Finally Finished!

Here it is .... my completed piece of the shells. Of all my work, I would say this one was the most challenging. I began it sometime around the beginning of July so its taken me, roughly, 6 weeks to complete ... although it is summer and I had many interruptions and a few boating trips in between. The drawing was so complex, I kept losing my place and found I could only work about 2 hours per day before my eyes started crossing and I gave up frustrated. So it was finished sometime last week and sitting in my studio where I could look at it and let my studio mates comment on it. I scraped off pencil and added more. I splashed on solvent and blended certain areas. In the end, I am very happy with this piece. I like the composition and have decided it looks more dramatic hanging vertical as opposed to the horizontal format. Now onto something less complicated for a while!

6x24" Shells ... Coming along slowly!

I finished laying down all the color on the surface. The Colourfix primer is fairly grainy and not taking the pencil as smoothly as I had hoped. My next step is brushing solvent over the areas, one color at a time so they don't run into each other. Then I go over them with pencil(s) to add more color and fill in the textured surface showing through. I'm working right to left, I'm not sure you can see my progress in this image. My final step will be to pull out a few shells for my focal point and let the rest of the hodge podge sink into the background!

Mystic Arts Center 53rd Annual Regional Exhibit

My piece titled "The Wave" has been accepted into the Mystic Arts Center 53rd Annual Regional Exhibit; an all media juried show, now through September 26.

Stonington Vineyards, CT Exhibit

I've been invited to exhibit some of my work, with 5 of my artist friends, at the Stonington Vineyards in North Stonington, CT. I have 7 of my colored pencil pieces on display in the wine tasting room. The exhibit runs through September 30 and we will be having a Meet the Artists reception and wine tasting on Saturday, September 12 from 5-7 p.m. Everyone is invited so please join us! Or just come view the artwork of all 6 of us. It looks beautiful!

6x24" Shells

Continuing on with my shell piece has been slow. Summer is always filled with other things to do and I've been away from my colored pencils for too long. This afternoon I was able to sit down for a few hours and work more on this piece. I feel that it is more like a puzzle than art. I keep moving around and changing colors as I go. I'm working more on the brown colors in the shells and seaweed now. There is so much color when I look at what is just ordinary debris on the beach. Its fun picking out the purples, blues, greens, browns and even some pinks.