Skipping along the stones

While I'm working on this piece, I actually feel like I'm moving along the beach and through the stones with my pencils. I start working on one rock and before I know it, I've moved to another and another and pretty soon I'm across the paper. So I'm back and forth adding detail and texture to each different rock. I've pulled out my Derwent Graphitint pencils and am using them along with the regular colored pencil. The Graphitints have a softness when applied and a subtlety to the colors which makes them perfect for rocks. I'm also using the colorless blender or very light gray, cream or white pencils to burnish the smooth rocks. The colorless blender intensifies the colors so it I want them to show reflection or light on the top, I burnish with the lighter colors.

Autumn Apples

Here is a quick, colorful still life I drew in pastels for Spring Bull Gallery's October exhibit titled "Step into Fall". Sometimes I feel like I have two completely different sides, one that likes to take lots of time with intricate colored pencil pieces and the other that likes to complete quick and loose pastel drawings. Hmmm.

Continuing on Rocks & Foam

I'm working on this piece a little at a time and really enjoying rendering the stones. I'm making them a little more colorful than they are in my photo, I do have some rocks in my studio to look at also. The colors I'm using consist of many grays and browns with touches of other colors; blues, purples, red/orange, yellows. The more I look, the more color I see so I have to back off a little from making them all to colorful and not realistic. My goal is soft and subtle rocks, foam and sand with subtle colors added. While I enjoy working on the sanded grounds in which the pencil can be applied quicker, I have to say my favorite surface is rag illustration board because its durable and takes the pencil softly. Once in a while I don't mind taking forever on a drawing because I enjoy the process and the outcome.

Nantucket Lighthouse

This is a small colored pencil piece I did of Brant Point Lighthouse in Nantucket. Its 7x9" on Rtistx board. I used solvent to dissolve & smooth the pencil for the water and the sky so the texture of the board didn't show through. I used Prismacolor Verithin pencils to add details, they are perfect for this kind of drawing and adding fine lines or details. Thank goodness Nantucket is still standing this morning after Hurricane Earl came through last night. To our relief, it ended up not being much of a big storm at all.

Rocks & Foam

On a recent trip to Block Island, my husband and I hiked down Mohegan Bluffs to the beach below. The beach is absolutely beautiful because of all the colorful rocks that have been tumbled in the ocean waves to a smooth finish. Since it was a little difficult to take the rocks and climb back up the hill, I took several photos and was inspired to start a drawing from my photos. I'm working from the top photo. I am drawn to the foam from the waves encroaching the rocks on the shore. I am weaving the white of the foam among the stones and also embellishing the colors of the stones. Its another intricate piece, why am I so drawn to such intricate subject matter?!

Samantha is going to New York City

I just found out that "Samantha" has been accepted into Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club's 114th Annual Exhibition at the National Arts Club in October. I'm very excited because this is the largest colored pencil portrait I've attempted. This is my third acceptance to CLWAC so I'm requesting full membership to the organization.

Progress on the tulips

I've added the reflections on the table but they're not completely finished. I also haven't finished the reflections in the glass vases themselves because I'm working on the background. Thus far, the background consists of Prismacolor Seashell, Beige Siena and Terra Cotta. On top I've started layering Artichoke which is a harder pigmented pencil so its working nicely to burnish the colors beneath it. In the margin on the bottom I've made marks for color suggestions. My goal is a warm brown neutral background with tones of color as to create a classic (?) still life and this drawing still needs work overall to tie everything together but its moving along!

Climbing the tower of St George's Cathedral

Today I climbed the tower of St George's Cathedral. St George's is a private (boarding) school located in Newport, RI and the cathedral was built in 1928. Fellow Spring Bull artist Richard Grosvenor, who taught art and was the head of the art department at St Georges, offered to give us a tour of the tower. Dick nimbly climbed the ladder (like he was still a teenager!) and opened the trap door at the top for us. Yes, I gathered enough courage to ascend the narrow staircase and ladder to see the view.

I found the gargoyles very inspiring. I might like to draw some of them sometime!

Fellow artists and tower climbers: Mike Chambers and Dick Grosvenor.

The view of the reservoir and Newport Bridge from the top.

I forgot this fellow's name. He sits in the stairway where we began our climb at ground level. Lucky for us, the heat and humidity had subsided a bit. While it was still warm, at least it was dry and breezy out.

I am working on my tulip drawing and will post it tomorrow.

Japanese Woodblock Workshop

Judy and I have begun coordinating and hosting workshops in our studio. This past week we were lucky to have artist Daniel Heyman instruct us in the traditional art of Japanese woodblock printing. Daniel teaches at RISD, Swarthmore College and Princeton University and this year received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship Award. He has done some amazing projects and artwork in which we were awed by. You can find more information on his website www.danielheyman.com. In this photo, Daniel is demonstrating inking and printing.

