Portrait of My Dog and Hurricane Photos

For the longest time my family has been asking me to draw a portrait of our beloved Yorkshire Terrier, Bandit. Seeing that Bandit is the spoiled baby of the family I have oodles of photos of him but not a single photo has inspired me to draw him, I keep pondering. However, earlier this summer, I took a close up head shot of Bandit with his fur blowing in the wind and decided I would start a small 8x10" portrait and just have some fun with it. The surface I'm using is Ampersand Pastelbord.
I've included some photos I took immediately following "Tropical Storm" Irene which was thankfully downgraded from a hurricane 1 category. We lost power for 26 hours between Sunday and Monday but there are still many areas in our town and nearby towns that still don't have power and may not have it until after this weekend. The above photo is a tree that fell into a field at the end of our street. The funny part is that this big heavy tree is merely resting on the stone wall which is still completely intact.
This is the dock a little way down the street from us. As the hurricane passed, the danger became the dangerously high "moon" tide and what damage it would cause. Water is almost to the top of the dock and usually about 5 or 6 feet of supports show, the water has also covered the beach and come up into the grassy area. Incidentally, movie scenes were filmed on this dock back in May, its titled "Moonrise Kingdom" and actors include Bill Murray and Bruce Willis. I saw all the traffic and security and had no idea at the time that Bruce Willis was right down the street.

These two photos are of Sandy Point Beach on the Sakonnet River. We rarely see waves, Sandy Point is a very calm, sheltered beach so this was exciting to see. Again, due to the high tides, the sand on the beach is completely covered. I like the atmosphere, the deep grays and the strength of the waves in both of these photos. Future colored pencil piece? Maybe!

Five Colorful Koi

Today I finished my koi drawing in the midst of Hurricane Irene which was, fortunately, downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit Rhode Island. We lost power early this morning and have been without it all day. The nice part about being a colored pencil artist is that I can still work without power (as long as it is daylight!) all I need are my set of pencils and battery operated pencil sharpener.

Over the last few weeks, I fussed with the colors and patterns on this piece, toning down the bright colors in the water so they wouldn't overpower or detract from the koi fish. My favorite fish is the large white one on top although another artist who saw the work in progress liked the two at the bottom because they had more contrast. I was hoping to create some of the koi with more detail than others and all of them to have an abstract quality. I'm happy with it and ready to finish it and deliver it to the gallery this week.

I'll spend the rest of the day going through photos and notes, trying to decide on my next piece. I prefer to have the next piece in mind before I even finish the current one but preoccupations with the coming hurricane this week kept me from that. We were really worried about how hard we were going to be hit and watched the Weather Channel every day. However, it's difficult for any of the weather authorities to predict the path until it's almost here!

Koi in Colored Pencil

The current piece I'm working on is a second long vertical drawing of koi. Bristol Art Gallery sold the first rather quickly and requested another. I'm putting together the composition from koi photos I took during a trip to Napa Valley, CA a few years ago. The koi at one particular winery were so colorful and plentiful, I took about 50 photos to work from. The surface I'm working on is Ampersand 2" cradled Gessobord with Raw Siena colored Art Spectrum Colourfix Pastel Primer (surface color shows around the koi). I've worked the koi fish almost to completion and next I'm going to add the water surrounding them and then I'll re-evaluate the composition and maybe add more colors or dimension to the fish and work them into their surroundings.

Finished Drawing for the Workshop

Today I finished the background for the drawing the students are going to tackle at the November 11th one-day workshop. I used four colors trying to keep it as simple as possible. I'm not a patient person when it comes to backgrounds, I tend to get bored and start scribbling. What happens next is an uneven coat of pencil and a messy background, but this one came out fine.

Here are the workshop details if anyone local is interested in signing up: The date is Friday, November 11, 2011 from 9:30 to 4:30. It will be held at the First United Metodist Church, 120 W. Main St. Westboro, MA. The cost is $75 and the contact person to register with is Bonnie Frederico and Bonnie's email is bonniefr@charter.net.

On the topic of backgrounds .... this week I splurged and ordered the large Icarus Drawing Board developed by Ester Roi. I'm hoping it will make some of my backgrounds easier to apply! I'm looking forward to trying some new techniques with the board.

Upcoming Workshop

I have been asked to teach a one-day colored pencil workshop for a group in central Massachusetts. I am penciling the composition (above) and making a list of all the colors I have used for the students. It has also been requested that I do a line drawing of the subjects and photocopy it onto the paper for the students so they don't have to spend time drawing the layout, they can concentrate learning how to apply color and layering color. The class is going to be working on Stonehenge paper in 100% colored pencil, no solvents, etc.

