Sea Scape Progression

As some of you may remember, one of the reasons I went to visit my sister was to paint.  Here is a pictorial progression of my seascape.  The reference photo that I used was from the Wet Canvas website.  I am having so much fun using Pan Pastels that my other pastels are crying.  Don't worry little stick buddies, I'll get back to you soon.

Phase 1- I work from back to front...



Phase 1 A - This shows me applying the pastel with a sponge


Phase 2 shows the progress


Finished painting




We had a great time painting, and while I still have some great vacation pictures, I thought I would toss in some art.  I am going to work on another seascape today, from a photo that I took at Carlsbad Beach.

It is rainy here today and while I like rainy days, it is a bit more difficult to become motivated.  We'll see how things go.

I did sign up for a second set of swimming lessons and am currently practicing kicking with my legs and not just my feet.  Whew, playing in the pool is fun, but practicing technique is hard work.  Well, you know what they say about practice.

I guess that's it for today.  I hope you enjoy the photos of my progress on this beach scene.  Tune in later for another one.  Take care and enjoy today.

I feel like I've been gone forever...

Well friends, I'm back from vacation and everything seems topsy turvey. Unpacking, getting back in the groove, taking swimming lessons, trying to get DH back on our regular schedule of eating good food and well...you know the routine.

I did have time to load some of the pictures I took while out in San Diego.  I stayed at my sister's other house, the one she uses as an art studio and the one that has a beautiful pool.  We had lots of fun and I was very brave and even swam in the deep end of the pool.  Those swimming lessons were money well spent.

Anyway, until I get everything back in order here on the home front, I'll only have time for a few pictures, but she has such a lovely home, I know you'll enjoy this virtual tour.

We start in the hallway, looking toward the foyer.  Take a glance in the living room, dining room, breakfast nook, living room and kitchen.  Later I'll take you outside for a glance at the pool, their beautiful landscaping and maybe even a night shot.

Hope you enjoy this first installment of the photo tour.

 Down the hallway...

Formal living room on the left

On to the breakfast nook...

And then into the kitchen...

Off the kitchen is the den...

I also took several other pictures of the foyer and formal dining area, but blogger with it's newfangled features, wont let me post them because of them being vertical.  Does anyone know how to get past that?

Anyway, that's a start and hopefully in the next day or two I can show you how gorgeous the outside of the house is.

In the mean time, I'll be doing laundry, shopping and generally getting back in my groove.  Yep, it'll all be about how Susan got her groove on.  So until then, let me know what everyone has been doing and remember to stay creative and artsy in your own special way.

Hello out there...

Hello to all my little friends out there in blog land.  I'm sorry that I have no new art to share today, but I have been sidetracked by the little things that happen in everyday life.  Like taking adult swim classes for those fearful of water.  I am doing really well.  There are three of us in the class. One lady had never been in a pool and is really still very scared.  The second lady is learning to swim for the first time and she has adapted quite well to the pool.  And then there's Maude....just kidding.  Yep, I am the remaining member of the class.  I never learned to swim as a child, took swimming lessons as a young adult, but never got comfortable in the water.  I am very buoyant and can always go into a back float and make my way to the edge of the pool if I get freaked out.  So when I found out that our local county rec center was offering these lessons specializing in newbies and scardy cats, I just knew this was it.  I knew this time I could give this fear to God and learn to swim. I signed up and got new swimming goggles and after two very gentle and helpful lessons (and being the bravest one in the class), last night I swam.  I actually swam.  Goggles on, face in the water blowing out air with my mouth, feet pointed and arms moving correctly, I swam.  My eyes are tearing up as I type this.  You have no idea what a gift this is. I was unafraid. Completely.  I was concentrating on kicking my legs,  face in the water, blowing out bubbles, and making sure my arms were coming out of the water.  When I needed more air I came to the surface and heard cheering.  I turned around and looked and way down at the other end were my fellow fraidy cats, going crazy, screaming "you swam, you swam".  So you know what I did? I swam back. 

