Too few posts?

I have to admit that I've been too busy with other things to post as regularly as I'd like. I keep trying to "step away from the computer" more and more, especially now that I'm back working full-time as a contractor. I continue working on my pastel craft, and the grape hyacinths and brick wall shown here are the subjects of my next drawing. I hope to show some decent progress on it later this week.
I've been woefully neglectful of officially finishing my new ElectriKolor website, and have let all Etsy store items expire without replacement. I feel like I'm going to be heading toward dealing mostly in pastels from this point forward, so I'm pondering the possibilities.

In search of...

...a good photo opp...sometimes results in something totally different...Last Saturday morning, my intent was to shoot a GOOD photo of the "mystery bird" that, in the bright morning sun and from a distance, looked pretty much like an inverted bald eagle--a dark head and a stark white body. It's sad to say that I was disappointed in the fact that it was simply a large, healthy red-tailed hawk. He or she did not appreciate my stalking methods, and I was able to shoot only three frames of it before it continued its hunt elsewhere.

Undaunted, I went out on a local photo safari, catching some local residents in action--horses and cows mostly, although there were a few frisky geese working on repopulating the species...I did run across a pregnant cow with what were probably her yearlings, and they were curious about the gal across the street in the car with the funny-looking mechanical device...after a bunch of reference photos, this time intended as reference materials for some pastel work, I headed back to the homestead, and after a day of thought, began this pastel on PastelBord, which I put the finishing touches to on Thursday.

Today was a day off work, so I finally shot a photo of the finished cow to share with my blog audience. Enjoy!

Warm-up Exercises

I start a pastel class again tomorrow, and decided that I should make sure that I'm not too rusty to draw...since having been in writing mode now for months in the contracting world. Yup, it looks like I still have a few neurons firing in the tips of the old arthritic fingers...in this 11x14 inch piece with a working title of Raven Haired Beauty. Granted it's a composition based on someone else's photograph--and wouldn't qualify as a totally accurate portrait, but it works for me all the same.

This is a 3-day class spread over three Sundays, one each in March, April, and May, and I took it last year as a "beginner". I'm coming in this year as an "intermediate" student, I guess. Last time I wrote about the surfaces that I most like for working with pastel, I was becoming a big fan of working directly on canvas. The piece shown in this post is on PastelBord, which could also fast become a favorite surface, and I've got some of the Colourfix paper from Art Spectrum to try too. Both have really toothy surfaces...akin to sandpaper. I have to admit that I love the way the pastels just crawl into the crevices. On the other hand, my blending fingers feel like I've been rubbing them on sandpaper--smooth and a little sore!

I look forward to learning something new...and to getting out of the house this weekend to meet a few new people. Now that volleyball season is all over, and the snow frequency has finally dropped to maybe once a week...with maybe just a flurry or two this week...there's more time to do things other than move snow around!

The Sticky Note Packs are now selling online!

All now available from my Sticky Note Pack section of my Etsy store.

More designs for the Post-it Purse Paks

I've been optimizing the design of these Post-it Purse Paks. Of course, I realize I have to NOT use the "Post-it" name, primarily because not all of the notes are official Post-it notes from 3M, so I'm thinking Posty Purse Paks might be a valid new name. Then again maybe something like Sticky Pak might work just as well. I'll have to think on this a little longer...I'm proud to say that all of these designs are prints from my original pastels.

Square and loving it!

Today in southern Wisconsin is an absolutely gorgeous fall day. A day filled with brilliant golden orange reds amid a group of trees that remain stubbornly full in green. Amazingly, at the end of October, there are still a few swarms of gnats and a blooming thistle outside, and a pesky housefly that seems to adore my computer screen. I love the fall, but it's not been a "normal" fall this year. And, so, this lovely maple tree in full transition is my way of making fall "just right" again. Transition and change, as I've stated often, is good!

On Being Square

I've been working on a series of 8" square pastels on canvas. This panda is the first that I'm sharing on this blog.

