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.

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.

Marbles

This week, the assignment I gave my evening class was to pick a few marbles and draw them on Parma (colored) Canson Mi Tientes paper. We also set the marbles on a square of the same colored fabric so they were able to draw exactly what they saw. At first glance, they all thought it would be a difficult assignment. However, as they got working, they began to enjoy laying on the colors and reflections just as they appeared on the glass without worrying too much about values and creating a rounded form with value. I drew along with the class so here is my drawing so far.

Shells and more shells

I've started a new piece (which is a little distorted in this photo!). I'm working on 6x24" cradled gessoboard to which I've applied a layer of Raw Sienna colored Colourfix Primer. On the top is the reference photo that I am working from. I started by laying in my whites and lightest blues on the shells, you can't really see my line drawing in white. I've also placed my darkest darks as a reference point to work from. There are so many elements in this piece that easily gets confusing. I like the composition and the long rectangular format. Today I was working outside on my deck in 85º weather because the sun felt so good. While working in the sun, I learned something interesting, the colored pencil starts to melt and adheres to the surface really smoothly. Its almost like working with the solvent but the pencil doesn't mush as much as when using solvent. I'm going to experiment more with this, as long as I can stand the heat!