Saturday, July 12, 2014

from the garden (the one I remember from childhood)

when I was shopping last week, I saw these beautiful and delicate roses
they reminded me so much of my grandmother's roses
our yard was fenced and huge rosebushes climbed up the fence posts
and sprawled in splendor all across the chainlinks
just think what a juxtaposition that was - lush delicate softness vs cold hard metal
complete yin and yang
what a joy to paint the beauty of nature
from life, not from photos
I've had a wonderful week
hope you have had one too!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

A woman of mystery

a woman of mystery
she stands alone and yet blends in
color swirls around her
what is she thinking
or is she even thinking
perhaps just watching and waiting
(just a small pastel I painted, inspired by a photo I saw-  playing with color and edges)

Sunday, July 6, 2014

A new passion


 The past few months have been filled with many personal issues but despite that, or perhaps because of that, I have discovered a new passion - pastels.  I have always loved to draw and have always loved color so when a friend let me play a bit with her pastels, I was totally hooked.  I love the feel of the pastel in my hand - it's like an extension of my arm and hand - dancing on the paper - bold strokes, soft strokes, linear strokes, side strokes, blending with my fingers - I feel like a kid again with fingerpaints!
Of course exploring a new type of art involves getting some new supplies - I haunted ebay and was able to get a set of Rembrandt half sticks (like these - good for drawing and backgrounds), a vintage set of Grumbachers (good colors but a bit crumbly), and a full set of Nupastels (hard pastels that work for drawing and underpainting).  I found a few Richeson handmade pasels and some Wallis sanded paper on sale at a local frame shop - they were selling off their art supplies half price) and then finally I bought a set of 60 Great American pastels from Jerry's - major sale + coupon.  I got a few books from the library and was off and running.
I arranged my pastels according to the books by color and value (this is the drawer that fits in my French easel)  Don't you just love the colors!  I am like a kid in a candy store!
If you go back to the first photo, you can see a little bird's nest that I did in pastels on some leftover Bazill textured scrapbooking card stock  - the egg is developing (just like me) and getting ready to hatch and join the world - much like me right now.
thanks for reading and hope your day is filled with color!