Jennifur my Tabby Cat

'Jennifur' 8x10 pastel

If you were to look at my cat paintings you would see that most of the cats have their eyes closed. Is it because I avoid painting their eyes? Not really because I love the colors found in a cat's eye. I think that the poses of cats at rest speak to me the most so that is what I like to paint. Jennie is a cat who is very alert and always on guard. She doesn't like the Siamese cats and they know it and tease her. But Jennie does love to snuggle on any available lap especially a lap covered in a soft blanket! This painting is 8x10 on LaCarte brown pastel card.

Spring Storm 12x16 Pastel Painting

'Spring Storm' 12x16 pastel

The studio clean up continues today but I see a light at the end of the tunnel! Today I found a hidden painting but it had some damage because I had not stored it in the proper place for some reason. It was originally 18x24 but only part of it was ruined....so I salvaged the one part that was fine and I believe that it was the best part of the painting! This was a scene I saw one spring on the Florida Turnpike. The sky and the light on the fields were amazing!

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Price: $150 USD
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Winter Landscapes Miniature Pastel Paintings $20 each

I just had to paint today! I worked all day on finishing the studio clean up and by 5:00 I was done....not really but I just wanted to paint. So I decided to do a few mini winter scenes. These are all 2.5 x 3.5 inches. on various surfaces. I took out my pile of winter reference photos and randomly chose a few to paint. I have a couple more I want to do. So if I get up early and finish the cleaning I will make time to paint again. It felt great!

These little paintings are available for $20 each. Please email me at kemstudios@yahoo.com for purchase information.

Yellow Tree Autumn Painting

'The Yellow Tree' 8x10 pastel

Today I am sharing another painting that I did earlier this month. I haven't been able to paint much this week with all the studio renovations going on. I hope to finish up tomorrow so I can get back to the easel. On another note I got a new camera today to replace my trusty canon digital elph sd870. This summer the screen developed big black dead spaces. The camera worked fine so I put up with the holes and got used to them until one developed over my battery indicator and I ran out of power! I really just wanted to replace my old camera model but of course they don't make that one anymore. They are all supposed to be better. I got a Canon powershot sd 980 IS for the wide 24 mm lens. I need to read the manual as it is a bit different than my old model. I hope I like it!

Poppy Field Mini Painting 2.5 x 3.5 inches SOLD

'Among the Poppies' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

Today's painting is a miniature pastel I did a few weeks ago. Sometimes when I just feel like sitting down and playing with ideas for paintings I will do several of these minis. They are a lot of fun to do and always a good learning exercise for me. I hope to have my studio painting and organizing done tomorrow so I can get back to the fun kind of painting!

Give the Gift of Fine Art ....Holiday Art Sale

Our 4th Annual Open Studio Holiday Art Sale is next Saturday December 4th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. If you are in the Atlanta area we would love for you to stop by to see our work. I know that many of you do not live close by or perhaps can't come to the open studio so for this weekend I am offering a 15% discount on any available painting in my Daily Painters.com online gallery. If you have had your eye on a painting or would like to give an original painting this holiday than have a look at my gallery here. If you see a painting you are interested in just send me an email at kemstudios@yahoo.com with the painting's title and I will let you know the availability and price. Sale prices good through Tuesday November 30th.

Early Snow 9x12 pastel

'Early Snow' 9x12 pastel

I want to wish my friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving! I spent a relaxing day with my family up in the North Carolina mountains. No it didn't snow! In fact it was quite warm though we are expecting rain and colder weather for the weekend. This is a painting I did at the recent Ann Templeton workshop. It was done on mounted Uart paper with a turpenoid wash underpainting. This weekend I will finish up the studio painting in preparation for next Saturday's Open Studio show and sale. Nothing like a deadline to get things organized!

More Monoprint Fun!

'Poppies I' 5x7 monoprint on Canson 'Poppies II' monoprint with pastel

I' taking a break from painting the walls (not my favorite thing to so!) to play with some more printing. I can't wait for the studio to get back in order so I can do some more experimenting. I want to order some printing inks and papers as well. For these prints I used what I have on hand...black oil paint and canson paper. The second version is a print made from the original image but it printed much lighter giving me the perfect start to a pastel painting.

Pink Landscape

'Morning Reflection' 8x10 pastel

I'm taking a break from painting my studio to post to the blog. I have been painting all day and this is the kind of painting that I do NOT enjoy! The fun part is seeing my studio transformed but I wish I could just snap my fingers and have it finished! I still had remnants of my childcare room in the studio with parts of the room painted in faux wood. The room was once a pirate ship! I am painting the room mostly with a warm cream color but with purple and rust accents. I am loving the purple!

