Pictures in Pastel by Carol Conrad

Autumn Sun

2012-01-04T13:22:00.001-08:00

This is from a photo I took myself during a visit to another artist's studio in New Hampshire. I took a look back along the lane we had just walked and was struck by the color of the trees and sun shining through the trees. It's pastel 11 x 14.

Across the Pond

2011-12-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ever since we decided to move to Tennessee, my pastels have been packed up and my studio cleaned out. I have been frustrated by not being able to get to my easel .... but finally we are in our new house and my wonderful studio has been set up and I was able to get back to this painting which I had half finished. I'm not totally happy with it, but given the circumstances and the fact that I had a big break between starting and finishing, I'm reasonably satisfied. It's 11 x 14 and of course is Pastel.

Butterfly

2011-08-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

This picture has been sitting on my easel for a couple of weeks now, but I have only just got round to taking the photo. I didn't take the original reference photograph, I'm not clever enough (nor is my camera) to take such a great photo, but I loved it and thought it would be challenging for me to paint. Diffusing the background flowers and foliage is something I've not tried before, but it seems to work OK. It's 16" x 20" Pastel.

Country Shadows

2011-08-07T05:39:00.000-07:00

I competed this one a couple of weeks ago and like the overall effect. It's from a photo taken by someone else. I painted it specifically to fit in a frame I had purchased which was not a standard size. It's about 15" x 10" Pastel.

Acton Shadows

2011-06-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

For a couple of years now I have had a set of Pan Pastels sitting in my studio and I really haven't done anything with them. ( For the uninitiated I should explain that instead of being in stick form, Pan's are more like ladies compressed make up in flat round containers, and the pastel is applied to the surface with a variety of sponges of different shapes and sizes.)

They are very different to work with and the first time I tried I found it very difficult. However, this week I decided to dust them off and try them again, and this picture is the result. It's from a study I did recently when I went out with a friend to paint at a local arboretum, it's about 11 x 14. This time around I found them fun and easier to use.

One day old

2011-06-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

When we were first married we decided to raise chickens and had a packing crate in the corner of the living room with a heat light over a dozen eggs. They all hatched and became efficient egg layers (except one, which turned nasty and ended up in the stewpot). I was looking through an old box of photographs this week and came across the photograph of this little one. It inspired me to paint a picture from it and this is the result. The chick was one day old at the time.

EDIT: I have since entered this one in our local Art Show in July and it was awarded a 2nd prize in the category "Art under Glass".

The Sky's the Limit

2011-05-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

The last class I took was teaching how to paint skies. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a photograph myself....it seemed that every time I had my camera with me the skies were either cloudy or bright blue with no clouds .....so I used a photograph that I had come across recently and was excited about. I very much enjoyed the process of painting this and am pleased with the result.

Falling

2011-04-27T09:57:00.001-07:00

For our 25th wedding anniversary my husband and I spent two weeks in Hawaii and I took the photograph from which I painted this picture at that time. I don't remember the name of this particular waterfall, there are so many of them, and one tends to blend in with another after a while. On close examination you will notice a rainbow at the base of the waterfall. Hawaii is such a beautiful State I would like to go again one day.

This painting is a pastel measuring 8.5 inches x 14 inches.

Poppies

2011-04-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

I recently entered this one into the Westford Regional Art Event and it won 1st place in the Pastels class. It was a great show, and the standard of art work was impressive. I was thrilled to be selected as a winner. 11" x 14" (It also appears a little lower on this blog, but that was before it won!)

When Life gives you Lemons

2011-03-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Just finished this one today. I enjoyed doing glass so much in the last one, that I wanted to try it again. It's so much fun! (as a side note, the honey pictured here is from our own bees that we had about 12 years ago and it's still really good. They do say that honey found in Tutankhamen's tomb was still edible....ours probably won't last that long!)

This is 11" x 14" Pastel on sanded pastel paper (La Carte).

Wine and Cheese party

2011-03-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

I just completed this one during my current pastel class. It's my first attempt at glass and was pleased with the finished result. Keen to try it again. Still 2 weeks left in this class so I have to work on getting another still life together.

Two new ones

2011-02-23T17:51:00.000-08:00

These are two winter landscapes that I completed during the recent classes I have been taking. One is called Snowtracks on the Bike Path, and the other is Woodland White.

Poppies

2011-02-23T17:35:00.000-08:00

I painted this one last week from a photo provided by someone else. I loved the fact that I could indulge myself by using red in a picture, which I can't usually do - by virtue of the fact that I usually paint landscapes. This is 11" x 14" Pastel.

Purple Haze

2011-02-04T09:27:00.000-08:00

This is actually an update of a picture that I did back in September. I have recently taken some instruction in landscapes and as a result wasn't happy with the original - I feel that this version makes a better picture.

My first one-woman show (Kind of)

2011-01-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

Today I took 14 paintings down to the Town Hall in Chelmsford and they are now hanging in the public hallways there and will stay in place for two months. The Chelmsford Art Society of which I am a member, approached me and asked if I would like to do this for the months of January and February - of course I said yes. Some of them are in areas where they get a lot of visibility, others not quite so much, but they are all in sections where the public walk by. It would be so great if someone wanted to buy one.