I am so thankful and feel so blessed to be able to have made this much progress. I am still stunned that I did it.  Just like Tom Petty says, "the future is wide open".  It was so awesome.

Now for something else awesome, I'm going to take another trip to see my sister, Peri, in California.  She and a group of friends were going on a fall trip to view leaves and she realized that she needed to be at home during that time, so to make up for her missing her trip, I'm going out for almost a week to visit. I'll be staying at their studio.  I'll  have everything fun at my disposal. It even has an in-ground, saltwater pool and I am going to swim while I'm there. We will dabble in art, swim when we want, do some shopping and of course, eat out.

So if posts from me are few for the next several weeks, you'll know why.  I'm taking my mini laptop, so I can check in on stuff and won't be completely out of touch, but I just might take an "internet vacation" while I'm at it.  Refresh will only apply to me sitting in a lounge chair and close window may only happen if it gets chilly at night.

So be sure to think of me the first week of October and if you're going to be in the San Diego area and want to meet up, just let me know.  In any case, I'm sure everything will go swimmingly.  Groan.

Ducks on a pond...

Using a photo from the reference library at Wet Canvas, I painted these little guys.  Their website is free and has great copyright free photos to use in your art.

I find a picture I like, download it and pull it up on my computer screen to refer to as I paint.

 With the vision problems that I have, this method works quite well for me...better than a photo, because I can zoom in and out as required.

Sorry for the short post, but tonight is the premier show of Survivor and the finale of Big Brother 12. I'm a fan of several reality shows and even auditioned for Big Brother 6.  They had me so convinced that I would be picked that I got anxious and changed my mind.  I had even arranged for time off from work just in case, but when I got down to the last 200 applicants, I bailed and backed out.  Fortunately, I hadn't signed a bunch of waivers at that point.  Anyway, I'm glad that I at least tried out.

Have you or anyone you know ever auditioned or been on a television show?  I'm just wondering.

That's it for today.  When you have time, hop over to my other blog to see what else I'm doing.

My latest paintings

Well, as we have all heard, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But sometimes what I think will make a great painting just doesn't work.  I am still coming to grips with the fact that even though you can get beautiful detail with pastels, you just can't use the same technique as with pen and ink or graphite.  Even a novice painter like me has to realize that sometimes it's the medium you are using and not you.  With all that being said I present to you two versions of what I thought would be a great painting.  I was thinking of an ultra close up shot of a flower, painted showing sun and shadow and lights and darks. I think sometimes I get confused and think that a painting has to look good close up and that's not always the case. 

Any hoo, I've done a large version on watercolor paper (which in another topic altogether)

and this much smaller version on Wallis sanded paper.  Neither painting really moves me and I still need to work on the leaf in this one, but I'm posting them anyway.

Deciding on what to paint sometimes is a hindrance for me, but I'm working through that right now and I think I'm going to try a much more painterly approach on my next few pieces.  To aid in this I will be trying out my new set of Pan Pastels.  They are super soft pastels that you apply with specially made sponge applicators.  Since I'm not a painter, but a "draw-er" this will entail learning some new techniques.

So there you have it.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Hope you are being creative and loving life.  Take care and be happy.

Just a quick post...

Just a quick post to show several things I have done over the last week.  With my  hubby in DC this weekend, I tightened up several paintings and did a couple new ones.

Here is a still life with a stack of books.  I set this up with two light sources so I could have lots of shadows.  If, during the painting process something seems a bit off kilter, I like to bounce ideas off my hubby.  He knows what he likes, and he can always tell me if he thinks an area needs attention to be more visually pleasing. While not an painter, he is an artist in his own right (musician, singer, videographer and computer guy, just to name a few)  and being a carpenter always helps, because he has such a good eye for angles.  Plus, I trust his opinion.


Next we have a still life painting of a vase. As you know,  I am trying to find my way with pastels. My style falling somewhere between impressionistic and realism.  I really love the look of impressionist art, but have trouble letting go details.  But for what it's worth, here it is.

