Setting Aside Time Just to Draw

The Boathouse 16x20 Charcoal on Canson Board available $165.00

 I've heard it said that to be a good artist, you must be good at drawing.  I have to admit, when I was young, I loved to draw, and it was my favorite past time, but now I don't spend nearly the amount of time on the drawing for each painting as I probably should.  It had been quite some time since I completed just a charcoal drawing, but it felt good - it took me back to a time before color, before paints and before pastels.  I have always wanted to fill a sketchbook, but have never spent the time, so today I am setting another goal and that is to do at least 1 sketch a week until a sketch book is completely full. I enjoy looking through other's sketchbooks, and hopefully I will find as much satisfaction looking through my own.   I'm including some step by step photos of this piece - it's fun to see a picture slowly come to life. I used black and white charcoal on gray toned Canson Board.  The texture on this board took some getting used to, but I'm happy with the end results. 

Keeping Things Loose in the Background

Lost 12x18 Pastel available $185.00

I've been practicing abstracting backgrounds with my latest poppy paintings.  Putting in grasses like the one above can get frustrating and confusing and sometimes cause you to over paint them causing the pastels to get gummy and muddy which leaves you no choice but to brush it off and begin again - and when you're on a tight budget for purchasing pastels, this can also be pricey.  So this time I worked very slow - I began by toning the paper in a deep purple and made sure I could still see the paper through the pastel.  Then I chose 2 greens to lightly fill in area followed by the light yellowy green to give the appearance of light shining through.  It wasn't until this point that I put in the poppy, stepped back from the easel and chose colors that I thought would give interest and make the painting pop.  I followed the same color choices with this poppy as the others, but added a bit of a warm pink color in the light filled area.  The goal is to not paint every blade of grass, but let the viewer fill in the grasses with the information you present to them to see.  

I'd like to reveal the rest of the poem that I've been sharing.  I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.

Jennifer Grotz’s “Poppies”

There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.
But then you see the poppies, a disheveled stand of them.
And the sun shining down like God, loving all of us equally,
mountain and valley, plant, animal, human, and therefore
shouldn’t we love all things equally back?
And then you see the clouds.
The poppies are wild, they are only beautiful and tall
so long as you do not cut them,
they are like the feral cat who purrs and rubs against your leg
but will scratch you if you touch back.
Love is letting the world be half-tamed.
That’s how the rain comes, softly and attentively, then
with unstoppable force. If you
stare upwards as it falls, you will see
they are falling sparks that light nothing only because
the ground interrupts them. You can hear the way they’d burn,
the smoldering sound they make falling into the grass.
That is a sound for the sadness everywhere present.
The closest you have come to seeing it
is at night, with the window open and the lamp on,
when the moths perch on the white walls,
tiny as a fingernail to large as a Gerbera daisy
and take turns agitating around the light.
If you grasp one by the wing,
its pill-sized body will convulse
in your closed palm and you can feel the wing beats
like an eyelid’s obsessive blinking open to see.
But now it is still light and the blackbirds are singing
as if their voices are the only scissors left in this world.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been thinking of  my next subject matter to work on this week, and I've decided to spend my week at the lake - so to speak.  This week, all my painting will be lake scenes.  I'm pretty excited and have some experiments with the pastels that I'd like to try out along the way.


I'd also like to announce with great joy that I was excepted into the Working Artists Forum.  I was quite worried after seeing all the paintings of the other applicants - all I can say is I'm in very good company of exceptional artists and hope to build lasting friendships and also to learn and grow as an artist with all the opportunities WAF provides.  Thank you all for your words of encouragement and prayers. 

Have You Ever Tried Painting on Sandpaper?