Snowdrops

2010-11-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

I don't usually do flowers, but for some reason I got the urge and this is the result. I admit that painting snowdrops at the end of Fall seems a little unusual but I was browsing through some photos and this one really caught my eye.

Snowgrasses

2010-11-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

I did this some time ago and decided to have it printed up into Christmas cards. I think the cards came out OK but I had them done in a matte finish and if I do it again I think I would choose a glossy finish. I think I'm also going to put this one into our local Christmas show at the library - it seems like an appropriate subject for the time of year.

Anchored

2010-10-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is what I have been working on for the past few days. I got the photo from the reference image library on Wet Canvas but I loved the somewhat threatening sky while the cliff and the boat were still in sunlight. 12 x 16 on La Carte paper.

New Hampshire Fall

2010-10-15T10:39:00.001-07:00

recently we went on a Fall Foliage Studio tour, which involved visiting several artists in their studios and viewing their works. We really enjoyed this although we actually only got to about six of the studios due to lack of time. All this took place in and around Keene in New Hampshire which is about and hour and a half from us, and this picture is from a photo that I took that day.

Old Cellars Beach

2010-10-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

I took this photo several years ago when walking on the cliffs with my sister and brother in law. Old Cellars Beach is in Noss Mayo, Devon at the entrance to the Yealm Estuary. This whole area is one of great natural beauty and I had already done a painting of it for my sister but felt I wanted to do it again in a larger format. This one is 16" x 20".

Road to the Mountain

2010-10-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is from a photo of Heber, in Utah taken by someone else, but I loved it and asked permission to use it to paint from. I always love any photo that has a path that draws the eye and as soon as I saw this I knew I wanted to paint it.

Fall by the River

2010-09-30T16:36:00.000-07:00

I took this photo about a year ago when my sister and brother in law were visiting from England. We took a trip to Maine to view foliage and stopped at this spot on the way.

Evening Light

2010-08-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

I can't remember where I got this photo, but I loved the sky and was itching to have a go at it. I did it on some masonite (hardboard) that we had purchased and cut into smaller sizes, which I then coated with a ground pumice mixture to create a rough surface which is ideal for pastel painting. However, I wasn't happy with this board as I think I should have given it a couple more coats - it was quite difficult to work with especially the area of the grass. It seemed too slick and wouldn't really grab the pastel.

Tulips for Two

2010-08-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

This picture was really fun to work on. Usually I don't get to use such bright colors, especially red, which doesn't appear in landscapes too often. There were more people in the photo that I took this from, but two were all I could cope with and I think it may have been too busy with more. I didn't take the photo myself, but it's of some tulip fields in Oregon.

Grand Marais, Minnesota

2010-08-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Some very dear friends of ours live in Grand Marais, on the northern shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota during the summer months and have asked us many times to visit them there, but so far we haven't made it. So when, I came across this photo in the Wet Canvas reference image library I couldn't resist doing this picture. I found it quite challenging particularly when it came to doing the rocks especially as they are so close to the viewer.

2010-08-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where this is but it was a photograph I came across and thought it would be fun to paint. It's 11 x 14 and done on a paper called La Carte which I have never used before. It's a coated surface that cannot under any circumstances get wet. Even sneezing on it will apparently leave holes in the surface. Because of this I have always been afraid of it, but I had a sample piece and decided to give it a go........ I love it...... and would now like to get more, but probably won't because it's expensive and I have a lot of other papers of different types to use up first.

Actually, last weekend we spent quite a bit of time in the garage with a power saw, cutting up a sheet of masonite (hardboard) into sizes to make painting surfaces, and now I have to do the preparation on them which involves coating them with a pumice mixture. I have ordered the pumice on line and hopefully this process won't be too messy or difficult.

2010-08-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is from a photo of Eilean Conan Castle in Scotland taken by someone else. I have done this picture twice because I was experimenting with a surface that I hadn't tried before and although I enjoyed doing the picture I hated the surface so I did it again on some pastel board that I am familiar with and enjoy using.

2010-07-20T09:34:00.001-07:00

I'm now firmly situated in my new studio in the basement and so far it's working out well, except that a couple of times I've found it really hot down there.....but, the temperature has been in the 90's outside so I'm reserving judgement on that particular problem.

I have been working on this picture off and on for the last week, and after a few frustrating moments finally this morning it all came together. I didn't take the photo myself, but it is a picture of a waterfall in North Georgia.

2010-07-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

This week has been busy here because I have made the decision to move my studio from the spare bedroom and relocate it in the basement of our home. I felt it was time to turn the room back into a bona fide bedroom so that a) we have somewhere to put guests should the occasion arise, or b) if we suddenly decide to move, there won't be a urgent need to do it then. This was sound thinking because it is taking ages to achieve and countless trips from the top of the house to the basement - quite exhausting!

The other event of note this week is that I have just sent in a CD to the Pastel Society of New Hampshire containing my images of three paintings which I am submitting for selection into a juried show of pastels in September. I won't know until the middle of August whether I got in and I think the competition will be quite stiff with entries from all over the States, so it's a long shot for a rank amateur like me.