These next shots are the result of a conversation with a friend. She mentioned that the last time she saw me at our mixed media art group, I was working on the beaded vest.  She asked that I post pictures of it again.  So even though I'm doing pastel paintings these days, I thought I would throw in some of my previous pieces for folks that haven't seen them. (pay no attention to my crazy hair or my tremendously large body)  So Norma, these are especially for you.

All in all, I put in about 40 hours on this beading.  I also added bits of lace and some pewer charms to it.  Perhaps it will soon be cool enough to wear it again.

Well, that's it for today.  Hope everyone is having a good week and is staying out of the path of Hurricane Earl.  Looks like the Carolinas could be in for a soaking.   Hang in there, and even though hurricane parties are 'da bomb, please take any notices seriously and head to higher ground if so advised. 

Take care and enjoy the rest of the week.

Another Friday post...

Just two pieces of art to share, this first one is my DH done in charcoal, still in progress...

and the second one is a pastel self portrait done by looking in the mirror with strong light on one side of my face.

Both of these portraits make us look way younger then we are.  My sister says, that's probably because I see us as we were instead of as we are.

What are your thoughts on that? Is my inability to draw the extra chins from my vision problems, or am I subconsciously too vain to include them?. Even at age 57, I have very few wrinkles, so I'm ok with that part.  The mirror was about three feet away from me, so maybe I couldn't see the imperfections, or maybe they just don't show up in a "painterly" portrait.  Anyway, I wish I looked this good.

Well, that's it for this week.  Perhaps I'll have something new next week.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Say a prayer for DH and all the folks that will be attending various events in D.C. this weekend.

Take care and let us hear!

Working for the weekend...

Everybody's workin' for the weekend.  Remember that song?  Whether you punch a clock or need to get all the lessons done for home schooling, or like to make sure all the laundry is done before Friday, we all seem to work for the weekend.  There is always the chance that something really awesome will happen on Saturday or Sunday.  I don't think we ever get over that feeling.  I've heard folks say "everyday is the same for me".  How sad that must be.  No Siree, not this little red hen.  I'm always on the lookout for something fun and most certainly looking forward to starting another week.

This week I did work on a new painting.  Remember the snapshot I posted several weeks back?  Well, here is my take on that photo.

Since this was my Grandmother's home I felt authorized to take artistic license.  The siding was actually gray, but I couldn't make any of the grays that I have work, so I went with blue. The size of this art is about 16 x 20.  I have gone back and forth about the bricks in the foreground, but my sweet hubs, who is an excellent carpenter and a stickler for detail and preciseness said it looked good.  That's high praise in my book. The bricks seem to be leaning a bit, but I think that gives it a bit of charm.  The main theme of the painting originally was going to be the flowers, but I had so much fun doing the house, that I just let things happen as I painted.

I did have the painting of my sister's house and flowers framed and am sending it to her today.  I also included a little surprise for her, so there will be more about that later.

So I guess that's it for me today.  Oh, one other thing.  After shopping at our local Kroger's today, I was sitting in the parking lot getting ready to call DH on the cell phone (I don't usually drive and talk at the same time) and I suddenly felt the car lurch forward.  I checked to make sure it was it park and it lurched forward again.  I thought an earthquake was unlikely, so I quickly figured out someone had just hit my car...twice.  I waited until the little old lady (she looked a bit like that little old lady that stole the stuff on the Andy Griffith show.  You know, the one that they weighed because "little old ladies oughtn't rattle"), finally got into the space before I got out to look at the damage.  It wasn't that bad, but when I realized she was trying to sneak into the store without acknowledging the incident, I had to say something.  Fortunately for me, several folks witnessed this (with jaws dropped, I might add).   When we shouted at the little lady to come back, she had hit my car, she came back and started shrugging her shoulders and saying she didn't understand me.  She then went on about her business.  Well, that just wasn't going to do.  A really nice gal named Monica, got out of her car (on crutches) and said she saw what happened, and did I want her info.  She also took photos of the damage while I was getting the tag number, etc. and said she would e-mail them to me.

