Magical Meadows 11x14 pastel sold

'Magical Meadows' 11x14 pastel

I was in the mood for a quiet day in the studio painting a landscape but that didn't happen. We discovered a leaking pipe which fortunately was just barely reachable without being under the house. The bad part is that it is very challenging to maneuver and do a repair. So we are still working on it and fingers crossed our repair will work. So today I am sharing a past landscape and hopefully this week I will have time to paint a new one!

We are Siamese....Siamese Cat Paintings

'We are Siamese if you Please' 5x7 each pastel ©Karen Margulis

I did these paintings awhile back when we had a Matisse Night in Marsha Savage's pastel class. I had filed them away and forgotten about them. I am really enjoying bold color lately so these make me smile. They are pastel on Canson paper.

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Sunflower Painting #6

Almost a week of sunflowers and I feel like I am just getting started. This is so much fun. Next week I will get a bit more out of the box so stay tuned. See all of the sunflowers HERE.

Studying Matisse

'Oranges at Sea' 11x14 pastel ©Karen Margulis

I have been reading my big Matisse book that I got last year at the Art Institute of Chicago. I love Matisse and always have. I am drawn to the way he uses color and the way he simplified his subjects. We will be having a 'Matisse Night' in our next pastel class so I am studying his works in preparation for the class. This painting is done from a photo I took on a cruise. The girl was slicing oranges out on the pool deck. I loved the colors of the oranges and all of the blues in the sky and sea. I decided to use the colors in the Matisse painting 'Still Life on a Green Sideboard' and make them work in my painting. I used a piece of reclaimed Wallis...one I had scrubbed and did an alcohol wash over the remaining pastel. It was a nice middle gray. I like this color palette and will try it with another subject while I still have all the pastels out in my tray!

Taking down my Landscape Variations

'Blue Landscape Variation' 5x7 pastel
'Orange Landscape Variation' 5x7 pastel

It is time that I take my remaining Landscape Variations down from my studio wall. This was a project I did last year. I painted 100 variations of the same simple landscape, all of them 5x7. I hung them all together on my wall using paper crickets. (great little thumbtacks) I have enjoyed looking at them and remembering all of the things that they taught me. But now I need to make room for my new challenge.....100 6x6 sunflower pastels. See my challenge blog here. I have sold many of the landscapes but I still have some available and will be offering them for sale for $65 each. If you would like to read more about my Landscape Variation project you can visit my project blog here.

Bid on the Blue Landscape Variation HERE

A Slice of Summer...Watermelon Pastel

'A Slice of Summer' 8x10 pastel

We are going to be painting food in tomorrow evening's pastel class. My classes are working on a special project and we will get a head start in class. I will share more about it when it is underway. Painting food is a lot of fun and I forget how enjoyable it is. I prefer to use LaCarte paper for food paintings. I like the soft quality I can achieve on this surface. Now I am hungry for some nice sweet watermelon!

A New Painting Challenge! Sunflowers!

I am excited to share my new daily painting challenge. 100 Sunflowers in 100 days. I painted a sunflower yesterday and thought....why not make this into a challenge. I have been thinking about a new challenge but nothing was exciting to me. This idea has got me fired up! I was even dreaming about it which is always a good sign. I will be doing a sunflower painting a day for 100 days. Each one will be 6x6 and will be from many sunflower references and not just a variation on a single flower. I will be experimenting with different techniques and surfaces and will post each new painting with details on my special sunflower blog www.paintingsunflowers.blogspot.com
I will post them here occasionally but you can choose to get email updates at the new blog. I invite you to visit often or even join me and paint your own sunflowers!

This painting is available for $75

A New Sunflower painting! SOLD

'Make Mine Sunnyside Up' 6x6 pastel

I never get tired of painting sunflowers. As a matter of fact I think I would like to paint one every day. Wouldn’t that be a great challenge project! A Sunflower a Day. I’m sure some one has done this already but what a great way to explore pastels while painting a fun and happy subject. I have so many projects and ideas on my mind but this one would be a lot of fun. Consider this Sunflower #1 and I will be back with more.

