On the Bank

Just finished this one, which I took from a cropped photo taken by someone else.

Pastel 8" x 10"

A Quiet Corner

I am finding that going into my studio and painting has been a welcome distraction since the unexpected death of my son just before Thanksgiving.  It helps to have my mind focused on something else, though of course he is never far from my thoughts.

This painting is the result of watching a video by one of my favorite pastellists, Richard McKinley. He was demonstrating the use of a watercolor underpainting when working with pastels.  I frequently use underpaintings but normally employ the use of pastels with a wash of alcohol over the top.  I enjoyed this method, though I will never be able to get the results he does.
Pastel 11" x 14"

Tulips and Pears

AFTER THE RAIN
SOLD

READY TO EAT

These two pictures are the most recent I have been working on.

The tulips I did because it has been a wish of mine to paint flowers with drops of water on them.  It was fun to do and I'm reasonably happy with the result, though there are a few tweaks that I could make.






The pears are a redo of one I did some time ago when I was just starting out on my art journey. Since that time I have gained a lot more knowledge and experience, and I decided to paint it again to gift to a dear friend.

A future Cup of Tea

I came across this photo recently and decided it was a challenge that I would like to take on. It's very different for me and I have chosen to show more of the strokes used in depicting the tea picker.

Pastel 11" x 14"



                              SOLD



                 

The Creek

Just finished this one. I can't remember where I got the photo, but I'm always drawn to shots of creeks winding through fields, and I need lots of practice painting mountains!!

This is 16" x 20" Pastel.


SOLD

"Calla"

I've been promising myself that I would paint this picture of a Calla Lily for a while and I finally got round to it this week.  It's now framed and waiting for me to put a wire on the back before it can be hung on the wall.  11" x 14"

Gone to Seed

In England when I was growing up, we used to call these Dandelion Clocks and children would blow on them and count how many blows it would take, which would then indicate what time of day it was.  (Never accurate of course).  I have wanted to try my hand at painting one for some time and recently came across this photo.  This is the result.

I absolutely loved painting this and may try doing a group of them together sometime.

Pastel 11"x 14" on Colorfix Suede paper.


This painting has been gifted to a friend.

This is from a photo taken by my nephew and/or his wife  of their 2 yr old out in the country on his scooter.  He appears to have taken to it like a duck to water, and I found it irrestible to paint.  I am not normally known for painting figures, but couldn't resist this one.

Pastel 11 x 14

Home is where the nest is

I have painted this particular nest box in the past, but since then have gained a lot more experience.  I remember really enjoying painting this one last time so I decided to do it again and will be entering it into the Spring Show at our gallery here.  It's Pastel 11" x 14" on Fisher 400 paper.

Fisher paper is totally archival with excellent tooth and is wonderful to work on.  The pastel really clings to the paper with very little dust.

A Quiet Corner in New Orleans

Our gallery change this month has the theme of Midnight Hours and I chose this photo.  I have never painted a night scene before, so this was really breaking new ground for me.  This photo of the actual artwork doesn't really show it to it's best advantage, but I decided to post it here anyway.

Pastel 11" x 14"

Fields of Red

Sometimes I just want to paint a picture with a lot of color and I came across this one which seemed to fit the bill.

Pastel 11 x 14

Clinging to the Edge

This is from a photo that I took when we went for a short hike on top of Black Mountain, a short distance from where we live.  It's always amazing to me that vegetation can grow out of seemingly hostile environments.  The view from the top of Black Mountain is beautiful, though you do have to be a little choosy when picking your viewpoint to avoid the tree tops from below.

Pastel 11x 14