The little lady came back while we were still there and I finally made her understand that you don't just hit someone's car and shrug and walk away.  After refusing to give me any personal information, I asked her where she was from and she said Brazil.  I told her that here in the States it was against the law to refuse to exchange information when you hit someone and that I would just give her tag number to the police and let them take care of it.  Ok, maybe that was a bit much, but a person needs to take responsibility for their actions.  When I said this, she suddenly was willing to give me name and phone number and ask me not to call insurance people without talking to husband. He pay.  Oh, now she remembers some communication skills.  There was actually very little damage done to my vehicle, good thing I was driving that big old dreaded SUV.  If I had been in my Subaru she would have ruined it. She really did a number on her own bumper.  Now I need to decide...do I call her and let her off the hook or do I just let her wonder what's going to happen?

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy the weather. Smell the flowers and give someone a big hug.  And if you get hit in the parking lot, don't take a shrug for an answer.

Friday AGAIN???

Obviously I cannot believe that it's Friday again.  My studio reorganization is still a work in progress, but I did have time to watch some really good videos on Artist Network.  Just to keep my creative juices surging, I did a small watercolor from one of the demos.

That's all I've done this week as far as art goes, but I'm hoping to be back soon with my complete pastel painting of the flowers at my grandmother's house.  I might start a series of paintings of her flowers.  She and my uncle lived right on Main Street in Small Town, USA.  She was one of those folks that had the knack for growing flowers.  People would drive by the house just to see her flowers.  The house had a big wrap around porch and all summer long there was a constant stream of folks coming up on the porch and plopping down in one of the rockers for a chat.  Those days are gone now, that house is sold and instead of geraniums there are rebel flags and pink flamingos in her brick flower boxes. Ahhh, the times they are a changing.

Just wanted to offer a quick thank you for all the well wishes for DH.  His stitches are now out and he is able to get back into a routine.  He had developed a place on his back, right were the guitar strap hits and it needed to be taken care of.  More of a nuisance than anything, and he recovered nicely.

So that's it for today.  Hope everyone has a great weekend and hang in there, Fall has got to be right around the corner!

It's almost the weekend

Well, this is my first post since Blogger decided to change things, so watch out.  Things might go wonky.  This week I have been trying to keep DH quiet so he can heal from some outpatient surgery.  Nothing too serious, but he does have several stitches and since the area is on his back, I am playing Nurse Suzy.

I have also been re-organizing my art studio.  Since I'm having such fun with pastel painting, I will be putting away some of the mixed media items that I haven't used for a while.  I did decide on my next painting and have been doing some preliminary sketches preparing for that.  I have an old snapshot that I took years ago and I think it will make a pretty good painting.

You may be able to tell that something has been spilled on the photo and the house is tipping backward due to the angle I took the picture, but I think it will be fine for my purposes.

Well, that's all for me until I actually do another painting.

Take care and have a great weekend.

Flowers for the weekend

Let's start the weekend off with some flowers...


These steps lead to my sisters' home in San Diego. Whenever we're there we have lots of coffee and gaze out the windows while we decide what to do that day. Don't these colorful plants just send you?

This painting started out as a color study. Only problem is, I didn't stop soon enough and get out my good sanded paper. This was done on a piece of smooth watercolor paper. When it wouldn't accept any more pastel in an area, I dabbed on liquid matte medium with a smallish paintbrush, let it dry and then added another layer. This worked quite well. There's a name for this technique, but I can't remember it. In any event, I got the look I was going for. Now if I can just remember to start out on the good paper, I'll be headed in the right direction.

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy your weekend and remember to stop and smell the ________.

(can you identify the flowers in this picture?)