Wild Passions 9x11 Pastel available $95.00

This week has been a whirlwind of art activity in this house.  Along with trying to reach my goal for the poppy paintings, I've also been working on things in an attempt to get accepted into the Working Artists Forum group.  On Monday, I will need to submit 3 paintings and 1 drawing, framed, to be judged by a panel, and they will decide if they think my work is up to the standards of the group.  I am so grateful for all of you that "like" the paintings on Facebook and Instagram because that's how I chose the paintings for consideration.  I also met with my pastel mentor Katie yesterday, and along with her husband, who is also an artist, they helped me pick the best 3 of the 9 top "liked" paintings by all of you. So thank you for all your support and wish me luck.  I'll post the paintings that were picked after I get them framed.

I've been sharing a poem 1 paragraph at a time along with a poppy painting to go along with it, so I'd like to share the next paragraph to that poem:


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.

But then you see the poppies, a disheveled stand of them.
And the sun shining down like God, loving all of us equally,
mountain and valley, plant, animal, human, and therefore
shouldn’t we love all things equally back?
And then you see the clouds.

The poppies are wild, they are only beautiful and tall
so long as you do not cut them,
they are like the feral cat who purrs and rubs against your leg
but will scratch you if you touch back.
Love is letting the world be half-tamed.
That’s how the rain comes, softly and attentively, then

with unstoppable force. If you
stare upwards as it falls, you will see
they are falling sparks that light nothing only because
the ground interrupts them. You can hear the way they’d burn,
the smoldering sound they make falling into the grass.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The poppy painting posted for today was painted on black sandpaper.  I've been trying out different grits of sandpaper to see what kind of textures I can achieve - but just a warning if you decide to try this - you will not have a pastel left when using them on the heavier grit paper - I liked the texture, but did not like using up an entire pastel after a couple of swipes, so I trashed that painting - and began again for the painting shown above.  

Mistakes Happen

Fate of the World 12x6 pastel available through this link $75.00

I came across this photo reference on the Pixabay website early this morning and was amazed at how this picture represents exactly how I've been feeling about the world in which we are living in right now.  Morals, I feel, are becoming a thing of the past, and recent changes being made to what was once the "norm" are sending this world into certain disaster.

 I've titled this piece "Fate of the World" and can add it to my completed paintings of 7 poppies in 7 days.  I have to admit, I applied the pastel way too heavily to the flower and the colors started to become muddy.  I was trying to hurry and because of this, the flower was ruined.  So what do you do when you make a mistake like this with pastels?  The answer is a simple one.... just brush it off and begin again.  I took the brush piece off of an old paintbrush and brushed off all the pastel on the flower and began again.  The brush has to have some hardness to it - a soft brush will not get into the crevices- and with a light, circular motion, you can brush off your mistake like it never happened.

I'd also like to share another paragraph to the poem I've been posting.  The entire poem will be revealed in just a few more days.


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.

But then you see the poppies, a disheveled stand of them.
And the sun shining down like God, loving all of us equally,
mountain and valley, plant, animal, human, and therefore
shouldn’t we love all things equally back?
And then you see the clouds.

The poppies are wild, they are only beautiful and tall
so long as you do not cut them,
they are like the feral cat who purrs and rubs against your leg
but will scratch you if you touch back.
Love is letting the world be half-tamed.
That’s how the rain comes, softly and attentively, then

Setting Smaller Goals

Rare Beauty 12x12 pastel available by clicking this link $145.00

I'm setting a smaller goal this week by choosing 1 subject and doing a painting a day for 7 days.  I've participated in painting 30 paintings in 30 days, and sometimes that goal can seem daunting... so I'm setting smaller goals for myself by doing 7 paintings in 7 days and by choosing to paint the same subject means my colors are already set out for me, and I'm somewhat familiar with my subject so the painting process goes a little bit quicker.

This weeks subject is poppies, and by painting the same subject over and over again, helps me to choose which colors to use more naturally.  I started this poppy with and underpainting of brick red and very bright orange, and this layered back and forth with a rose color, bright red and the orange.  The experts say never to use a hard pastel over a soft pastel, but I break this rule constantly, and find that it works fine as long as use a light touch with each layer.  Using a light touch is something I am constantly working on with myself because I am naturally a heavy hander, it seems, with everything I do, but I am a work in progress - just like my poppy shown above.  Here are some progress photos.