Down by the River

About This Painting:
This is one of the 9 miniature pastel paintings I am offering this week in my ebay store on auction. I enjoy working on these small paintings and many times use them as studies for larger paintings.

Media: Pastel
Size: 3.5 in X 2.5 in (8.9 cm X 6.4 cm)

How to Purchase:
click here to bid on this painting

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Poppy Meadow 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

'Poppy Meadow' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

Here is another mini I have on auction this week. I had great plans to get in the studio today and work on a commission and paint some watermelon but my cat Maya decided to get lost! I spent 5 long hours worrying and searching for her. Somehow the back door got open and she went out. She is not an outside cat so I wasn't sure how far she would go. I left all the doors open in case she tried to come back. Luckily she must have stayed close and 5 hours later came back into the studio no worse for wear . I can't say the same for me though! whew!

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Painting Minis for a Change

'Along the Mountain Road' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel

Today I am sharing a miniature pastel painting done on a 2.5 x 3.5 scrap of pastel paper. I haven't done these minis in awhile and I always have fun with them. I am thinking about brining up my set of watercolors upstairs so I can do some minis in the evening while I watch TV. I am in the studio all day long and while I love my space, I need to experience another room every once in awhile! I will be offering 10 aceo size originals on Ebay auction this week. I love painting them but I really like to share them and have others enjoy them. Visit my auctions on ebay HERE.

click here to bid on this painting

Wednesday Night Pastel Class....Underpainting & Bird Nests

Have a look at the wonderful nest paintings done by my Wednesday night Pastel class. I put them all together in a collage. Each one is a little jewel! We did wet underpaintings and I had a selection of media to use. Some chose watercolor and some chose gouache. We let them drip and bloom and then worked our pastel on top of these underpaintings. It was so much fun to watch these nests emerge. I love teaching!
*If you are interested in pastel classes or workshops I have posted my Fall 2011 Schedule. I will be offering my Back to Basics Wednesday class as well as a child and teen class. I also have 4 mini workshops planned including a Plein Air workshop in the North Carolina Mountains with lodging included! Have a look at the schedule here or on my website. Email me at kemstudios@yahoo.com for more information or to register for a class.

Painting Some Gorgeous Cats

I am working on a commission to paint some truly gorgeous cats. My client has six beautiful kitties and I have painted three of them so far. I am having so much fun as she wanted them colorful which is exactly how I like to paint cats. These paintings are each 8x10 and I will be doing a larger 10x20 with all six in a window. I will be working on that next but I wanted to share these paintings. You can see the little color studies I am using for the paintings in the photo. I like to do pet portrait commissions when the client is looking for a more painterly look and not a traditional portrait. These are done on LaCarte paper which is my favorite surface for animals.

Bird Nest Original Pastel by Karen Margulis

'Nesting' 5x7 pastel ©Karen Margulis SOLD

I have been experimenting with my underpaintings this week. I am calling them manipulated underpaintings because instead of just waiting for an underpainting to dry, I am trying new ways to move the color around. After my class tomorrow I will post some examples. For this nest painting I used thinned oil paint and actually painted the twigs with the paint. I did cover most of it up with pastel which happens sometimes but the underpainting did help me with the pastel stage.

Monotype with Pastel

'Island Walk' 5x7 monotype with pastel

Today was prep day. I did 5 underpaintings in preparation for my Wednesday class. I ran out of time and didn't get to paint on any of them. I will do that tomorrow. We will be trying some different ways of manipulating wet underpaintings as they are drying. I had so much fun! I took photos and will share them this week. Today's painting is one I haven't posted. It is a black ink monotype on Rives paper. I added pastel to the print when it was dry but you can still see the lines and texture of the ink. I love doing these!

The Red Tree Autumn Pastel Painting

'The Red Tree' 8x10 pastel

I had a wonderful and relaxing birthday today. I stayed home and worked on the house and it feels great to be getting organized. I haven't had time just to paint for me lately with all of our home projects but I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Today's painting is one I did last fall but I had an inquiry about it so it was out for more photos. I am enjoying summer but I know I will welcome the cooler Autumn air soon enough.

