Koi aceo Painting

'Koi Magic' 3.5x2.5 pastel & watercolor

Here is a mini painting I did at the lake this past weekend. I have a stack of minis with watercolor underpaintings just waiting to be finished! My daughter gave me a good idea that I want to try with this watercolor technique. As soon as I am caught up on pet portrait commissions, I will be giving her idea a try!

Pastel Journal Creative Spark Winner!

'Closer In' 8x10 pastel

I am excited to share that my painting 'Closer In' won the Pastel Journal's Creative Spark contest for June. It will be featured on this week's Pastel Journal blog and I will share the link as soon as it is posted. You may recognize these flowers from a larger painting I have shown. The challenge was to reinterpret a painting and come up with a fresh idea. I decided to focus in on a few of the flowers and show them how I imagined them from an insect's point of view. What a fun challenge and I am thrilled to have my painting recognized!

Good News!

I found out that my painting 'Make a Wish' will be in the brochure for the upcoming Southeastern Pastel Society Open Exhibition at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. This painting and one of my nest paintings will be in the show. The opening reception is October 3, 2009 which seems far off but I know will be here before I know it!

Water Lily Acrylic Painting

'A Peaceful Place' 8x 10 acrylic on canvas

In between painting water lilies and preparing for this weekend's workshop I have been working on a few commissions. Since they are all surprises I haven't been able to post them yet but I will be able to soon! Today's painting is an acrylic version from one of my photos of Perry's Water Garden. It is fun trying the same subject in a different medium!

Poppy Miniature Painting

'Poppy Surprise' 3.5x2.5 pastel

I am back from the lake and had a chance to paint some small aceo size paintings while on the houseboat. I painted in the morning while the wind was calm. I had my travel size watercolor set and a very small box of pastels. I did about 15 little watercolor underpaintings. Once they dried I started to add pastel to some of them but it was getting quite windy so I had to put them away. This is one I managed to finished. I am getting better at letting the underpainting work with the pastel instead of covering it all up!

Water Lilies and Dark Water

'Mysterious Beauty' 11x14 pastel

I am so glad to have so many water lily references photos. This one is actually from one of our VIP road trips where we pulled off the highway somewhere in South Carolina to take photos of a mini swamp filled with lilies! Today I am headed to the lake for the weekend. I plan to relax and just read and do something with all the beads I bought out in New Mexico. I did bring along a small box of pastels just in case! I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe 4th of July!

Sand Dune Painting

I'm calling this painitng 'Dune Shadows' because it was the shadow patterns that attracted me to this scene. It was Autumn at the beach, actually one of my favorite times to be on the beach. There was color in the grasses and the air was crisp and cool. It's the perfect time of year to explore. This painting is 5x7 on Wallis paper.

Two Poppy Paintings!

If you read my earlier post you will see that these paintings have gone through some changes! I decided that they would work better as two smaller paintings rather than one 11x14. The top painting is actually square 6x6 and the bottom is 8x10. I went from sand dunes to 2 poppy fields. You have to love the versatility of pastels!

Poppies on the Hillside

'Hillside Poppies' 14x11 pastel

Pastel can be so much fun! I just totally changed this painting from it's original state by brushing it off and starting over. It started out as a demo painting I did to illustrate how to start a painting with big shapes. It was a beach dune scene and I liked it because of the shadow patterns but it wasn't exciting me. After I brushed it off I looked at the dark mess on my paper and envisioned this poppy field. Ok......change of plans. I am looking at the painting and I see that it is divided in half and really would work better as two paintings. Stay tuned!