Humpty Hump Day

Yes, it's Wednesday. Hump Day. Middle of the week. What ever you want to call it, Wednesday seems to be here before you know it. Wednesdays make me think...hmmm, what have I done this week? Did I talk to my sister? Have I been to get groceries? Are all my chores done? Where can the week be going? What do I have to show for it? Do you do this? Think that every moment has to be accounted for, has to have been worth something, has to mean something? I try to get past that nagging little voice in my head (or that little character on my shoulder, like in cartoons) and enjoy life. My family, my life (with what talents I have) are gifts from God and I plan on enjoying them to the fullest. With that in mind, may I now present my latest works of art.

This first piece is done on an 8 x 10 watercolor canvas. The reference photo that I used is comprised from two Kodak Instamatic snapshots taped together.



My brother-in-law was stationed in Colorado in 1980 and took these shots and graciously gave them to me years ago. Using my imagination for the missing areas and eliminating the hood of the car, I came up with this...

Not all of my painting are "successes" by any means, but I can always pick out portions of each one that I really like. The following still life is one of those. Keeping up with a family tradition of asking "what can I draw?", I turned to my mentor (it's so nice to have an artist in the family) and one of the things suggested was a still life with fruit coming out of a cornucopia type basket. Well, I always have lots of fruit and I have a Longaberger basket, given to me by our Realtor when we became homeowners.

After several attempts I came up with a still life and photographed it and did my pastel from the photo. Right now I'm working better from photos than the actual item, but that's another story. Anyway here is the result...

Perhaps all this fabric draping was too much of an undertaking for a novice painter, but I persevered and got it to this point. As I said earlier, sometimes I don't consider the entire painting a success, but I love certain parts of it. On this one, I'm really pleased with the basket. I tend to want to draw in details and I have to remind myself that this is not a real basket of fruit, it's just the illusion of one. Looking at it, I don't really need to see each detail, to realize that it is a recognizable representation of a basket of fruit, a napkin and a candle. How romantic, imagine gathering up these items and stepping out on your deck at dusk and having a snack with that special someone. Right... then slapping mosquitoes and knocking over the tea and dropping the napkin...well, you get the picture.

Well, that's it for me today. I'll be back soon with more art, insight and laughter.

Hey there...

Just a quick post to say hello. I made a web cam video and with the aid of my hubby, I got it loaded and thought you might like to see it. It's me in my purple kitchen saying hi.
Hope you enjoy it.




That's it for today. Take care and have a good weekend.

The Process

Sorry, but I forgot to take a shot of just the sky. I love doing clouds with pastels, it is so easy and they almost form themselves. I started with a blue sky with fluffy clouds and blocked in a big tree shape and foreground in bright yellow and painted them with odorless thinner. Then I added a curvy trunk and applied thinner to it with a rigger or liner brush...



Next I added some background trees and I started adding various squiggly marks in bright colors to resemble leaves and added to the trunk a bit...

Next I refined the leaves some more, trying to achieve a bit of depth with different shades of orange and red...

Initially I had planned to make the ground appear to be blanketed with fallen leaves, hence the yellow underpainting, but this tree wasn't ready to let go yet...

No siree, this tree said, "these leaves are mine, and I'm hanging on to them".

The shadow just started to emerge on it's own, so I went with it. A bit more defining of the trunk and the foliage, the tree is finished.

So that's the art for today. I hope everyone had a good week and has lots of fun planned for the weekend. DH has friends that are playing in the Blue Ridge Blues and Barbecue Festival this Saturday. We will all be having dinner together tomorrow night and then he will meet them for the festival on Saturday. Me? I'm making sure I have some yummy healthy treats on hand for the NCIS marathon on USA network. It starts at 1:00 and I'm going to watch them all until DH comes home. I don't care how many of them I've seen, I really dig that show. A bit gory for some, but it's all special effects and make up and doesn't bother me in the least.

Do you have wonderful plans for the weekend? Hope so. Whatever you do, stay safe and happy.

Can it be Tuesday already?

I find the days seem to buzz past me in a blur. I've recovered from my little bug, with the exception of some lingering body aches, that might be actually attributed to trying watch tv while on the treadmill. Well, like Roseanne Roseannadanna would say, "it's always something".