Above is the drawing in progress, I've begun laying down colors and doing some layering of color while making a list of each color I use. I'm enjoying the drawing and hope that it isn't too complicated for the students but I will have plenty of instructions in case they can't finish in one day. I tend to be rather "ambitious" with the complicated subjects I choose! I'm also attempting to minimize the list of colored pencils that I use and that can a challenge in itself.

My next step is to add in the background and smooth the reflective surfaces, bottle and dish.

Upcoming Exhibits

My pastel "Tuscan Vista" has been accepted into Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 115th Annual Exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York City. The exhibit dates are October 4-28, 2011.

I have also been accepted into the Mystic Arts Center 55th Regional Juried Exhibit in Mystic, CT. The piece I entered is below, the paint tubes in colored pencil titled "Well Worn". The exhibit runs from August 5 - September 24 with the opening reception on Thursday, August 11 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. This is always an interesting and diverse exhibit to view and I would encourage anyone local who is reading my blog to try to get to Mystic to view it. Mystic has several nice galleries to visit as well as the Maritime Art Gallery at Mystic Seaport.

Retrospective Exhibition at Spring Bull Gallery

Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, the cooperative gallery I belong to, is have a retrospective exhibition opening this Saturday evening, August 6th from 5 to 7 p.m. We have invited all previous gallery members from the past 20 years to exhibit with us so it will be a creative and diverse exhibit for the gallery. I have chosen to exhibit my tulip colored pencil piece titled "Reaching Out" and this new piece I just whipped up in the past week (*laugh*). We've been on the water boating quite a bit this summer and I decided to draw a water scene. My choice is a traditional lighthouse drawing, this one is Rose Island Lighthouse right at the entrance to Newport Harbor. Once in a while its fun to just put together a local scene for the local audience and tourists that come into the gallery. Maybe this one will sell?? So I worked from a photo I had taken last summer of the lighthouse at sunset. I started the drawing by laying in the basics but then put the photo aside and had some fun choosing my own colors. I especially enjoyed the clouds; adding some bright pinks and purples. I also got creative with the wave patterns and shapes to add contrast to the soft textures of everything else. My camera bumped up the contrast in the red buoy in the front, it's not quite as bright in the drawing. Being a big fan of red, I enjoyed the drawing the buoy!

CPSA Exhibition 2011 in Dallas, TX

I just returned from Dallas and the 2011 CPSA international exhibition and conference. It was a wonderful time and I consider myself fortunate to have been able to travel the long distance to Dallas, TX to be a part of it. The exhibition is just outstanding this year with such variety of subjects and techniques. I went to the gallery to view the exhibit three times while I was in Dallas and look at each piece again and again because it is a wonderful opportunity to view so much different colored pencil work by so many artists in one place. I also really enjoyed reconnecting with the different members and meeting new faces, CPSA has such a warm and welcoming governing board and all of the members. Above, I'm pictured with my piece "Sea Foam" which was juried into the exhibit (top). The beautiful piece to my right is by Dean Rogers of Michigan.

A few of us took a side excursion to go cowboy boot shopping. We hit the store like a tornado, strewing boots all over the place while we tried on all different styles. Here we are pictured with our selections: me, Dianna Soisson, Lynda Schumacher, Debbi Friedman and Elizabeth Patterson. The bottom photo is just a shot I took of one of the displays of boots. On this trip, I think I might have been known more for my shopping habbits, cowboy boots and gold shoes from Italy than my art!

I thought I would post these two photos of the silent auction pieces. I bid on several but they were all scooped up in the last seconds by more savvy bidders so I came home with none. Better luck next time! In the center of the top photo is "Wyoming Grey" the piece that took the highest bid. My candy apples are in the center of the bottom photo. Nicole Caulfield's "Dandelions" are to the right of mine.

I strongly suggest to any colored pencil artists who are able to attend one of the yearly exhibitons/conferences to do so. It's a very worthwhile experience and the one time of year so much of the cp art and so many of the artists are in one place. The 2012 exhbition will be held in Coventry, Kentucky which is outside of the greater Cincinnati, OH area. Cincinnati chapter is hosting.

A Bowl of Oranges

My mother or my grandmother had this sweet little bowl that I found and decided I wanted to draw as a small still life. I filled it with tangerines and set it up against a white surface and background. I decided to work on orange Canson Mi Teintes paper so I could get the orange glow to show through the whole drawing and give a warm color harmony to the drawing. The finished size is 7 1/2" x 8 1/2" don't ask me how I ended up with the all the 1/2" I just started drawing and that's what happened.

I'm still working on the tulips, I keep working on different areas and setting it down for a while to look at and ponder.

