Latest photographs

Here's Charlie! This is a a 45-minute conte' drawing done at the Marathon put on by Phoenix Art Workshop. This was the first day, first set of poses and Guy posed as Charlie Chaplin. I might put in a couple of 3-minute sketches if I can get them to photograph because he had some good poses. This one was with a stuffed animal. I had a decent day getting photos of some of my recent conte' work...the light has to be right. I'm wondering if I can get some other hard pastels as I haven't been able to find any more coloured conte'. I've got lots of the black, white and siennas used for sketching but the other range of colours seems to have disappeared from the market. I prefer them to soft pastels for the kind of work that I do. They are certainly easier to carry around as there is not the same need for a huge assortment of colours. Also, I don't need the really expensive paper such as used for soft pastels. I just use Canson Mi-Tientes and then give them a light spray with a fixative.
One virtue to drawings of all kinds is that paper is easy to stack and they don't take up the space that canvases do. The disadvantage would be if I wanted to show them in a gallery, they would all have to framed under glass. So far, I'm just enjoying do these and I'm not thinking of showing the conte' work..... and now I really am at the end of the month!

End of the month already !

This has been a very *fast month* and I'm behind in photographing paintings and new drawings even 'though I  have a number from our workshop and then a whole weekend of Marathon drawing and painting - so more posts will follow. In the meantime, here is a painting that is going to go off to the BC Cancer Fund for the "Daffodil Ball" auction. It is "Spring in the Park" and I hope someone decides that it is peaceful to live with.  I love reflections- a whole, magical - even if upside-down - world.

Bouquet for this month-

Here is "Dahlia Bouquet" which I will use on this month's newsletter ...still to be done. Margreth grew the flowers which are the loveliest dahlias I've seen and then made this gorgeous bouquet - which just *had* to be painted! Of course, this was in the summer but I'm posting it now. The weekend painting project , mentioned last post, went very well. I haven't photographed the painting yet so I will probably post it next time. It has a bouquet in it too. Flowers are an interesting challenge as I think they should be recognizable as to type of flower, yet not be fussily "tight". I let this bouquet extend beyond the canvas so that there is a feeling of continued life beyond the frame. The funny thing is that I don't think of myself as a flower painter - I would love to do portraits almost all the time!- but I have actually sold all the bouquets that I have painted as well as many garden scenes. Well, I like flowers  so I suppose it shows. I  used gel with the paint to build up a bit of texture for surface interest.

Into a New Year

This one is called "Waiting Time" and was done last year at a workshop. The project was multi-media and the plan was to move a little bit more abstract. We had a model as a "starting point" reference.  The idea also was to put some personal feeling into the piece. Several things in my life then involved waiting so I felt a waiting and a time theme would work with the pose. This is painted on a cradled board. Three are several bits of collage = a textured wall paper strip makes the shelf- the original colour is the green at the right. That in turn inspired the green for the dress. I textured that  as it needed something more. The small clock is collaged and also several bits of the necklace and part of the earring. The figure is simplified and the neck lengthened- all experimentation. Next Sunday we have a painting session with the same model but a whole different theme and it will be just paint, not collage - as far as is planned. Of course, collage can always pop in if the work calls for it.