Figurative Experiment

I'm getting ready to take a figure drawing class on Saturdays, so I thought I would try my hand at a figure in pastels. I used the same technique that I used in Pynki, the elephant painting I did awhile back. The model is from website that provides virtual models called posespace.

 

 

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Sedona Peaks

I've been going back through my studies and I have been slacking on the posting! From my photo reference.

 

 

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Animals from Last week

Baby burro and colorful lion

 

 

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SOLD Atlantic Dunes

I don't think I posted this one yet.  I'm a little bit behind due to the group exhibit I participated in.

The Feather King

Well, it has been more than a week since I've painted anything, and my first attempt was a seascape with waves and cliffs and the whole shebang. Didn't work so I put it aside. I felt a little more comfortable with an animal today. Meet the Feather King. Male peacocks are so majestic, how can they not be called the feather king!

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Wave Study: Pacific Storm

Yesterday I decided to do a wave study while on my lunch hour. Armed with a box of Unison Landscape pastels, and a tiny turquoise Sennelier, I used several photo references and my imagination. This is 5x7 on white Wallis paper, and took about 20 minutes for 90% of it which I finished off at home.

 

 

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Windy Calanque Journey

This may look familiar to you.  You haven't lost your mind.  Yes, you have seen it before.
I repainted the same scene for my Week 4 assignment in Karen Margulis' online class.
It's bigger this time around.
9x12
Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord
We did a watercolor under painting.  I used blue watercolor underneath where the orange-ish cliff would be, and orange underneath where the blue water would be.  Fun exercise!

The new painting is immediately below (9x12), and the old painting (8x10) (sold) is underneath it.

Electric Marsh

I wish the vibrant colors would show up in the photo, darn it.

Kissing Cousins

To me, it looks as though this "pear" of cousins want to kiss one another but fear the taboo.

Zig Zag

Here is another 5x7 study. I call him Zig Zag because of the dark mark above his wing. We saw this blue heron (I think) walking around Volendam in The Netherlands so I snapped his photo. He was so friendly and not even remotely afraid if people.

 

 

 

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Pynki on the Move - Week 3 assignment

For my assignment for Week 3 of Karen Margulis' class, I painted an animal.  This was a bit bigger than I am accustomed to painting.  I wanted to punch up the colors quite a notch, so I made sure the VALUES were correct regardless of the color.  That's why Pynki is pink (... and turquoise ... and green ... etc.)

He was fun.  He wasn't supposed to look like a baby elephant, but that's a flaw that I don't mind.  It was an adult elephant in the reference photo.

The name is made up, and I went with a "creative" spelling just for the fun of it.

Lavender of Gordes - Week Three - SOLD

I had a lot of "wipers" from my "dailies" this weekend that didn't come out the way I had hoped so I went back to something familiar.  I painted this in oils over Thanksgiving weekend, but took some liberties with both. In the pastel painting, I omitted the cypress trees.  In the oil painting, I kind of straitened out the curvature of the rows as shown in the original photo.

The photo, the oil and the pastel (in that order).  I'm sure this isn't the last you've seen of Lavender of Gordes!

Five Of A Kind - Karen Margulis' online class (week two)

I chose to paint small 5x7 studies of the same landscape:  (a) all cool colors, (b) all warm colors, (c) monochromatic, and (d) random colors.  I wasn't sure if I did the assignment correctly or not (hence my delay in posting), but my feedback was great, so here they are.

My favorite was the green one.

Dunes of Cape Cod - SOLD

Well this is from the second photo reference I've used that is a scene from Cape Cod.
Maybe I should pay it a visit one of these days.  This photo reference was provided by wetcanvas user Nicola Boerer.

I was a little nervous about this one - wasn't sure how the sand and seagrass was going to turn out.
I also switched to a different paper for this one.  Art Spectrum Colourfix Coated Paper.  The color was Terracotta which I thought would compliment the blue sky nicely and aid the color of the seagrass.

Sunny Reach -- SOLD

Here is another daily from Karen Margulis' online mentoring class.
I'm not posting all of them, by the way, because some of them are stinkers.
Photo reference is from user "thalweg" from wetcanvas.com, and it was quite lovely, so thank you "thalweg".

Marsh Exercise

This was my first weekly exercise for the mentoring program. I received terrific feedback from Karen. The horizon needs to be straightened out, but over all, I was happy with it. We used her photo reference and were provided with set by step instructions on her approach. First I did a four value sketch with markers, an under painting with (Nupastel spruce blue) with odorless mineral spirits, let dry and then the painting.

 

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Tiajuana Estuary - SOLD

There is an estuary near the California/Mexico border. I made some changes to the shapes that appear to be trees in the distance. They actually are rows of houses, but I didn't want to get too fussy with it since the assignment is to limit the painting time to 30-45 minutes.

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Online Mentoring - Karen Margulis

Continuing with posting my 5x7 exercises from my mentoring session. This is from a reference photo along the coast of California. It actually was the first 5x7 I painted during this mentoring course. I did spend more than 30-45 minutes on it. I think it was more like an hour and 15 minutes because I was having so much fun!

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Blue Caves - SOLD

For the month of February, I am participating in an online mentoring program by Karen Margulis.  We have weekly assignments, but during the week, she suggests we do two things on a regular basis:  (1) small 5x7 studies in a limited time (30-45 min.), and (2) value studies.  These assignments are great as they will help me learn and get more and more comfortable with the pastels.

You get a lot for your money with the online mentoring with Karen.  I have only submitted one weekly assignment and her feedback is extremely thorough and helpful!  She does not skimp on advice.  I will post that painting later.  For now, here is one of my studies.

One of the first 5x7 studies:
Blue Caves
This reference photo came from wetcanvas.com and is in Greece.
I've never been, but would love to go one day.  The  reminded me of my Capri photos.

Lemon Fan - SOLD

Still having fun with still lifes.  I'm a big lemon fan.  Aren't you?