Experimenting with Monoprints and Pastel

Inside a Meadow I & II 5x7 monoprint with pastel

'Inside a Meadow' 8x10 monoprint oil paint on Canson paper

This is going to be fun! A few weeks ago my son sent me photos of the monoprints he has been doing at school. (He is a student at SAIC) I was intrigued but haven't had time to try my own. Today I decided to try monoprinting. I don't have the proper supplies but tried some black water soluble oil paint on a glass plate. I drew into the paint with Q-tips and bamboo skewers. I used some moonstone color Canson paper and hand printed my image using the back of a wooden spoon. I am sharing my first attempts but my second print of poppies came out better I think. After I printed the 8x10 paper I pulled two more 5x7's which created more of a ghost image. I have read that Degas used these ghost prints for many of his pastels so I decided to add pastel to the two smaller prints. I printed on the smooth side and the bumpy side of the paper. I love to experiment and I know I will be trying more monoprints! Now to add some pastel to my poppies!

Goldendoodle Painting pastel 11x14

'Goldendoodle' 11x14 pastel

I just finished my last mini workshop of the year. This class was on painting animals in pastel and I did this Goldendoodle for the demo. I chose him because of his color and fur texture would provide good lessons but also because he is just too cute! I would love to have a dog like this but I'm not too sure the cats would be happy about it!

Sunflowers on Red 8x10

'Sunflowers on Red' 8x10 pastel

A couple of weeks ago I went on a sunflower painting mission. I did about 10 sunflower paintings and this is one of them. This was done on Diane Townsend paper and I used Golden pastel medium to build up layers and give more texture. Sometimes I really like working on a very textured surface. You can't predict how things will turn out. I like that!

August Meadows...a New Queen Annes Lace Painting

'August Meadows' 11x14 pastel

I have had this board prepared for over a month and just have not had the chance to work on it. If you look closely you can see the 'spider webs' of my oil stain underpainting. My goal was to try to have them work for the tangle of grasses and stems in this field. It was the most amazing meadow with Queen Annes Lace as far as the eye could see. They were in various stages of bloom with many starting to form their bird nest like seed heads. I may do a close up of the seed heads which are quite beautiful.

November on Edisto Island SOLD

'Lowcountry Autumn' 8x10 pastel

Last November I spent a week with my friends visiting Edisto and Kiawah Islands in South Carolina. We spent part of the time exploring and part of the time attending a workshop with Stan Sperlak. It was a fantastic week despite the weather. I never get tired of painting the marshes and I have some wonderful reference photos that will continue to inspire me. This was the view from our cabin on Edisto Island. It was gray most of the time but when the sun did peek through the clouds the colors in the marsh grasses were just beautiful!

My Siamese Cat

'Toblerone' 11x14 pastel

I haven't painted my cats lately but it was fun for a change of pace to paint my cat Tobi. Tobi is a photogenic cat so it is easy to get interesting photos to paint from. I wish I had my camera handy this morning because he was laying on a pile of sweaters and the morning light from the window was just perfect.I need to keep a camera upstairs! This Sunday is my mini workshop on painting animals. I am planning a fun afternoon of painting cats and dogs in pastel.

Nantucket Red pastel painting 5x7

'Nantucket Red' 5x7 pastel

I was looking through my photos for reflections and found some of this red boat. I took the photo a couple of summers ago on a visit to Nantucket Island. The little boat was moored in the harbor and the late afternoon light made it glow. I love red! I love Nantucket too and looking through the photos made me want to plan another trip....maybe this summer!

Lake Michigan Sunset SOLD

'Summer Memories' 10x20 pastel

This is a commission I am working on for a collector and we are having a bit of a dilemma. The reference photo has a pier and small lighthouse off the the left. In my 5x7 study I included this pier. We decided to make the painting long and narrow to capture the expanse of the lake and have more sky to play with the sunset/evening colors. Now we are trying to decide if we need to put in the pier. On one hand it gives it a sense of place....otherwise it could be any sunset anywhere. On the other hand....does the painting need it? I have my opinion but I am curious to hear others!

Mountain Mist 11x14 pastel

'Mountain Mist' 11x14 pastel

Here is an older painting that just hasn't found it's home yet. I am working with a collector who wished to purchase a Blue Ridge mountain painting for a special gift so today I went through my mountain paintings to show her what I had available. This was one of my favorites!
That got me started going through the past year's work so I decided to get it organized for our Open Studio which is DECEMBER 4th! I have a lot of new work this year! I have been busy it seems!

Hope Valley California Plein Air

'Hope Valley Trees' 5x7 pastel

Today's painting is one of the plein air studies I did back in September at the Richard McKinley workshop. I have them all taped to a large piece of foamcore and realized I haven't shared them all. This one was done on Wallis Belgium Mist. I am looking forward to using these studies for larger paintings over the winter months. I was busy today with commissions and getting work ready for our upcoming Open Studio show.

Open Studio Holiday Art Sale...Mark the date!

Our 4th Annual Open Studio Show & Sale is a few weeks away. It will be held on Saturday December 4th from 10-6 at my Marietta, Georgia studio. If you are in the area we'd love for you to stop in to see out work and visit. We will showcase the work of a group of local artists and will have original art in many mediums and price ranges. Give the gift of art this year! To see the official Invitation please visit the facebook page here.
You can email me at kemstudios@yahoo.com for more information

A Piece of Cake 8x8 pastel

'A Piece of Cake' 8x8 pastel

Something just for fun today...a piece of Coconut cake. I actually had the best piece of cake I ever ate last weekend. It was huge but between my husband, daughter and I, we finished every last bite. I could go back to that restaurant again this weekend just for another piece. Hmmmm sounds like a great idea to me!