2010-07-13T08:16:00.001-07:00

This picture is from a reference photo offered by Paula Ford on West Canvas.com in one of the monthly challenges. The subject being spotlighted this month was Summer trees and this is a field in Tennessee.

2010-07-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

This is from a photo I took of a beautiful medieval village in France when John and I were there a few years ago. It was a great place and we had dinner there in a really old building which looked out over the valley. There are hills everywhere in Provence and it seems as if each one has a medieval village perched on the top.

On a different subject I learned yesterday that I had received an Honorable Mention for a picture that I entered into the July 4th Art Show. I entered two pieces and the one that I expected would win something, didn't - but the other one, which I wasn't all that thrilled with did!!!! You just can never tell what the judges are going to look for in these shows.

2010-06-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

When we were in Tennessee I took numerous photographs as we drove around the State and this is one scene that caught my eye. I don't remember exactly where it is, but I think somewhere on the Cumberland Plateau. I have actually painted this picture twice, once on a board I prepared myself, but I hated working on that surface so I decided to do it again on a recycled piece of Pastelmat which had previously held a failed painting that I had washed off.

2010-06-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a time since I posted anything here, due to visitors and other distractions, which included a visit to Fairfield Glade in Eastern Tennessee to check it out as a retirement destination. We loved it there and are working towards getting there within the next two years. One of the many appealing aspects for me was the fact that they have a thriving Art Guild which is run by the residents. They have monthly exhibits of work done by members which are held in the great facility they have there, which also includes studio space and has workshops and all sorts of interesting things going on. I'm very excited about it.

This piece is from a photo I took of the Sandhill Cranes that regularly strutted past the rear of our home when we lived in Florida, and I am going to enter it into the Annual 4th July Show here in Chelmsford this year.

2010-04-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have been watching a lot of Arnold Lowrey videos lately and I was interested in the way he uses Canson paper and blends a lot, so I thought I would try it. First I had to dig out my Canson Paper from under a pile of sanded papers which I usually prefer. I don't usually work this big, but I used a full sheet which is about 20" x 26". It was an interesting experiment and I was actually quite pleased with the way the sky came out after I blended the heck out of it. It's not perfect by any means but I enjoyed myself.

2010-03-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

I was excited to find out today that I have had two pieces of art accepted in a juried show to be held by the Chelmsford Center for the Arts in early April. This is the first time any of my work has been juried into a show. Admittedly this show is quite small, but it's thrilling nevertheless. The accepted pieces are the "Feather light, feather bright" and "White Peonie" which both appear earlier on this blog.

2010-03-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is from a photo of Hay Bales in a Tennessee field taken by Paula Ford and was part of a challenge on Wet Canvas.com. The challenge being to start with an underpainting prior to putting in details. I chose some pretty vivid colors for my underpainting and mostly they were completely covered by the work I did on top, except in the trees where I allowed some of the red to show through.

2010-03-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

We've just had our kitchen remodeled and I painted this picture of pears to go on the wall, alongside the earlier one I did of grapes in a bowl. I have just got a new camera and am still finding my way around all the various controls. I may also enter this in a juried show that is coming up soon in our town.

2010-03-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

I painted the picture on the left about a month ago but have only just got round to taking a photograph as I had to cut it to size and mount it for framing. This is not easy when you paint in pastel because there is always the risk of smudging the finished work. It is from a photograph taken by someone on Wet Canvas and I call it Distant Sierras. It's 16 x 20.

This right hand picture is just a little one, 5" x 7" using up a scrap of sanded paper that I had lying around. I don't remember where I got the photograph.

2010-03-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

I wanted to try something different and I came across this picture which seemed like it would be a challenge ........ and I was right. I think I'm going to enter it into a juried competition here in Chelmsford, though I don't have any great hopes of it being accepted. Watch this space!

More Mist

2010-02-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

OK - so I seem to be in the mood to paint pictures of mist at the moment. This is an early morning view over a misty lake in the Adirondak mountains of New York. It is offered on the Spotlight thread of Wet Canvas this month as an exercise in cropping a photo to the satisfaction of the artist. However, rather than doing anything fancy, I chose to go with the landscape format because I wanted the maximum amount of mist in the frame. Photo by Don Ketchek.

Into the Mist - (again)

2010-02-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

This is my second attempt at this picture. John has taken the original one to work and has it sitting on his credenza. He's thrilled with it. This time I painted it 16" x 20" and made it a little bit mistier that the first one. It's from a photo taken by someone with the Username Katfre in the reference image library on Wet Canvas.

2010-01-29T09:16:00.000-08:00

This is the latest thing I have been working on. It's really small. I have never done anything this size before (about 5 x 7) but I wanted to give it a go. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, though there are certainly challenges.

2010-01-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

This is from a photograph I got from the reference image library on the Wet Canvas web site. I call it "Into the Mist" and I think it's my favorite painting to date. It was a challenge trying to figure out how to give the appearance of mist, but I think it came out reasonably well. I like this one so much that I think I'll do it in a larger format, this one is 11 x 14 and I think I'd like to do it 16 x 20. John loves this and wants to take it to hang in his office.

