Pastel Lesson

Today I went to see my teacher and start on a new project. I am doing a pastel painting of Miss Windy, my Lakeland Terrier. This is a big challenge. The idea of starting with pink and blue and purple--oh my! There is still lots of work to do. The likeness is there, but I am struggling a bit with how we get from this sort of psychedelic doggie to a very realistic finished work. This piece is bigger than life at 16x14 and is being done on gold velour paper.

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright....

I had a lesson last week just before I left town for the weekend. We worked more on my tiger and got him ready for the fine details. I've done a little more on him since I came home, but he is not totally finished yet. He needs a little more fussing. He is approximately 15x20 and is done on Hannemuhle Velour Board.

New Project

Today I started working with a pastel teacher. I am absolutely thrilled! I was lucky enough to find someone who specializes in animals and works in a realistic style that is a good match for what I am doing and want to do better. We started working on a tiger today based on a photo that my husband took at a zoo. We accomplished a lot in 3 hours. I can't wait to go back again next month.

Seagulls are in their permanent home

I delivered my seagull painting to my cousin in Delaware today. It is now in it's frame and hanging on the wall. He is very happy.

Waht a difference a mat makes!

The seagulls are now in their mat and ready to travel to their new home. I think my cousin will be very pleased. I can't wait to see it in the frame.

Flying Away

The seagulls are finished. I took the piece down to my framer yesterday to have a mat and backer cut for it because I didn't have a mat board color that would work. The work itself is about 16x27. It is going to go into a 24x36 frame. This work is done on Colorfix sanded paper in pastels.

Here is a close-up of the gulls. There is color reflected from the sky and the sand in the white and grey of their bodies. According to my research, these are a variety of gull called a Laughing Gull.

The work continues

I am making some progress on the seagulls. Here is what they look like after yesterday's work. A little more later today and some time tomorrow and I should be close to finished. This one is more like a painting-a-week!

Lots of work, but little to show!

Lest you think I have been slacking off, let me assure that I am still working. This week I have worked up the drawing for my lesson next week. Today I started the seagull painting that I really need to have finished by the beginning of March. There isn't much to show, but here it is. I am working in pastel on Colorfix paper which is a sanded surface. So far I just have the sky and the sand. Becasue this is a very large piece (16x27), I used the pan pastels and a sponge applicator to lay in the sky and the sand. Now I can move on to my regular soft pastels to begin working on details. Tomorrow I can start on the grasses and next week finish up with the seagulls.