For the final highlights, I wanted to try something different and used a salmon color and then a bright yellow-green.  You can see this if you zoom into the painting. I really am pleased with this color combination.

Also this week I am revealing a poem that I came across for those of you out there that enjoy poetry like myself.  I will reveal a paragraph a day along with the day's poppy painting for that day, and by the end of the week you will have read the poem in full and I am hoping to hear from some of you as to what you think about the meaning behind the poem.  Here's today's addition:


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.

But then you see the poppies, a disheveled stand of them.
And the sun shining down like God, loving all of us equally,
mountain and valley, plant, animal, human, and therefore
shouldn’t we love all things equally back?
And then you see the clouds.

A Poppy a Day Keeps the Blues Away

6x12 Pastel available $75.00

Lately I've been working hard at reorganizing the house and yard before the cold weather hits and haven't spent as much time on my artwork as I'd like, but when the day came this week that I stepped in front of the easel, I had a bout of artists block. What should I paint? I had so many choices and recent experiences from my vacations that I could share, but nothing gave me that spark I was looking for.  I skimmed through Instagram for some inspiration and came across a posting of a poppy.  I have always loved poppies and they're one of my favorite flowers to see in paintings, so I decided poppies would be my subject.  It wasn't until I completed the first poppy painting, which I'll share below, that I craved to do another, and so my quest to paint a poppy painting every day for the next week was born.  They say you can only master your subject by painting it over and over again - so here it goes. 


I also recently began reading poetry again - this also helps to inspire you for future paintings, and I came across this beautiful poem that mentions poppies.  I thought it would be fun to share the poem with you, but only a paragraph at a time.  With every poppy painting I post, I will reveal the next part of the poem until the end of the week. 


There is a sadness everywhere present
but impossible to point to, a sadness that hides in the world
and lingers. You look for it because it is everywhere.
When you give up, it haunts your dreams
with black pepper and blood and when you wake
you don’t know where you are.


Below are some progress photos of today's poppy painting, along with yesterday's painting. 

12x12 Pastel available $145.00

Both paintings have been added to my Etsy store. 

Painting on a New Surface

For the Love of Monarchs 6x18 available $125.00

I recently took part in the Academy Art Museum's Art Sale, and while there, a man approached me and asked if I'd be interested in painting a stone for his garden.  It was an interesting idea, and something I had never tried before.  He said he wanted something with monarch butterflies and flowers.  Little did he know he came to the right table - I filled him in on my love of monarchs and all the statistics of their decline and also my feeble attempts to help bring the populations numbers back.

He dropped the stone off to me a couple of days later and filled me in on the purpose of this stone.  He told me the story of how he and his wife had recently lost a set of twins, and about a memorial garden that's in place for those that have lost children.  The theme in the memorial garden is monarchs and he wanted the stone to also serve as a remembrance for the lost twins.

Along with him that day was his daughter - she was so cute! I asked her what her favorite flowers were, and also what colors she would like to see in the painting.  I took notes on her color choices and began thinking of a composition.  I wanted to do a couple of  examples, and let the family choose which one they liked the best.  The painting shown at the top of this page was the first attempt. I used my pastels and UArt pastel paper cut to the size of the stone to put down my ideas.

The finished garden stone

Because the colors in the first painting were very bright and warm, I decided to try the second painting a bit cooler.  I loved how the orange popped against the deep blue and had a calming effect.  I chose to put in 5 butterflies - 1 each for mom, dad, daughter and the twins.  Dad has his wings spread (in protection mode), mom is at the bottom, daughter is to the left and the twins are close together to the right.  The family chose the first painting and I pulled out my acrylics and went to work.  I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to recreate the look of the pastels, but in the end, I think it came out very close. Both pastel paintings are for sale in my Etsy store.  If interested, just click on the title of the painting and you will be taken to the store's site.

Wings Among Weeds pastel 6x18 available $125.00

Both examples side by side