What's on my easel??

I am working on a new pastel painting. It isn't nearly finished yet, but this is how far I've gotten. The painting is about 9x12 on PastelMat paper.

Pastel Studies

I've been busy in the last week working on pastel studies. Here is the latest one. This is done on ArtSpectrum Suede Pastel Paper. It is about 11 inches square.

Today's project

I have been working on things for the retreat for weeks and weeks. Last week one of our scheduled teachers cancelled and I am going to teach the class instead. It is a design from Kaaren Poole's book Drawing Birds with Colored Pencil. I was able to find copies of the book for a reasonable price, so everyone in the class will get a book in addition to their regular supplies

Studies

I have been taking an on-line class with Daniel Edmondson, an oil painter from Colorado. The subject mater is all still life and, while he is an oil painter, I am doing the projects in pastel. The format of the class is that every lesson is a demonstration on DVD. It is accompanied by reference photos and additional supplementary information. After you watch the video demonstration, you paint the project and then send a picture of your work to Daniel. He then sends back a video critique of your work. It is a very beneficial program. Here is my latest project from the program.

More Baskets

I spent yesterday in Franklin making baskets. The round one is the largest of a set of 3 nesting muffin baskets. I will be making a few more trips and will make one of these on each trip until I have the full set. The one with the feet holds a little bean pot shaped bowl that can be used for dip or salsa or whatever you want to put in it.

Travel Teaching

I'm just back from teaching at a decorative painting retreat in Ohio. I taught 4 classes in colored pencil and took a basket making class. It was a very busy weekend. Once the retreat started, I was booked every class period. One of the classes I taught was called Your Pet in Colored Pencil. I had 3 students who each sent me photos of their dogs before the retreat started so that I could adjust the photos, select their pencils, prepare their packets and select some papers for them to choose from. For my demonstration/teaching piece, I chose to use one of their photos. This little Schnauzer had elements that each of the students needed to know about, so he was a pretty good demo choice. When I was selecting papers, I found a piece of purple card stock and that was what I used just to show them that you could be very creative in your choice of backgrounds as long as what you select supports the colors in your subject.

YUM!

Here is another little pastel painting. I bought this beautiful mango and then painted it before it became dessert. The pieces is about 5x5 on sanded paper. Mangos have a very satin textured skin, so there are no really strong highlights, but there were 2 soft highlights from the overhead light and the window.