2010-01-29T08:59:00.001-08:00

I haven't been here for a while because although I've been at my easel I didn't have access to a camera due to the fact that my husband was in England visiting his mother and he took the camera with him. However, he is now back and I have been able to photograph my recent work.

There is going to be a Cupcake Fest in Chelmsford in February and the local art society members have been asked if they would like to paint pictures of cupcakes to be displayed in conjunction with the event. I thought this would be a fun thing to do - which is was - so this is my contribution. Unfortunately, I had already framed the picture when I photographed it, resulting in a shiny spot right in the middle, it's a bit difficult to see, but you get the idea.

2009-12-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is totally different from the previous picture. Instead of impressionist I wanted to go very realistic and I started on the grapes but very quickly realized that the crystal bowl they were sitting in was completely beyond my ability to paint..... so I had to find another bowl, but the only one I could find that seemed the least bit suitable was this one, which was a long distance view on a table with other things. However, I used it and then had to find a suitable surface to put the bowl and the grapes on!!! So I used this table and cloth from another picture, but had to guess at where the shadow would go! So, to sum up, this is from three different photographs, but I was reasonably happy with the end result.

2009-12-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

I recently bought DVD by an artist that I admire and after watching it several times I decided to try his technique which is more impressionistic than I normally do. This is the result....... it looks similar to the painting that he demonstrated but I actually got the reference image from the Wet Canvas web site and made a few adjustments to make it more pleasing to my eye. I was happy with the result and plan to frame it and give it as a gift this Christmas.

2009-12-17T14:19:00.001-08:00

Well, neither of my two pictures that I did for the library show got selected for the floral arrangements but...................I sold one!!!!!! I just heard today that someone bought the picture of the birdhouse which I called "No one Home" I'm absolutely thrilled, this is so totally unexpected, it's the first time I have sold anything. It has really encouraged me to keep entering into shows.

2009-12-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

This is something really different for me. I was sitting watching TV and I picked up a pencil and decided to draw these Christmas ornaments. It prompted me to go out a buy a set of sketching pencils in various hardness levels, so I might be trying more of this type of thing. We'll see!!

2009-12-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this during the past week. My husband was keen for me to do it even though it's not my usual choice of subjects, and I did enjoy the process although it wasn't without it's challenges. I took the photo on a day trip to Maine in September. I think I'm going to frame this one and put it in our bathroom.

2009-11-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

These are two pictures I've been working on lately to be hung in a show at our local library. Some of the pictures in the show will be chosen to be part of a floral arrangement design so that was the reason for these two subjects. I thought they would fit in with flowers, we'll see whether the floral arrangers think so! However, even if they don't get selected, I enjoyed the process of painting them - it was a change to do something different from landscapes and trees.

2009-11-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

I have just finished this picture which is from a photograph I took of a maple tree at the bottom of our yard. It was fun to do and such a change from painting green trees all the time. I call this one Autumn Glory.

I had a disappointment recently when I entered two pictures into a juried art show in Concord, but sadly neither of them was considered worthy of a place in the show. I was crushed - but when I saw the other paintings that hadn't been selected I didn't feel so bad - there were some beautiful pieces of work that were not deemed suitable either.

2009-10-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday this week I got together with a friend I met on line at Wet Canvas.com and we had planned to paint together at a local Wildlife Refuge. However, when we got there it was so cold that we decided instead to go to her home which was nearby, and paint in her studio. She has a great set-up and an enviable collection of pastels, I thought I had a lot, but now I feel deprived!! She gave me some photos to choose from and this is the one I selected. It was quite a change for me and not without it's difficulties, but I was quite pleased with the end result.

2009-10-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

Now that our visitors have departed I got back to my studio today and worked on this picture from a photograph I took while we were in Maine for Columbus Day weekend. I'm not sure exactly where it is but I really enjoyed painting this. For so long everything has been green, green and more green! I have been longing for the Fall colors to start appearing and this is the first one I have done.

I was supposed to start a Portrait in Pastel class but sadly there weren't enough people signed up and the class had to be cancelled. I was really disappointed. Although portraits are not my strong suit I was looking forward to learning more and had even bought special pastel sticks for the class. I had planned on doing a portrait of my little granddaughter Sarah, but it was not to be. I'm hoping that the class will be offered again sometime.

2009-10-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of a painting I did for some dear friends who invited us to stay with them in a family cottage on Cape Cod. It also happened to coincide with their upcoming 40th Wedding Anniversary, so I painted this for them to remind them of their favorite spot on the Cape and somewhere we have all walked often. They were both thrilled with the picture which pleased me.

The photo is not particularly good because the picture was already framed when I took it, and that always presents problems when trying to take a photograph.

2009-09-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

This morning I went to a Pastel Portrait demonstration put on by the Concord Art Association. I loved it and came away enthused to give portraits another go. I am also signed up to do a 6 week class in Portraits in pastel and I'm looking forward to that.