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Price: $145 USD
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Painting Clouds

'Day is Done' 11x14 pastel

I have been painting clouds this week and loving it! This painting is actually one I did a few months ago but I pulled it out to show my class some cloud paintings. This painting was all about the sky but I couldn't resist adding the little twinkling lights of the distant town to the land.

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Price: $160 USD
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A Miniature Pastel Painting

'Pink Marsh' 2.5x3.5 pastel

I love to do these tiny pastels. Sometimes it is just a nice change of pace to be able to sit down with my pastels and relax. It is also a good exercise in learning how to simplify and be less fussy in your work. I found a stash of these minis that I painted this past January when I was on my cruise. I will be posting a few each week. I believe I painted about 80 of them! They will be available by auction starting tomorrow. I will be posting the link in the morning.

New England Landscape

'Summer Walk' 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is a landscape from one of my Nantucket Island photos. I remember that these fields were just full of color. I never realized grasses could be so interesting! This is painted on Uart paper with a dry Nupastel underpainting. Sometimes it is nice to just keep the process simple and when I want to do that I return to this particular technique.
I am working on my class and workshop schedule for the Fall and I have some great classes in the works. I will be posting the schedule soon!

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Price: $75 USD plus $5 USD s/h
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Aspen Trees

'Two Old Souls' 8x10 pastel

Aspens are my favorite trees and I really wish they would grow here in Georgia. I have to be content with taking pictures and painting them. Today’s painting is a demo I did in a class. We wanted to work on a close up landscape and we both chose these aspens for the lesson. I decided to do a value based underpainting with an alcohol wash. When I finished the demo I decided that the painting seemed too dark. I wanted to simplify and lighten it so I sprayed it with workable fixative and added more pastels allowing me to make the changes without making muddy color. I like the effect I get by painting over the fixed areas.

Nantucket Landscape Pastel

'Island Stroll' 8x10 pastel

I never get tired of painting from my Nantucket photos. I love everything about the island from the sea to the moors. I was hoping to visit my cousin this July but we had to reschedule the trip. We will plan a bigger and better New England trip for next year! This painting is done on Canson paper with the first layer blended. Today I did another Nantucket landscape with similar colors but on Uart paper. I will post it tomorrow so you can see the difference. I really enjoy both surfaces.
*Tomorrow night's pastel class is focused on painting the sky and clouds. Let me know if you wish to join us!*

SUMMER SPECIAL DEMO PRICE!

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Price: $75 USD plus $5 USD s/h
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Inspired by the Color Red

'Inspired by Red' 8x10 pastel

This painting is an example of what happens when the painting takes on a life of it's own. You know how you hear it said to 'listen to your painting'? Sometimes it seems like your paintings don't talk to you but when you see things develop that you might not have intended it is nice to be able to go with it and see what happens. I started this painting as a demo of clouds for a private student. It originally had beach/dunes and sea oats in the foreground. When my student painted the same scene she underpainted the sand area with red. I loved the red and imagined how it could be a field of poppies rather than dunes....so I brushed out my dunes, added red and turned the sand into a poppy field! My student left hers as dunes and did a wonderful job!

My Painting Accepted in the SPS Member's Exhibition!

'Pick Me a Bouquet' 18x24 pastel

I am happy to share that my painting 'Pick me a Bouquet' has been accepted into the Southeastern Pastel Society's Member's exhibition. The opening reception is Thursday August 18th at the Quinlan Visual Center in Gainesville Georgia. I am looking forward to seeing the other paintings. I am excited that my friend and student Susan Post had a painting accepted. This is her first show entry and I am very proud and happy for her!

Small Wildflower Meadow Study

'Murphy Meadow' 5x7 pastel

Today's painting is another variation of a painting I did a couple of weeks ago. One of the exercises I like to do is try several variations of the same scene changing the size, orientation, underpainting choices to see how I can expand on one scene. I find that after I plan them out and paint a few I am no longer relying on the photograph and I am free to interpret the scene without boundaries. It keeps painting time interesting!

