Red Green pastel #190

Parking pastel #189

This was an exercise in arbitrary cropping. A fire hydrant in the foreground might have made it more interesting. I will have to think about that but there is a mystery to who is getting in/out of the car. Who are they and what are they doing? On a less productive but still artistic note, I went snowshoeing with my husband today (he came to visit us at my daughters) and I really studied how things looked and what I would do to paint them. I didn't have my sketchbook or a camera, but I really thought about seeing and not just about what I saw, but how do I translate that into 2-D with chemical pigments? I know this is what artists do all the time, but I really indulged today. It felt like a significant lesson.

American Family Icon pastel #188

My husband is crazy about British croquet. This is such a symbol of family life and back yards. In the winter, the best you can do is lay it out on a green blanket, which reflected a lot of warm green light. One new year's day my husband and I took our new snow shoes and hiked down to the park by the lake. While there, we witnessed a group of young women strip down and jump in to the subfreezing water, and then saw a bunch of hippies unload from a VW bus painted with flowers (of course) and proceed to set up a croquet game and play it in the 3 foot deep snow. I love living in Vermont!

Veggies pastel #184

and some veggies....2 posts to make up for yesterday

Sketch 1 for Commission pastel 5"x7" #145

Yesterday Qiang Huang (qiang-huang.blogspot.com) said, "....if you can paint shapes, you can paint anything." I agree completely, but boy you better get those shapes right, especially if you are doing a portrait. This is the first sketch in preparation for an important portrait. I have one photo, have not met him, and will not have the opportunity to meet him. It is a real challenge, and I don't usually like doing portraits of smiling faces, but I can't really make up his features....I am not that clever. I am hoping that by doing many sketches of him I will get to know his face and hopefully pick up on his personality through the process, before I do the finished portrait. Also, today "Overdressed" went swimming.

Overdressed 6"x6" pastel #144

So things did not turn out as planned. The wind blew out our power 30 hours ago and left us in the dark (literally). It just came back on tonight at 6pm. The house is a little chilly and the studio even more so! I left home this afternoon and grabbed my pastels as I went out. I found a warm spot and did this pastel of a present. I called it "Overdressed" because the bow is so much bigger than the package. It is a little package sent to me by Karen Appleton who is doing a project called "Present and Accounted For." The assignment is to photograph it in various places. Today I took it to a jewelry store and talked them into letting me display it in their window. I shot it from in front of the store. I have plans to take it several other places but I am not telling yet where they are. On another note, the model did not show up so I won't get to do my life painting exercises this week.

4 Days worth #140, #141, #142, #143

I have been traveling for 10 days and have not been able to post since last Saturday. I took pastels with me thinking I would do many small pastel paintings while I traveled. This didn't work out as planned. It was inconvenient, messy and improbable under the conditions and I went into painting withdrawal and only did a few really poor quality drawings which I am posting today. Now I am facing that daunting new beginning again with the fear that I won't be able to do it. I know this is all nonsense, but somehow it is very real nonsense. I am sure once I get back in the groove it will all be ok. So, I am posting 3 pastels: "Tangerine and Pear," "Fingernail Polish'" and "The Green Ornament." As well I am posting an abstract oil, "Coltrane," that I did as a warm-up.

Leaf 6x6" pastel

another pastel sketch.... #104

Round On Round 6x6" pastel

Round and red on round and red..... #103

apple and leaf pastel 6x6

I am traveling and didn't bring painting materials. I thought I would post one of the paintings I did last week, but I forgot to email it to myself. So I started scrounging for some materials for today's work and came up with a limited number of pastels and a piece of cardboard. I can see why pastel artists use so many colors. It was a real challenge to get the colors even close. #82