2009-09-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a great deal of spare time lately to spend on my art, but I did manage to go out with a fellow artist last week and spend some time at the Old North Bridge in Concord where we spent three hours painting. I have always been nervous to paint outdoors because I was concerned about people watching me. Well, I'm over that! If you don't want people to watch, it's not a good idea to paint at a National Historic Site - there were busloads of people coming through, and often when I turned around there would be two or three people over my shoulder! I've never had my photo taken so often by so many people that I don't know!!

I'm still working on the picture I did and eventually I will put it up here, but I don't expect to get much done in the next three weeks because my sister and her husband will be visiting us from England and I want to spend time with them.

2009-09-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is a field of Purple Loosestrife near where we live. I know it's an invasive menace but it's just so pretty that I was looking forward to it being in bloom so that I could do a painting of it. this is from a photograph taken from the side of the road. I call it Purple Haze.

UPDATE: On reflection and after taking some instruction I changed this picture and the new version if shown here on the left.

2009-08-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

This is from a photograph I took when we went to Springfield, Ma for the weekend so that John could attend a conference. While he was busy I got together with some of the other wives and we went to Sturbridge Village, a replica of a Pioneer Village. It was very interesting and I have to say I was impressed with the way they tried to recreate the way life was at the time. It was a hot day though and I have to believe that the "Pioneer's" were extremely hot in their heavy wool garments.

I have been working on this picture for about a week on and off. It's done in a variety of pastels, on a new surface that I have been wanting to try called Pastelmat.

2009-08-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of pictures that I have done recently.

The one on the left is of a meadow that we passed while out driving a couple of weekends ago and I loved all the long grasses that lead up to the field and trees beyond. I call it Bobolink Meadow because it is just the sort of field that Bobolinks love - though sadly there were none there that day.

The picture on the right is of some of the outbuildings of Shaw Farm which is a local Ice Cream Stand that we were actually driving to when we passed the Bobolink Meadow. They have the most wonderful ice cream. I did take a little artistic licence in that I changed the height of the trees a little to make it a more interesting composition.

2009-07-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

All my frames that I recently ordered have arrived and they seem to be pretty good. I also ordered backing boards as well, so I'm all set for a while.

On Saturday last week we went down to Boston to a gallery on Newbury Street, to see an exhibit of pastel paintings done by my art instructor in Maine. Then we went to Blick's art store and picked up some framing necessities. After we left there we went for Ice Cream!!

I have done a couple of new pictures since my last entry, but I forgot to photograph them before they were framed. It's difficult to get a decent photo once they are framed because of the reflections of the flash and other things in the vicinity. One of them I may try and take out, because I also forgot to sign it.

This week I picked up my three paintings that were in the art show in town and have been hanging in the library for the month of July. I'm running out of wall space here. I'm going to have to be more selective.

2009-07-21T11:48:00.001-07:00

This is a painting I've spent the last few days on. When I first started on it, I was convinced that I wasn't going to be able to do it, but as I got more and more into the work it all started to come together and I'm quite pleased with the result. I think I may enter this one in a juried art show later this year.

2009-07-19T05:10:00.000-07:00

This is from a photo I took of a typical doorway in New Mexico. It looks out onto the "most photographed church in the State". It is typical of the look of the entrances to houses in New Mexico - adobe walls and colorful doors. When I took the photo there was a man there with a far more sophisticated camera taking pictures from all angles - including laying on the ground. In fact, his foot was actually in the bottom right of my photo and I had to edit it out when I was painting. I think this is actually a door into a small addition, or maybe a courtyard, as it was attached to a larger building on the left.

2009-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

I just sent off an order for some frames this morning. Framing is a big concern because it can be very expensive and as yet I am not selling my art, but in order to exhibit in shows I really need to have the pictures decently framed. Presentation is really important for sales. I have found some frames on-line that seem reasonable so I'm anxious to see them.

This picture is another beach scene, the same as the first one posted some time ago, but I did this one on better paper and I think it came out better.

2009-07-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

I just took delivery yesterday of some new pastels that I ordered. They came really quick, I ordered the on the 12th July and they arrived on the 15th. These are Mount Visions and I love them. Of course getting 50 new pastels then meant that I had to spend an hour rearranging my pastel box which John made for me a couple of weeks ago. As you can see the box allows me to have all my colors set out according to value (by value I mean light to dark...not cost) and color regardless of brand, so that I can see at a glance what I have. It's much more convenient than having them all in different boxes.

I have started another picture. I'm going back to trying my hand at flowers again and so far it's coming along quite nicely. I'm enjoying it.

2009-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

When we went to the 4th July festivities on the town common, we walked past a small pond behind the bank and there in the reeds was this bird's nest. I took the photo and thought I would like to have a go at doing a painting of it. Wasn't sure I could pull it off, but it was fun to do.

Everybody who exhibited at the Art Show is eligible to have their paintings hung in our town library for the month of July and this evening I am taking them down there. We are having some strong thunderstorms today but hopefully they will have stopped by the time I get there.