For now, I have to admit that canvas is my favorite surface for pastels. There is this ethereal softness that you can achieve as the pigment becomes enmeshed into the fibers of the canvas itself that I have not been able to achieve with any of the paper surfaces that I've tried. I like that the weave of the fabric remains an integral part of the composition, even though it makes some of the finer details more difficult to achieve (at least at this small a scale).

I've not signed this piece yet (digitally yes, for this presentation, but not on the original piece). What that means is that I've also not settled in on a title for the work, but I'm leaning toward Tree Hugger. I generally don't take them, but if you're reading and have a good suggestion, please add it as a comment.

Life in Pastels

Okay, so I'm not fond of wearing those light pastel colors, but, now drawing in pastels--that's a whole different beast. And, oh, what a beast...

This lovely snow leopard had just woken up from a summer day's zoo nap when I first photographed him. I'm not quite sure what he saw or heard up above--likely some kind of plane or bird flying above. I love the ability to build a drawing in layers that allows some forgiveness and corrections. Definitely an advantage to developing a more accurate representation of the 3-dimensional structure for a big cat like this.

There are parts of me that forgot how pleasurable it is to draw (or paint) depending on what you consider pastels to be. I consider this image more as a drawing than a painting, but that's just me. I have covered the entire surface of the paper with medium, so according to my past instructor, I'm definitely painting...But, then again, that instructor said that getting a good painting on a dark field was difficult and just not as attractive. On the other hand, I love the dark charcoal Fabriano Tiziano surface, and I think I covered it quite nicely. I've also used fixative throughout the process, which many pastelists don't like because it often darkens the colors too much. I have to say that I've become a really big fan of Sennelier's Latour fixative, which really darkens things only slightly (and often only temporarily).

Another Fowl Day

I pulled out the pastels again to re-draw my buddy, the heron. This drawing has the leggy guy looking into the sunset and is significantly smaller (7x8 in) than the one I drew in August (18x20 in). I love the blues and greens in this version, and the curve of his neck! Almost makes me want to hang out in the pond up to the top of my calves...
The days here are getting too short way too quickly. My dog now thinks that our evening walk should begin as soon as the sun drops, and since that seemingly has changed from 8:30 to 7:30 in a couple of weeks, his sense of urgency has definitely increased. On the other hand, doing an earlier walk has messed with my internal clock and has me heading off to bed shortly after the walk. I'm sure that anyone who knows me would be shocked that I'm getting to sleep BEFORE midnight...and even getting out of bed in what others actually consider the real lovely part of the morning.

: )

Local Wildlife

I've been very fortunate this summer, especially with respect to the local avian residents. Across from our local library is a lovely area, coincidentally named Silent Street Pond, that has served as a nesting and resting area for a number of wading birds. Of course the ducks and geese love the area too, but their presence isn't nearly as calming as the visits by the long-legged wading birds. I've had the fortune of spending hours watching and photographing the lovely Great Blue Herons and Sandhill Cranes that fish in this little water hole.

Earlier this year, I enrolled in pastel class, primarily to bring all of those drawing skills back up to a respectable level--and use some of those lovely art supplies I've been investing in over the course of a lifetime. The misfortune of the class was that I sprained my hand such that most of my drawing dexterity was pretty much unavailable for months, including 2 of the 3 day-long classes. After a number of months of continued pain, reduced range of motion, and constant swelling, I made my appointment with an expert orthopedist. He was definitely an "old-school" orthopedist, who pretty much told me that all I needed to do was to do some pretty harsh "massaging" and stretching, and I'd be good to go (bedside manner is, of course, NOT his specialty). Frankly, I'd have loved to hear that kind of diagnosis about 2 months earlier, because the hand would have pretty much been completely healed by now. Anyway, after suffering the twinges from the massaging and stretching, the hand no longer looks nor operates like a claw.

And now, again, I've dusted off the pastel box and chosen to render the Great Blue Heron wading in Silent Street Pond. I love that I was able to once again execute the detailed portion of the drawing, but also able to render some of the more subtle shading and coloring needed to make the water flow around the bird. As I sit here composing this blog, I look over at the original, and it reminds that those things that trouble me can result in very productive and beautiful pieces of art that, in turn, help me re-center and regain my spirits and my self.