.  I thought it would be fun to share my own studio space.  I get quite a chuckle when I talk about my studio space because it's literally a 2 feet by 2 feet space.

My studio is located in my dining room.  Why you might ask?  Well I have a very small house and that's the one room with the best light.  My easel is the first thing you see when you walk into the house.  

Here you have my "office" space just a few steps from the easel.  You can just make out finished paintings stored on the bottom shelve of the desk waiting to be packaged. This is where I'm sitting at this very moment.  

So where do you hide your stash of pastels?  In the drawers of your desk of course!  That is if you are a pastel artist living in a small space. I dream of one day having a "proper" studio, but in the mean time, I work with what I have.  And you can too.  Have you been putting off your dreams of creating because you don't think you have the room to keep the supplies?  Don't put it off any longer - there are ways to hide the mess.  I joke with my children that I can't wait for one of them to move out so I can turn their room into a studio, but truthfully I like the location of my easel.  Right in the heart of all the action.  I would love to hear about your crafting spaces or like in my case, your lack of crafting space and how you make due.

Art Goals for 2018

Winter Walk 10x6 1/2 pastel available $45.00

I've been thinking heavily lately about what my art goals for 2018 will be.  Without goals, I think, you are setting yourself up for a year without change - remaining stagnant and when the year passes you sit back and wonder where it went.  At least for me, I need to feel like I accomplished "something". Even if it's just a small "something".  So hear it goes...... my list of goals for 2018.

1.  Keep painting!  There are times an artist (and myself) feel their work just isn't getting noticed and that nobody really cares about it or what it is that your working on, but I will say all the kind comments and "likes" and hearing from various people throughout my day really keep me motivated. The simple act of painting daily not only makes you a better painter, but from what I hear gives others something to look forward to when they see what you created for that day.

2.  Join some pastel societies.  I have a couple of them on my list, and feel it will give me more opportunities to get my feet further in the "art world".  Some of the societies jury your work so you've got to be on your game and give them a reason to want you.  The 3 societies I've chosen to strive to get in to is the Pastel Society of America, the Maryland Pastel Society and MAPS - the Mid-Atlantic Pastel Society.  

3.  Number 3 won't take place until the spring, but I am going to strive to get out and do more plein air painting.  It's sometimes difficult to accomplish when you work a day time job, but I would like to enter some of the competitions.  They seem like a lot of fun, and give you a little more exposure.

4.  I want to learn oil painting.  Yes it's good to have a medium that you are known for working in, but it's better to push yourself to learn something new.  It will make you better all the way around in your art - I promise. So I'm planning on taking some classes coming up and watching a lot of You Tube videos on the ins and outs of oil painting.

5.  I want to add some additional painted products to my Etsy store.  Besides being into painting, I am a diehard crafter.  So I will be posting hand painted products other than paintings to hand on the wall soon.  I've been playing around with some ideas in my head - we'll just see how they pan out.

6.  Become a better blogger.  Sometimes, like right now for instance, I'm trying to write in the blog and post the most recent painting in the short amount of time I have in the morning before having to go to work.  So one of my goals for this year is to come up with a better schedule so I can really concentrate on what I'm posting and not just throwing down the first things that pop into my head. I want to have a plan.  

So this pretty much sums up my goals for this year.  Do you set goals for yourself each year?  If you do, I'd love to hear what they are.  You never know..... it may help someone else out there looking to set goals for themselves. 

The painting posted for today is another one of my yard.  I've decided to "stay in my own yard" so to speak for the entire month of January, and only paint scenes I see every day.  

Painting is Like Writing

My Familiar 9x11 Pastel available $75.00

Writers will tell you to write what you know.  If you are writing about something you are familiar with and have experienced first hand, your story will become all the more believable.  It is the same with painting.  If you choose to paint a scene that you know inside and out, your painting will reflect that connection, and you paint more from the heart than from the head. 

I chose this scene to begin the New Year.  This is my backyard, and being a city girl by birth, I appreciate every square inch of it.  I find solace and peace when I'm sitting by the stream or walking in the woods, watching the birds or photographing the wild turkeys and deer. I even have a heron that can be spotted now and again walking up and down the stream. I have 6 acres of woods and this beautiful little stream runs along the entire property line.  An interesting fact about my woods, and something I am most honored to share is that my backyard runs along one of Harriet Tubman's Underground Railroad routes. It is so very interesting to me that Harriet Tubman walked this very scene and walked the same paths through my woods that I enjoy today.  

I decided to dedicate this entire month to only painting scenes from my property.  Heaven knows I have plenty of photographs to choose from.