It's nice to have a little studio space in which to be creative, and I know you are bustin' a gut to see my latest painting, so here she is.

This is copied from a demo in my pastel instruction book. Some folks don't believe in copying another artist's work, but I think that if it is from a tutorial and it gives you a materials list, it is meant to be copied. It's not like I'm going to try to pass it off as anything, or even claiming that I took the photo, but if you look in Painting with Pastels by Maggie Price, you will recognize it from the section dealing with bright underpaintings. That won't keep me from being proud of it, or framing it for my home.

Before starting my journey with pastels, I didn't know that you could collect the dust from your pastel painting and make your own neutral colored pastel. Yep, you can and that's what I did here. The colors usually result in some sort of gray depending on, obviously, the colors you used. This is what resulted from this painting.

It's a very nice greenish gray that will be great for shadow areas and such. The method I have been using is to place paper beneath my table top easel and capture the dust that way. After putting it in a container, I added water, five drops at a time and stirred with my gloved finger of my right hand. After slowly dripping water and mixing about 20 drops of water I got a good stiff consistency and proceeded to form the dust into a cylinder. Pretty cool, huh?

And last but not least, I'm really trying to get serious about my weight and health. I'm 40 pounds over my mid-range desired weight. In April my sister and I challenged each other to lose 20 pounds, and I haven't dropped an ounce. Any hoo, I decided to take before pictures to be a bit of a motivator. I decided to take the pictures myself, and I'm not showing the actual pictures, but I did think that this was pretty funny. I have a ten second timer on my camera and a two second one. You guessed it, I accidentally pressed the short timer and had to run to my spot.....resulting in this image.

It looks like I'm doing some kind of clogging, doesn't it? I always wanted to learn to clog. You know that kind were they wear taps on their shoes? Wouldn't that be fun? If you live locally and find a clogging class, let me know and we'll partner up.

Well, with this picture burned into your retinas, I'll say ta, ta and go work on a new painting. I'm working from a reference photo that is gorgeous. It's a wonderful image of a Japanese maple, that was in a fall edition of House Beautiful. You just never know where inspiration might be lurking, huh?

So that's it until later. Take care and be creative and kind.

Hello There, Ya'll

Well, it's been a fun summer so far. The hubby and I spent the past several weeks working on creating artistic birthday presents for a very, very special friend. She loves and appreciates handmade gifts , so each year we try to come up with something new we know she will like. This year, DH made her a polymer clay bear, not only as a gift, but as a reminder of how much we love her. I couldn't post it before, but she has it now and loves it.

You may remember that we did dragons for her last year, so I carried through with that theme and did a drawing with watercolor markers and gel pens. It turned out really cute, and I had it framed so all she has to do is hang it.

We had a blast working on these projects and knowing that someone really likes the gifts that you made means a lot. Happy Birthday Peg-Peg!

We went to several Independence Day events and even though we took lots of pictures, I haven't posted them yet. Everyone (meaning me) was so hot and gooey, that I don't know that I will, but as they say here in the South, "a good time was had by all".

I'm not sure whether it was from something I ate or a mean old bug, but twice this week I have felt poorly. Tuesday, I just felt yucky enough to go back to bed. Wednesday I felt good, so the Sweetest Hubby in the World took me to the mall. After leaving our keys one place and having to go back to get them and then leaving my shopping bag at the mall and having to go back again and finding it, we finally made our way home. Then, after a quick trip to the grocery store, I settled in and finished another painting. Lo and behold, this morning I woke again with what we call "the tricky gut". You probably know what this means and how it makes you feel. Now, I feel fine, so I just don't know what was causing it. Sheesh.

My sister, Peri (you may have noticed her in my comment section) helps me with my pastel work via long telephone conversations. She suggested that I paint something I know, something I see everyday, like my woods. We have lots of trees around us and I really need to practice on trees. My first step started with a quick drawing on a sketch pad. Hard to imagine a scribbled drawing like this will ever end up being recognizable.


Then I took reference photos, one in black and white, to show values and one in color to help jog my memory.



