Tuscany Farmhouse

I've completed one of the pastels I started in Tuscany. The bottom photo shows my view and my watercolor underpainting. I use Wallis paper mounted on museum board so it doesn't warp when I apply the washes. When that dries, I apply the pastel. This is a simple farmhouse in the country, the field in front is growing grapes for a local winery. I was enticed by the rows leading up and down the hill as well as the tall cypress trees. I also love the warm stone colors of the buildings and tile roofs. They lend themselves to such bright color. One finished .... four more to go!

American Artists Professional League Exhibit

"Judy's Glass #2" will be shown at

American Artists Professional League

81st Grand National Exhibition

November 3rd - 13th

Salmagundi Club

NYC

Happy Halloween!

Last week I picked up some really beautifully colored fall leaves and they became the subject matter for my classes. This illustration is done in watercolor pencil with some colored pencil on top. The yellow spots are where the watercolor ran when I wet it with a spray bottle (I was experimenting). They are not that noticeable on the original, for some reason my scanner really accentuates yellow. Surface we used was Crescent illustration board which I would not recommend when using a lot of water and many layers on pencil on the wet, the top layer starts to peel off.

Happy Halloween! Happy Fall!

Pink Shells Progressing

Putting the pastels aside this week in order to finish this piece and hang it at Spring Bull Gallery. I'm working the colored pencil with solvent and applying it almost like paint. I put down an initial layer of colored pencil, then brush solvent onto the area. I work small areas at a time because the solvent dries quickly. While it is still wet, I work more pencil into the area, sometimes using 2 or 3 colors simultaneously. The solvent strengthens the intensity of the pigment. My next step will be to knock down the intensity of the indigo blue shadows and also the dark red leaf in the bottom third of picture.

I ran off to Italy

I just returned from spending 10 days in Italy; 3 days in Florence and a week at a villa just outside of Siena. The Florence art and architecture is amazing. Michelangelo will never cease to amaze me with his painting and sculpture. "David" is incredible, the sculpture takes your breath away, every muscle, every angle is perfect.

While in the country, I did 5 plein aire pastel pieces which I am trying to finish up in my studio. I have discovered that trying to work from the photos I took is really difficult. Not only are the values flattened, but the photos seem to be condensed vertically. Its going to take some creativity on my part to keep my pastel work lifelike. Here is one small drawing I worked on while visiting a small town called Bagno Vignoni. Its on terra cotta colored Sennelier LaCarte paper.

Shells on Pink in Progress

I'm working all around the piece, I've decided to put the colored shells in first and then add the background pieces that are in shadow or in shades of grays. The color is more fun to work with. I like the subtle softness of the shells in the first layer of pencil before I add the solvent and deepen the color. I plan to try a similar drawing of shells on another surface in which I won't use solvent, just pencil and let it be very subtle. I've started working with the solvent and colored pencil in the upper right and you can see how bold the colors become.

Drawing shoes

Last week for my morning class, I had them draw shoes for their assignment. I brought in all my shoes and let them pick one or more to draw. The surface we worked on is mylar. It doesn't take a lot of layers but can be worked on back and front. It was a great drawing exercise as well as for applying color. They all did a wonderful job, here are samples of a few that were finished and brought back today. In the top picture, the blue satin slip-on shoe was drawn by Cheryl who portrayed the sparkly beading very realistically. Rayne drew the brown lace-up shoe and gave it a beautiful design. Mary Lou worked with black and dark shades of other color to render the black patent leather and used Gold Prismacolor for the inside. The gold worked really well on the mylar. The bottom picture is of Cherry holding her lovely composition and drawing of three shoes. Didn't they do an unbelievable job?!

SO Rhode Island Magazine

I have been very fortunate because a writer from SO RI magazine, Marylou Butler, came into Spring Bull Gallery in Newport with a friend and saw my work. Marylou contacted me and asked if she could feature me as the artist of the month in the October issue. I was delighted to oblige! The magazine is about people and places in southern RI, or South County and has lots of good info from cover to cover.

Pinks Pinks and More Pinks

Summer, walking on the beach and going boating has gotten me in the spirit to keep working on shells, especially since I have been observing the subject matter so closely. Its on my mind and it makes me happy! I'm using the Ampersand cradled gessoboard and to get the surface color, I have white Colourfix primer tinted with Art Spectrum Liquid Spectrum inks, a few drops of red and a few drops of blue make this bluish-pink colored surface. I chose the Liquid Spectrum because the colors are concentrated and can be added to the Colourfix without watering it down or changing the consistency.

After laying down my drawing, I started by blocking in the darkest areas and the white areas. You can see my reference photos too. In the bottom photo (which is just part of the drawing) I'm working on just the colorful shells by adding a light layer of colored pencils. When I have the whole surface covered with pencil, then I will go back and add more along with solvent to fill in more of the surface. I love color, can you tell?

Summer's over, time to get back to work

I've been on hiatus from colored pencil since I finished the shell piece. I'm kind of just regrouping and was enjoying the summer, spending time on the beach and boating. I'm working on a watercolor piece that I will put in a future blog entry. I haven't done watercolor in so many years but I have to say that I'm enjoying it.

On Tuesday I began teaching colored pencil classes again. We worked on a small still life of grapes and slice of watermelon. Here is my little drawing on done white Stonehenge paper. Wednesday and Thursday I spent puttering around my studio cleaning up and moving things around, I feel the need to regroup, plan and organize right now before I can focus enough to get started on another piece of artwork. I haven't even decided what I want to work on next which is unusual for me, I always have the next piece in mind before I finish my current piece.