Adding a Background

I've decided to add a simple landscape background to my tulip still life but leave the surface they are sitting on white because of the beautiful shadows from the vase. As I mentioned in the last post, I'm using Rtistx board and I found that in order to keep the foreground white I covered it with clear contact paper. The contact paper is taking a bit of the color off the vase and leaves but keeps my surface from picking up pencil crumbs and smudges. I will add more color to the vase once I take off the contact paper.

For now, I am on the clouds, the greens of the landscape and the horizon line. I want to keep them simple in order not to become too overpowering and compete with the delicate tulips.

Summer is always a fun time of year. Our New England season is so short so we want to enjoy the good weather, boating and time with family as long as we can. Unfortunately, its not a productive time for my artwork! After I finish the tulips, I will most likely work on a few smaller pieces that will be easier to work on in shorter periods of time. Happy summer everyone and thank you for reading my blog!

Beginning and Finishing

I have started a new piece, another drawing of tulips. I seem to be attracted to them lately. This photo I took on my deck of beautiful orange tulips in the blue glass vase. I'm going to add a background which will be a simple band of landscape and a lot of pale blue sky. And once the background is drawn, I will have to readjust color in the tulips so they will come forward. The surface is Rtistx and I am using Prismacolors, Verithins and Lyra Rembrandts.

Here is my paint tube drawing nearly completed. I have stood the drawing up in my studio so I can walk by for the next few days, look at the piece, and decide if it needs anything else. I am usually critical of my own work but I really love this piece and had so much fun portraying the crinkly old tubes of paint.

4th of July Commissioned Artwork

This is a small colored pencil drawing (7x10") in which I was commissioned to do by the Grand Marshalls of the Bristol, RI Fourth of July Committee. The drawing was a gift to the Chairwoman of the Committee for her years of dedication and hard work. I was honored to be the artist asked to do the artwork. The Fourth of July is huge in Bristol, RI. The parade is the largest and oldest parade in the country and celebrations begin on Flag Day and continue until July 4. It's always a fun time of year that most residents look forward to. For the artwork, I was asked to draw the bandstand on the town common decorated in red white and blue and filled with people.

Candy Apples in Neocolor II Crayons

Here are the candy apples finished with Neocolor crayons. To review my process: first I put a layer of color on the surface with Neocolor II crayons. Next I added water and dissolved the crayon. When it dried, I added a layer or two of colored pencil to every area of the piece. But then decided I wanted to punch it up with color so I added more Neocolor crayon on top and left it dry, not adding any water. I sharpened the crayons with a lip pencil sharpener for the more detailed areas. The result is almost like a pastel but it can't be smudged and doesn't flake off. I like the textured "painterly" look of the finished piece.

Neocolor II Playtime!

Two weeks ago in my class, we experimented with Neocolor II water soluble crayons and I liked them so much that I ordered a set of 84 crayons to try. They just arrived and I just couldn't wait to begin. I decided to create a small candy apple piece because I'm anxious to see what kind of candy apples I could do with these crayons. I am using an 8x8" 2" cradled gessobord coated with (my usual) Terra Cotta tinted Colourfix primer. In the top photo, I've lightly covered the surface with the Neocolors and begun adding water to just the background blue which becomes incredibly vibrant when water is added.
Now I've added water to all of the color and tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to make the color flow and even it out. First of all, I have to remember that the crayon color becomes incredibly vibrant when water is added. Secondly, It can be difficult to brush out evenly, see the blue on the right? No matter how hard I tried, it would just keep lifting off the surface. The bright purple, pink and red apples look a little funny but my intention for them is to be a colorful underpainting.
Now I am refining the drawing. The textured surface and the thick layer of the crayon are keeping this drawing somewhat abstract and do not allow me to achieve a very smooth surface. But its okay because I'm enjoying this process and the experiments. After adding the pencil, which is flaking off like crazy, I'm adding another layer of crayon. I'm leaving this layer dry but I like what I'm achieving, its beginning to look like pastel.

The Intricate Insides of Peppers

Earlier this week I was reading through some artist blogs and found an oil painting of an inside of a pepper by Cindy Haase that I found so fascinating and decided to have my colored pencil classes try drawing this same subject. I purchased yellow, orange and green peppers in intricate shapes, cut them in half and let each person choose one (with the exception of one student who wanted to draw a whole pepper and another who chose to draw stones). The morning class drawings are in the top photo. We used UArt 800 grit sanded pastel paper which is a finely sanded surface and a light beige background.

The evening class worked on the Aubergine Colourfix paper because the additional UArt paper I ordered for this class arrived in a coarser grit which we couldn't use for colored pencil. Both surfaces worked well with the peppers in terms of background and contrast. I'm thinking about working on a whole composition of pepper halves.