A Sweet Boy

This is a commission I did recently of a sweet cat named William. It is 5x7 on LaCarte paper, my favorite for animals. William was fun to paint because of his soft coloring. He was the first orange cat that I have painted. Today I am headed to the mountains for the weekend. I have my camera and pastels and a pile of books packed. I need to start finalizing the itinerary for my upcoming New England vacation. I am getting excited!

Eastern Bluebird Painting

'It's Dinner Time!' 5x7 pastel

I missed getting over to Jayne's to get photos of her bluebirds so I painted this from last years photos. Hopefully they will raise another family this year and I will have a chance to enjoy them! They come so close to get the worms Jayne puts out. They are wonderful!

Chicago Street Scene Garrett's Popcorn

'Popping In' 5x7 pastel

I have yet to try Garrett's Popcorn in Chicago. The two times I was there the lines were huge! I figure it must be pretty good and it is on my list to try on my next visit. It looked extra warm and inviting on this cold December evening!

Wildflower Demo Painting

'Among the Daisies' 8x10 pastel

Here is the demo painting I did for my pastel class last Sunday. We talked about composition and focal areas. We also talked about learning to train our visual brains and start thinking and talking in visual terms....shapes, colors, values rather than naming objects. Everyone painted wildflowers or fields of flowers and did a great job! We have one more class and then on to session II!

A New Nest Painting

'Spring Treasure' 5x7 pastel

I wasn't able to post last night because our power was out from a storm. Then this morning windows wouldn't start on my computer and I had a mini panic! But it seems to be working for the moment. Here is a new nest painting. It was fun to paint this one. I am continuing with my city scenes. We are going to concentrate on them in Marsha's class for the next couple of sessions so look for more to come!

Dragonfly Close-up

'In the Garden' 5x7 pastel

I decided to try a close up view of a blue dragonfly. This is from one of Jayne's old photos I recently found. I am going to be on the hunt for dragonflies up in the mountains this weekend. I am out of reference photos!

Chicago Theater Street Scene #2 SOLD

'A Night on the Town' 5x7 pastel

Here is a larger version of my Chicago Cityscape #2. I took this photo while waiting to attend the show 'Wicked' a couple of years ago. I love all the bright lights of the city. It is such a change from painting wildflowers! In my pastel class I teach we painted fields of wildflowers today. We talked about focal areas and ways we can get them to be the stars of the painting. I had fun and everyone did such nice work! I am happy to say that everyone will continue on to the next sesion. I have some fun things planned for us to do!

Roadside Wildflowers

'Roadside Wildflowers' 5x7 pastel

I had a wonderful day with Jayne & Holly. We went to an area art festival and spent the afternoon looking for a place to try out our limited pastel palette. We never did find a place to paint but we did make a few photo stops....a sheep farm, a field of wildflowers and some daisies and Queen Anne's Lace by the side of the road. Just my kind of scenery! I did this little painting when I returned home while it was all fresh in my memory.