Abstracted Landscape Pastel

'Morning Softness' 6x6 pastel

I didn't have a chance to paint today so I looked back through the recent months and found some work that I didn't post. I don't remember what assignment I gave myself for this painting but it must have had something to do with color and abstraction. I do remember that it was fun to just let go and paint without regard to using local colors. We are getting close to finishing our house projects and I will be very happy to have them finished so I can get back to a normal painting schedule.

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Price: $50 USD
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Tabby Cat Pet Portrait in Pastel

'Sleeping Jennifur' 8x10 pastel

This is my demo painting from last night’s pastel class. I demonstrated two techniques for painting a cat in pastel. In this painting of my cat Jennifur I did the initial drawing with compressed charcoal before adding the pastel. This painting is on UArt paper. For the other technique I like to work on LaCarte paper and I do a value map by putting in several layers of colors in each value….darks, medium and lights. I will post that demo tomorrow.

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Price: $95 USD
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Orange Cactus Bloom

'Desert Sunshine' 11x14 pastel

After painting the big poppies I decided to paint a cuctus flower with the pastels I still had out of my box. I also did an underpainting with gouache. I love using these vivid pastels. Every once in awhile you meet someone who thinks that pastel paintings are all soft colors...'pastel'. These intense reds and oranges certainly show otherwise!

Mr. Raven Pastel ...Daily Paintworks Auction

I have my painting 'Mr. Raven' listed on auction at Daily Paintworks online auctions. I really like browsing through the art on this site and their auctions seem so much friendlier to art buyers than ebay. Starting bid for this 8x10 painting is $75. Here is the link if you are interested.

Click here to Bid

Golden Lab Puppy Painting

'Golden Pup' 8x10 pastel

Here's is a painting of my Golden Retriever/Labrador pup Heidi when she was 2 months old. I wanted to have fun with the painting so I used charcoal to draw the puppy and left the lines as I added the color. Tomorrow evening at weekly pastel class we will be painting animals and I will do a demo of both this technique and my more traditional pet portrait.

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Price: $95 USD
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Daisies in the Morning plein air

'Daisies in the Morning' plein air pastel 8x10

Today's painting is a plein air piece I did in May. I spent the morning painting the daisies in the perennial bed. I tried different papers and underpaintings and just had fun experimenting with one of my favorite things to paint....flowers! We took yesterday off from house renovations to go to the lake. It was a wonderful day floating and enjoying the warm sun. Heidi absolutely loved the lake. She was non stop jumping off the dock and retrieving her the water toy I bought for her. I wish I took video but I was too busy throwing the toy! Speaking of dogs...this Wednesday evening's pastel class will be a session on painting pets or animals so if you are in the Atlanta area and would like to come just let me know.

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Price: $125 USD
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Large Poppies with a Gouache Underpainting

'Enveloped in Red' 18x24 pastel

I don't usually paint something for my own home but I felt my newly updated kitchen need a splash of red. The new floor and countertops are a light stone and I have reddish wood cabinets. I held one of my poppies paintings up on the wall and it was just right for the space. Since I sold my big poppy painting last week I decided to paint another version. This one is 18x24 and it is in a landscape format. While I was at it I painted an orange cactus bloom for the other wall. I'll post that one next. I am showing you the underpaintings that I did with gouache. It allowed me to be much more free with the flowers and I used a lot less pastel!

6x6 Sunflower SOLD

'Summer Sun' 6x6 pastel

I love Summer! Today my daughter and I had a picnic in the front yard with our new picnic blanket we got at the Home Depot. I have been spending a lot of time at Home Depot lately with all of our home projects and I always seem to find a little something extra. Our puppy Heidi joined us and then had fun playing in the hose. Sunday we head to the lake and I know she will have even more fun than the last time. The kitchen renovations are almost done and we are right on schedule. I am hoping to get some painting time in tomorrow! Today's painting is another little 6x6 pastel. I used Jimmy Wright's Great American pastel set for this one. Love his color palette!