A Day in the Studio

'Pink Poppy Profusion'        8x8       ©Karen Margulis
available $145

It is great to get back to normal. But what exactly is a normal day in the life of a full time artist?  Join me as I share my day. (which didn't really turn out to be so typical) I was excited to get down into the studio today. I had two commissions to work on so I wanted to get to work early. I was off to a good start. After answering emails it was time to clean up my trays of working pastels. Every week I clean and put away these pastels so I can start with a fresh palette. I was just getting into the groove when BAM...the power goes out. No rain, no wind. It is a beautiful day. When a few minutes went by with no power I looked on my phone to discover that my entire neighborhood was with our power.

Plan B.....I get changed and head to the thrift store for a little mindless treasure hunting. There was no sense hanging out in the dark waiting for power. After a couple of hours I check and see the power is back on so I head home for lunch. I get back to work.

choosing my palette in advance

My commission was to paint some pink poppies. I had several references from a meadow filled with beautiful pink ruffled poppies. I select one and paint my commission. When I was finished I was reluctant to put the pastels away. I loved the colors! So I decide to paint another variation of the poppies. This is something I do often. If I like the subject I take the reference and try to interpret it in another way. 

using a piece of demo paper Uart 400...photo reference of a past painting

I spot the piece of Uart that I used yesterday to demonstrate the wet paper and pastel technique. I am not one to waste a perfectly usable piece of paper so I decide to use it for my poppies. It is 8x8 so it would be a fun challenge to make an interesting square composition.

Since there was a blob of thick green pastel in the middle of the paper, I had to decide how to start the painting.  I choose to draw my poppy shapes around the blob and block them in with the darkest pinks from my tray. This was just playtime. I had no real plan and that is OK sometimes. I decided to just let go and feel my way around the painting. I work back and forth between the flowers and the background until I feel it is finished.

feeling my way through the painting....blocking in big shapes

finished!

I finish the painting around 4:30 in the afternoon.  I take the final photo and download the photos onto my computer. The next thing that I usually do is take a snack break and work on my blog post. I crop the photos and add them to a new post. And that is where you find me at 6:19 pm...putting the finishing touches on my blog post before heading upstairs to begin my evening.

Hmmm, I wonder what tomorrow will bring!?