2009-07-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Went to pick up my award on the eve of 4th July. Very exciting! Interestingly, in both the Professional and Non-Professional "Art under Glass" classes at the Art Show, both the first prizes went to pastel paintings, even though there was some stiff competition from very good watercolors. Pastels are often regarded as the poor relation in terms of acceptance, so this was an encouraging sign.

Yesterday we went to a 4th July party at a house on a lake and I took a lot of photographs hoping that I will have captured something that will make a good subject for a painting.

2009-06-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

Great News! I have just been informed that I won a First Prize for my Rocky Canyon picture that I entered in the Chelmsford 4th July art festival. I'm so pleased.

2009-06-25T09:44:00.001-07:00

This is the beach scene I did yesterday. I enjoyed using the Pan Pastels but I should have used a paper with more tooth because It was difficult to add more highlights to the clouds in the end. I think I'll do this one again on a better paper.

Today I have to take my paintings down to the Town Hall in readiness for the 4th July Art Show. I am putting in three this year, so we'll see what happens. Last year I was fortunate to get a second place ribbon. They don't have a category for Pastels so my work has to go in the Art under Glass Category, which means that I am competing against water colorists.

2009-06-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

Today I have been giving myself an exercise in using my Pan Pastels which I have only used once since I bought them and I wasn't too thrilled with them at that time. But they were very much in evidence in New Mexico at the Convention and recently there has been a lot of discussion about them, so I decided it was time to have another attempt. I'm doing a beach scene, mainly because I was keen to try my hand at some distinctive cloud formations in the photograph. So far I'm enjoying myself with them and will probably finish tomorrow and post the end result here then.

2009-06-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

This bridge is over a river near the town of Pontsticill in Wales. It's one of the photographs presented on Wet Canvas for the June Landscape challenge. This was fun, I enjoyed doing this a lot, I always like the challenge of painting water, I find trees to be more difficult to paint.

2009-06-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

I've finished my coastal painting but because I drenched it in fixative it has buckled slightly in the middle. Not sure why, because the surface I used will take being scrubbed with water usually. However, this time it has suffered a little so it is presently laying flat with two heavy books and a potted plant on top of it in the hope that the buckling will straighten out. I'm going to leave it like that for a week or so and then take a look to see if anything has changed.

In the meantime I have started another painting of a bridge over a river in Wales which so far is going well and I'm enjoying it a lot. It's probably going to take me several days to finish this one.

2009-06-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last two or three days working on a picture of the National Seashore on Cape Cod, but I'm struggling with it and not happy with the progress. Every time I look at it I see things that need to be changed. I'll go back to it again tomorrow and have another go.

2009-06-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well I did a few finishing touches to my picture of the Merrimac River picture and it's now in it's frame and hanging on the wall. In real life, the sky is not quite as pink as it appears in this photograph, but sometimes the camera does lie.

2009-06-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

It rained all day today and my car was in the shop for repairs so I was confined to the house, which gave me the perfect excuse to spend pretty much all day in my studio. I tweaked my Winter in the Park picture a bit, by lowering the height of the snow on the far bank so that it wasn't in line with the top of the bridge. It looks better now.

On Sunday we went on a harbor boat ride from Newburyport and I took several pictures while we were out, so today I have been working on a painting from one of those phtographs. It's just about finished now, so I'll be posting it tomorrow.

2009-06-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this for two days, and as my husband went fishing today I had time to head to my studio and put in the finishing touches. This is a park in Plymouth, Massachusetts that we visited in February. The sun was shining but there was still a lot of snow around.

I wanted to do this one because while I was at the Convention I took a class on Winter Landscapes and was anxious to try out some of the things I learned there. Making the water look like ice was probably the most challenging thing in this piece

2009-06-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Frustrating day today. I spent all morning looking through photographs searching for a suitable subject to paint. Finally decided on one and couldn't wait to get to my new pastels and paper. But, nothing went right and after an hour at my easel with half the painting done, I hated it and took it into the bathroom and washed it all off!! This particular paper is washable but it did leave an outline of my work which I should be able to cover up with my next effort. I don't know what was wrong, I just couldn't seem to find my stride.

2009-06-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

Just got back from the IAPS Convention (International Association of Pastel Societies) in Albuquerque, New Mexico - what a great time. Met several people that I previously only knew from being on-line on Wet Canvas. We had a get-together in one of the member's rooms which was really good. They are all very nice and friendly. I took in a couple of demonstrations by well-known pastel artists and picked up a lot of useful information, now I just have to put it into practice!

I also bought so much stuff at the Trade Show that we had to buy another suitcase to carry everything home. My pastel collection is growing by leaps and bounds! I have spent all morning organizing my supplies in my studio. I took loads of photos of New Mexico so I'm hoping that I have captured one or two pictures that will be worthy of painting.

2009-05-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

This is my latest picture which I have been working on for several days now. I found the foreground sand very difficult. It's from a photo taken on Hatteras in the early evening. (For British readers, Hatteras is a barrier island on the outer banks of North Carolina). I didn't take the photo myself, it's one of the ones presented on Wet Canvas as part of the May Challenge.