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Price: $75 USD
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Caribbean Blue

'Caribbean Blue' 5x7 pastel

Tonight I taught a private lesson and we painted the Caribbean Sea. My student had studied in the Caribbean and has so many references he wants to paint so we worked on painting the sea and sand. How much fun is that! I have the best 'job' ever!

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Price: $75 USD
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Baby Robins in the Nest SOLD

Today I am sharing a commission I just did for a collector. She wanted a companion piece to her nest with eggs painting. She gave me free reign to create another nest with baby bird. It was a lot of fun to paint! Tonight we start our new 4 week session of pastel class and we will be painting waves! I already did a watercolor underpainting for the demo. I am looking forward to a fun class!

Aspen Glory Pastel Painting 8x10

'Aspen Glory' 8x10 pastel

I had fun playing with this painting. It started out as a 12x16 demo for a class. While it worked to serve the purpose for the discussion in the class I wasn't happy with the painting. Sometimes that happens when you are trying to talk and paint at the same time! I had put it aside and decided to play with it today. The first think I did was spray some fixative so I could get more yellow pastel to go on. I simplified the foreground but in the end decided on an 8x10 crop.

Sunflower with Texture

'Flowing Free' 8x10 pastel

I tried a different technique for this sunflower painting. I used Diane Townsend paper which is her own home made surface on a watercolor type paper. I started with a first layer of harder pastels over which I painted Golden pastel ground. That liquified the pastel and added more tooth to the paper. When it dried I added softer pastels. I loved working over the texture left by the pastel ground. I will be trying this some more!

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Price: $145 USD
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Poppies by the Lake 8x10 pastel

'Poppies by the Lake' 8x10 pastel

These poppies were planted in a barrel at the Signal Mountain Lodge in Grand Teton National Park. I loved their colors and I knew it didn't matter for a painting where I found them! I used an alcohol wash underpainting on mounted Uart paper. I love to paint poppies!

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Price: $145 USD
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Landscape Variation #10

'Landscape Variation #10' pastel Karen Margulis

I have a new painting challenge that I want to start but right now I am busy getting ready for our Open Studio Show on December 4th so I am thinking the challenge will have to wait a month. Here is one of the variations from this past year's challenge. I have several in my Ebay store and some more in my Daily Painter's Gallery. I am excited about my next challenge so stay tuned for details!

click here to bid on this painting

A Day Filled with Sunflowers

Middle Photo 'Sunflowers on Yellow' 8x10 pastel

Yesterday we painted sunflowers in my Back to Basics class. When I teach I like to have a lot of visual aids on the topic of the class whether it be from art books, magazines, Ipad slideshows and examples of my own work. I realized yesterday I only had one sunflower painting available to show so I got busy and painted all day. I was on a roll and did 7 sunflower paintings, vacuumed, went to the grocery store, did 2 loads of laundry and got everything set up for my 6 students. They couldn't believe I did all that in a day. I then mentioned I had gone to Dr for my bad seasonal allergies and was given some prednisone. No wonder I was so productive they said... it was the drugs! My friend said when she was prescribed prednisone for something she cleaned house for 3 days! I am taking advantage of the extra energy level and tackled paperwork that I have been avoiding. It feels great!

All of the paintings in the collage are available for sale. Email me at kemstudios@yahoo.com for more information

Pastel Landscape 9x12

'Spring Fields' 9x12 pastel

I have been painting all day and it was wonderful! Tonight my Back to Basics class will be painting sunflowers to I was playing around with some different techniques and colors. What fun I am having. I have three more 5x7's prepared and ready to go. When I am on a roll I just need to go with it. I'll post them tomorrow.
About this painting: 9x12 pastel on mounted Uart with an alcohol wash underpainting

A Few Mini Pastel Paintings

Today I'd like to share a few of my latest mini pastels. Each one is 2.5 x 3.5 inches on archival pastel paper. Doing these little studies are really helpful when trying to simplify the landscape. These were all timed and took 6 minutes which also makes you simplify. There just isn't enough time to put in too much detail. These little studies are also a great way to work out colors and composition for larger paintings. I am all ready to paint this evening and I am breaking out my new Jimmy Wright set of Great American pastels. They are gorgeous!

These little paintings are available for $20 each. The top one is sold already. Email me at kemstudios@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Demo #2 Sunflowers!

'Double Delight' 11x14 pastel

I did two demo paintings for my class on Saturday. For this second one we painted sunflowers and I did an alcohol wash underpainting. We will also be painting sunflowers in my Wednesday night class. I just bought a bunch of sunflowers and I picked the ones with the most character. Some have dark centers and some have greenish centers and they all have twisting uneven petals. I think most people would have passed on this bunch but to me they are the most paintable. I can't wait to get started!