I used an 18" x 24" sheet of watercolor paper for the finished picture and after a while this is what I came up with.

Every painting I do teaches me something new. On this one I learned a very important lesson, don't forget to touch up your light area before you spray your final fixative. I'm quite happy with it though.

Another thing I have learned by reading various artist magazines is a neat way to store pastel painting until you have them framed. Check this out...

If you use wooden pants hangers, they grip your art securely and leave enough room between each piece to keep them from touching. This little tip could be applied to lots of things, like hanging up fabric and other things.

Well, that's it for today. I hope all of you are feeling well and not suffering from the heat. We hit 100 yesterday and that's reason enough to stay in and keep cool.

We'll talk soon, enjoy your weekend!

It's a different picture, really...click in

Well, kiddies, another week has passed and I was able to spend some more time in the studio. Here is what I worked on this week. When it comes to art, I was usually a pen and ink, or a pencil artist. In other words, I draw. As you know I am trying to branch out with the pastels and learn to paint. For some reason, I just naturally started out small. I suppose I got in the habit of drawing on pads that were small enough to hold in my lap while watching the television. The pastel work that I have done recently has all been done on sheets smaller than 8 x 10, so at the suggestion of my sister, who has been painting with pastel throughout her career, I went much larger. She wanted me to do a large version of the picture with the mountains and the path, so here we go.

If you could not visualize it before, you can easily see that 18" x 24" is much larger than the 6" x 6" from last post, but it shows you how versatile pastels are.

Still working somewhat large, I used my 10 x 14 sketch pad for a study in color. Since I wanted something else colorful, I went looking around the studio for something with a lot of color. Sitting atop my sewing machine stash was a plastic bag that holds my thread, so I just plopped the bag of spools next to my table top easel and began to block in the colors using the side of the pastel. After blocking in the size and shapes, I went on to add in the tops and bottoms of the spools, using circular movements. A few dark strokes were added to show depth and then some loose curved squiggles for detail and I ended up with this.



Well, that's what I've been working on. I hope everyone has had a good summer so far and are planning all kinds of fun things for our Independence Day holiday. DH and I will be attending our
local celebration. Everyone will setting aside differences, if any and celebrating as one, while listening to speakers and celebrating our freedoms. Freedoms that have been fought for so diligently over the years. If you live near by, please join us at An American Celebration here in Roanoke, Virginia.

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy your week and celebrate this weekend safely and securely.

A beautiful day...

It's a beautiful day here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. I finally got my cable fixed and the bedroom furniture delivery is finally complete. Had a few bumps along that road, but all's well that ends well.

Got new pastels last week and have been spending time getting to know them. So far I have come up with these little gems...

I painted this one using my instruction book as a guide.

This one was also an exercise from one of my books.



This one was painted from a picture that I took many years ago at the Peaks of Otter. It's a lovely little area about an hour away from us. Our Mom worked there, and it was where I had summer jobs during my high school years. Haven't been there for years, but it used to be really nice. Rustic, but nice and quiet.



I'm learning as I go with the pastels. I had this last one just the way I wanted, when I decided to reach over and add binoculars to the man crossing the bridge. Got them just so and looked down and realized that my right hand had completely obliterated the fence and most of the bank next to the bridge. I know how to avoid this, I just need to remember. Since pastel is a forgiving medium, I was able go back in and make the necessary touch ups.

Well, that's it for now. Got lots of things to do here on the home front. Birthday presents to make, chores to do and such. Now that my cable is working, I'll be checking on all my bloggy friends more regularly. Hope everyone is having a great summer and staying happy and being creative. I'll be back soon with more artsy stuff. Till then, take care and enjoy life.

Cox bundle

Just a quick post, while I have internet to let you know that my cable and therefore high speed internet and telephone keep going out randomly. They are supposed to be here to check it out Wednesday, so if something happens and I don't respond in my usual speedy fashion, you'll know "her cable's out again".