2009-05-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

I started a new picture today. It's a Cape Hatteras beach scene taken in the early evening with the sun just starting to decline. Not sure how I'm going to get on with the sand and the shadows created by the late-day sun, but I'll give it a go! It's one of the photos selected for the May Pastel Strokes on Wet Canvas. Two people have already done this one, I only hope I can do it half as well.

2009-05-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

This is my latest painting. I took the photo during a visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. This particular cemetery is a long time favorite with bird watchers and 90% of the people seen have binoculars slung around their necks or cameras with 2 foot long lens attachments. It's beautiful there with lakes and blossom trees everywhere and lots of walking paths. An oasis in the middle of suburbia, and a regular stopover for migrating birds at this time of year.

I took a little licence with the painting as I didn't want to include grave stones, so apart from the tree itself, everything else is pretty much from my imagination.

2009-05-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today the weather is a bit iffy and I can't get out to work in the yard, so was able to spend some time at my easel and finish this picture which has been ongoing for about a week.

I have really tried to amp-up the color this time, but of course a Fall picture is always going to have a lot of color anyway. This is from a photograph taken about 24 years ago when we first arrived in America. We lived in Buffalo, New York at the time and were excited to explore the surrounding area and took a trip out to the Finger Lakes. This scene is a beautiful place called Letchworth State Park and I have called it "Following the Falls"

2009-04-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

I painted for a couple of hours today and this time I'm trying to inject more color into my work. My last picture was critiqued as having too many mid tones, and I have to say that I agree with this assessment. It looks flat and uninteresting. I'm liking what I have done so far on the current project, we'll see how the finished article looks!

2009-04-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well I finished my bridge over the river today. I took the photograph while we were visiting family in England but I can't remember exactly where we were at the time. I'm sure I made a note of the place at the time but I seem to have mislaid the note!

This picture is actually 11" x 11" square which is a change for me, but I had a frame and mat that I wanted to use, so I did the picture to fit. Because of that it was a bit difficult to photograph and shows the mat at the top and bottom but not at the sides.

Update: I have now found the note I made, and it seems that the location of this bridge is in Bourne, Lincolnshire.

2009-04-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend I didn't get any painting done, but we did drive down to Plymouth to go to the gallery opening of the artist that I have taken a couple of weekend workshops with. It was a bit of a rush because we were already committed to driving some friends to Manchester airport which is 20 miles in the other direction. However, we managed it and were glad that we did. Her art is wonderful and I think the gallery opening was quite successful.

Today I have been working on a piece that I started last week. It's a river scene from a photo taken during a visit to England. I may get it finished tomorrow and post it here then.

2009-04-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

I competed this today. I don't like it at all, I couldn't seem to get the effect I was looking for, not sure why, though it could be because I was using a light grey Sansfix paper which is totally different from anything I have used before and I didn't care for it. Now I guess I can be accused of being a bad worker who blames her tools!!

The scene itself is from a photo taken over 25 years ago when my husband and I were first married. It's in Derbyshire, England which was a favorite hiking area for us at that time. In the actual photo I am crossing the stones with our dog Ria, and I did attempt to include us in the pastel painting but I didn't like it and went back and erased us.

2009-04-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I finished my picture of the Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico. I didn't take this photograph myself, so I have to assume that this is the driveway leading up to the house. I really struggled with this one, the shadows gave me so much trouble. I completely erased the driveway twice and restarted, but I'm still not happy with the result.

2009-04-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

I have spent most of this afternoon working on a picture taken in Taos, New Mexico of an adobe building. It's quite a way from being finished and I'm struggling with it because it has lots of shadows. However, I am persevering.

Today I have ordered some more art supplies from Dick Blick my preferred source, mostly sanded paper and a few more pastels. Sanded paper is wonderful to work on, it takes so many layers of pastel.

2009-04-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

I just finished this one this morning. It's one of the selected pictures for the April Landscape Challenge on Wet Canvas. I was attracted to it because of the colors and I love doing water and reflections. It's the River Wenatchee in Washington State.

It's a beautiful day outside, so I think I'll put my painting aside for today and get out in the yard and potter about in the dirt.

2009-03-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

I finished this picture today which I worked on for two days. It was challenging for me because it is done in Pan Pastels which are a different type of pastel. They consist of pastel which is in a cake form and contained in small round containers which lock together for storage. They are used with special tools, reminiscent of make up sponges, but more durable. It is fun to work with Pan's but a very different technique and the resulting picture tends to have a softer appearance. (this may not be true for experts, but it's certainly true for me!)

The photo reference was taken at Cadover Bridge, which is a spot in on the edge of Dartmoor in England which we went to as a family when I was a child. This particular snapshot was taken with the bridge itself behind me and I took it on a trip there with my sister in more recent years.

2009-03-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have spent two days working on this picture. I thought it was finished after the first day but then I went back in the changed several things. I was trying to work in a more loose fashion, but the more I tweaked it, the more detailed it became. It's still probably the least detailed of all the art I have done to date.

It's a photo reference from the March Landscape challenge on Wet Canvas - several other people have done the same picture and it's always interesting to see how others interpret the same photograph.

