I just finished this one today.  It's a picture of Lavender fields in Provence.  It was fun to do...it's always fun working with bright colors.  The photo was not taken by me, but I loved it.  It's a pastel painting, size 16 x 20 on sanded pastel paper.

Freedom

Something different........with the approach of 4th July it seemed appropriate to paint something relative to the occasion, so I chose this one.  It Is now hanging in the Art Guild gallery here in Fairfield Glade and will stay there throughout the month of July, and maybe beyond. 11 x 14 Pastel.



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My latest work

I have not been too active on my blog of late, but I have been painting from time to time, and here are the most recent pictures I have been working on this week.  The top one I call "Standing Firm"  and the other is "Golden Fields"  Both are pastels on sanded pastel papers.  Our art society is looking for some pictures to hang in the local bank and I have been asked if I could supply a couple.....maybe these will find their way there.

Bluebirds

It's been a while since I posted anything on this blog, but I have done two or three lately, and I will get round to posting them one of these days.  This one is obviously of bluebirds on top of a nest box, but although we do have them nesting here in a box on our property, I didn't actually take this photograph.  It's 11 x 14 Pastel on La Carte card.

Autumn Sun

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

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

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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

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

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

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".

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