Mussel Shells....My Andrew Wyeth Assignment

'Beach Blues' 5x7 pastel

For this session of pastel class, Marsha asked us to read about an artist we admire. I have a few books on Andrew Wyeth on my shelf and since he is one of my favorites, he was my choice. I have always liked his work but after seeing an exhibit last year at the High Museum in Atlanta, he rose to the top of my list. I don't paint anything like him but I just love his choice of subject matter and his compositions. I have a thing for bleached & broken shells, feathers and stark rooms. My son Corey loves Wyeth too but his favorites are the dead animal paintings. Part of the assignment is to also try a painting in the style of your artist. This painitng isn't really in the style...but in my book there are several mussel studies. These are mussels I saw on a beach painted in my style. This was a lot of fun and I have more beach flotsam to paint!