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.

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).