Other that the constant frustration of being without cable and thinking, well maybe it's this, and maybe it's that...anything to keep from having to call the service guys..other than that, our lives are good. Now that I see this in print, it seems a bit trifling to be worried about the internet, but it's really the phone that is important. I have one of those old timey "pay as you go" cell phones that I use periodically, so I at least have something. What did we do before this age of technology?

My question to you is this. What would you miss most, in the way of technology, if it were to suddenly disappear? Inquiring minds want to know. Could you live like a pioneer? I'm just wondering.

OK, let us hear!

More Pastel

I'm having fun learning to use pastels. I'm still taking advantage of art instruction videos and being reminded of lots of things I had forgotten. About the color wheel, values and such. This painting of water is a combination of two videos that I viewed recently.

I am using watercolor paper, not only because it's what I have, but because you can use water with pastel. Watercolor paper also serves as a great support if you want to make an under painting using water based media.

This next piece is based on a pen and watercolor that I did this past fall. It is looking at my woods from the deck and transferred quite nicely to pastel.

I didn't realize what a nice painterly effect you can get with pastels. I thought I would hate the dust on my fingers, as I'm funny about my hands getting dirty. Really hasn't bothered me in the least. If it does bother you though, medical examination gloves are an easy fix for that and are easily found. I'm still learning a lot about shadows and in this piece I realize that my colors are probably too bright on the shaded sides of the trees. It is a "remembering" process as well as a learning process. Another great thing about pastels is the ability to go back in and change things. They are very forgiving.

This last piece is a still life that I did yesterday. I used a cardboard box and lamp light to get the shadows. The back drop that I used as a drape really was too light, so I changed the color some.

I'm still in the learning stage, so I really haven't grasped the fact that I am going for an impressionist look, instead of photo realism. I tend to want to draw and become detail oriented. I am getting there, though.

So that's what I've been doing lately. I'm having fun and that's what art is all about. I hope everyone out there in Bloggerville is making time for fun this summer. Remember that summer fun is more than gardening and swimming and barbecuing. It's also about working a little bit of art into that fun. So how about spreading a long sheet of butcher paper across that picnic table and let everyone draw and paint. You too, Dad! Put those tongs down and paint with the kids. Have them make pictures of the food you are fixing and then everyone will have a lovely memory of that cookout with Cousin Drucilla.

Well, that's it for today. Have a great week and enjoy life.

Let's do art!

Since it was so hot, muggy and sometimes raining this weekend, the hubby and I didn't venture out much. I used the time to catch up on viewing art demonstrations online. You can subscribe and watch them on sites like Artist Network TV, or if you're not ready to commit to purchasing one yet, you can watch some free instruction on How to Draw and Paint, or you can watch shorter videos on Youtube and other sites.

In any event, I have such respect for portrait artists and am always trying to improve my skills in that area. Using a cosmetics ad from a magazine as my model, I came up with this...

I used the grid method to transfer her features to my paper and I drew my grid wonky and all her features are a bit off. It's drawn with a 2B pencil and blended with a tortillion. It's only practice, so I won't be too hard on myself, but it does go to show that you really need to have your feature placement dead on, to get a realistic drawing. I think that's why every portrait I draw has a "cartoony" look to it. Well, practice makes perfect.

Another thing that intimidates me is painting. I can never loosen up enough to get a painting that doesn't look stilted. I think that I perhaps I over analyze the process, so for this one I just grabbed a small watercolor pad and using acrylic paints and an old plastic plate for a palette, followed along with the tutorial for this little scene...

This was actually a study on how to use masking fluid and a sea sponge for texture. My masking fluid (years old) was dried solid in the bottle, so I used rubber cement. My sea sponge has long since migrated to warmer waters, so I used a regular sponge that I picked little pieces out of. You get the picture??? Once again it is only practice and while I cringe and see everything that is wrong, I'm still not going to beat myself up. I had fun doing them both and plan on doing more soon.

That's it for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for whatever this week brings. Just remember, if you're bored or looking for something to do, check out some art videos and you just might surprise yourself.