I spent the entire week cutting woodblocks and printing. My piece consists of 4 colors so I cut 4-12"x16" woodblocks in which I started printing in class. Let me tell you I carved wood day and night, even burning the midnight oil at home. I still don't have a print of all 4 colors so I can put my woodcut on the blog just yet.

We all surprised Daniel today by wearing headbands. Joan even dressed in her kimono!
Even Bandit put on a Japanese bandana (although it didn't quite fit on his head).
Daniel is showing us his work and explaining his projects and art installations that are very much about the lives and emotions of different people that include Iraqi prisoners or individuals living in homeless shelters.

Tulip blossoms are added

This weekend and over the next week, I am enjoying some free time in which I've been devoting completely to art. My husband is in Scotland and even though my son is here, the house is quiet, and I can live and breathe colored pencil. I just don't have to think about much else for the next week, which is really nice and sometimes I just need to immerse myself in art. When life gets in the way and I am not able to draw or paint, I start to get very irritable! I imagine that most artists might also feel this way because we have the need to nourish our creative spirits.

Today I've been working on the tulip flowers in this piece and have completed them. I started drawing in the reflections in the glass tabletop below the vases. I am happy with the delicate feel of the flowers and glass and am not sure what I'm going to do with the background. If I'm not careful, it could overpower or detract from the subjects so I have to give it some thought as I continue.

Glass and Tulips

I've started this new still life with various glass vases and bottles we have at the studio and some leafy green tulips. I spent about a week just setting up the glass and tulips and taking lots of pictures until I found a composition and lighting that I liked. I can work the glass from life but the tulips have since died so I have to rely on my photos. I'm working on white Strathmore 100% rag illustration board which I love. The surface is smooth but slightly textured and the board is durable.

I'm also starting with as limited of a palette of Prismacolors to make it easier for myself. The greens in the leaves are: 1004 Charatreuse, LF189 Cinnabar Yellow, 1005 Limepeel, 912 Apple Green, LF109 Prussian Green and 988 Marine Green. The grays in the glass are: 1086 Sky Blue Lt, Cool Grays 20%, 30% and 50%. The blue/green bottle has the following colors added: 992 Lt. Aqua, 1006 Parrot Green, LF110 Green Hue, 905 Aquamarine, 907 Peacock Green. Thus far, my tulip flowers are: LF915 Lemon Yellow, LF127 Lt Peach, 929 Pink, 921 Vermillion, LF122 Permanent Red, LF126 Carmine Red and Coloursoft C130 Deep Red.

Artist's Magazine 27th Annual Art Competition

My piece "Patti's New Bowl" has been selected as a finalist in the Still Life/Floral category of The Artist's Magazine 27th Annual Art Competition. Just my name will be featured in the December 2010 issue of the magazine so here is the piece. I'm really excited to have been chosen!

Japanese Koi

I took photos of colorful koi when I was in Napa Valley a few years ago. One of the wineries had a beautiful koi pond that really inspired me. And Providence Art Club is having a members' exhibit in which the theme of the artwork is vertically or horizontally much longer than the width. So I chose the koi as my subject. I worked on the cradled gessoboard and this piece is 6x24". I did change the color of the original water, it was more yellow green and I prefer the aqua blues and greens to compliment the fish. I like it so much because its more abstract than most of my work. Sometimes I like to move away from always being so photorealistic. So this piece is hanging at the Providence Art Club until August 31st.

Samantha completed

After 2 months of working on this portrait, she is finished. I can't tell you how many hours I have put into this because its been a learning experience for me and I really enjoyed it. I would stand the piece in my house so that I could walk by, look at it and think of what I needed to change. The most difficult part was capturing the dark values in her face while keeping the subtle flesh tones. I used a lot of black in her hair and dark values of Tuscan Red, Indigo, Sienna Brown and LF105 Cobalt Turquoise on the left side of her face to create the dark values of her face turned away from the light. The other challenge I found was the flower was competing with her face and I wanted her face to be the focal point. After putting all the colors and values in the flower, I had to readjust her face. It was amazing how pale the values in her skin became. Now I'm excited about working on portraits and I'm looking for another great subject to practice on!

Learning as I go

She's got a glow to her because the afternoon sun was coming in the window when I took the picture. Its not the best photo for now, but I think you can see the gist. Notice its taken me a month to get to this point. Its been slow going with my busy life and small commission piece I have been working on. I want Samantha to be the focal point and I think her face is competing with the flower as the focal point so I still have to work on that by changing color and value. The hair was such a challenge because it was dark in all areas. I found myself doing something I seldom do: using black to get the rich darks! I have learned that if you layer black over other colors or other colors over black, you can get rich darks. I apply the layers with a light even pressure and build up slowly. I'm not racing through this drawing, I don't care how many hours I spend on it. I am striving for quality and a beautiful depiction of Samantha.