Update: I worked on this some more after receiving some constructive suggestions from people I consider to be experts. The feeling was that the bush in the middle got in the way and stopped the eye from moving on into the picture, so I have changed it slightly, removed the bush and suggested the continuation of the stream on to a small pond at its end.

2009-03-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this picture for the past three days. It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated and I'm not altogether happy with it.

The reference photo was taken by my brother in law at a place called Dockey Wood in Hertfordshire in England during bluebell season (obviously!), and it's really true that the woods are just a carpet of blue at that time of year.

That's one of the things I miss about England, the abundance of bluebells and primroses that grow wild in the woods and hedgerows during the Spring. In this part of the United States we don't get them at all, though I have managed to keep some English primroses going through our bitterly cold winters by covering them with leaves in the Fall to protect them. But bluebells seem to be non-existent, though I have seen them in the Northwest part of the country where the climate is similar to England.

2009-03-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

I wish I could do portraits successfully. I spent about four hours yesterday trying to capture the image of my very sweet four year old granddaughter from a recent photo. I was working in charcoal which I like to do occasionally, but the end result was an image that definitely bears a passing resemblance to her, but is really more like how I imagine she will look when she's about 25 years old! Portraiture is definitely a skill I don't possess. This is my third attempt at getting an image of Sarah on paper and each one looks different!

I guess it's a case of "If at first you don't succeed....try, try and try again!"

2009-03-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been much activity on this page for a while, mainly because I was in Florida for almost 2 weeks on vacation. This picture was on my easel went I went away and I have just managed to get back to it to finish it and tweak it in a few places. I'm reasonably happy with it now, but as always it's hard to know when to stop.

The photo reference is a public park near Buffalo, New York where I used to live, but as we left that area almost 20 years ago, the photo is at least that old and the park has probably changed since then. I remember it as a very pleasant place to take a walk and have memories of going there with my now deceased parents when they came to visit once.

2009-02-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

I haven't got any painting done this weekend, but I did find time to frame my Rushing Stream in the "amazing deal frame" that I picked up last week. I matted it with a dark green mat which I already had and must say I like the look against the gold frame.

I do have a picture on my easel at the moment, but it's going quite slowly.

2009-02-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, I didn't get picked to serve on the jury - but I did get as far as the courtroom and it was interesting to see the process of selecting the jury.

Only got a little painting done today, just the sky - because there have been tree men here most of the day taking down two trees. But after they had gone I went out to the local second-hand store looking for picture frames. Nothing took my eye, but I did go back to the local arts and crafts store and pick up a frame I had seen there on clearance. Even better....when I got to the checkout, she took an additional 50% off the already reduced price. I brought it home, sprayed it gold and now it looks awesome. I just have to produce a painting now that will do it justice.

2009-02-10T14:13:00.001-08:00

Haven't got anything on the easel at the moment, but I did spend some time today going through old photographs looking for inspiration. I think I've settled on a picture taken during a visit to a park when we lived in Buffalo. I've sketched it out in charcoal on my sketch pad and I think I'm ready to get started on it. However, tomorrow I have to report for Jury Service so most of the day will be spent at the courthouse.

This picture is one I did a few weeks ago, from a photo reference I found on Wet Canvas in the reference image library. I have no idea where it is, but I wanted to practice doing water.

2009-02-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

I've spent a lot of time at my easel over the last couple of days and my Rushing Stream picture is now finished. This was very challenging for me...running water is very difficult to capture (for me at least). I'll be looking for a somewhat easier subject for my next project. My husband has put his stamp of approval on this one and thinks I should frame it. I don't frame all of my work but I think I will do this time as I put so much blood sweat and tears into it.

2009-02-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Well, the Rocky Canyon is now framed and hanging on the wall in our hallway. I was going to frame it without a mat, but didn't like the look, so it ended up in a different frame with a mat.

I have begun another one in the February challenge on Wet Canvas. This is a stream running over rocks with lots of trees. Very difficult! So far I don't like it at all, but I'm going to persevere. Often the mid point of a painting looks terrible and then it magically all comes together. I hope that will happen with this one.

2009-02-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

I spent most of the day today in my studio working on this picture. I tried something new on this one - did a rough hard pastel sketch, just blocking in the main color areas, then washed the whole thing with alcohol. This dried very quickly and then I did my pastel painting as usual on top of the underpainting. I love this method, and plan to do it again. I think I may have to be careful about the type of paper I use though, some paper might buckle.

This was part of the February challenge that I posted about earlier. I'm interested to see if other people have chosen this particular picture to paint and how they have interpreted it. It was fun to do.

2009-02-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

Well, over the weekend I downloaded the lighthouse picture onto Wet Canvas and got a variety of opinions on it's merits. I asked for helpful criticism and got it! The general concensus was that the cloud on the left was competing with the lighthouse and that the picture would be better without it. So today I removed it, and played with the other two clouds a bit. I think they were right - it does look better. I'm not going to repost the picture though.

Now I have started another project. I'm taking part in the February Landscape challenge in the Landscape section of Wet Canvas- so I've got all month to finish. There were three reference photographs to choose from and I have chosen to do a rocky canyon picture. It'll be interesting to see how my picture compares to the same picture done by other people.