Before Self-isolation

This is from the last "long pose" before the big shutdown and I picked it to be on my April newsletter - but it had to be cropped to fit the space so here is the full head and shoulders pose....mixed media. As I said in my newsletter, some artists like to get a very smooth effect with pastels by I like to retain the feel of the chalk strokes. Sometimes I think I'm a frustrated portrait painter - I'd love to be able to just paint and draw people all the time. The trouble is, I don't seem to be in the right marketplace for that. I think would be possible to draw at a 2 meter distance as that is about where I was from this model.- but, right now, the art centre is closed and everyone is self-isolating anyway... will just have to hope we can return to it all in the future...

Supplies

Every year, in February, Opus Art Supplies lists a prompt a day for sketching, painting suggestions. They can be fun to do as your imagination gets a bit of a work-out. With all the current turmoil around shopping and "stocking up", I remembered this one from 2018. The prompt was "supplies" so my immediate thought was art supplies- piles of paper, canvases, paint----- or maybe a backpacker heading off on a hike----- then I decided it would be fun to do a cat shopping for her own supplies so I sketched Isabella making sure she had lots of treats, catnip and her favourite toy. I put this - slightly shortened to fit the space- on my Loraine's Art News for March and people have been enjoying a bit of a smile in today's worrisome world. This year, I am still working on the "prompts" and having more fun in my sketchbook with different subjects.

More flowers..

What can I say? I'm looking forward to flowers! 

Although I have a garden full of snowdrops right now, I'm still looking forward to having bigger, lusher flowers. These are David Austin roses but I don't know the exact name as the plant was bought when a nursery was going out of business. I thought it was a "regular" shrub rose but it is actually a semi-climber. I have mixed feelings about roses - lovely, but I don't like thorns. This one redeems itself by having a lovely scent and a long blooming period. I was experimenting with a dark background again, here. Sometimes it works for a more dramatic effect - but sometimes very light makes for an airy feeling. I guess the only answer is to paint what ever seems best for the particular bouquet. I painted these from life but I did a bit more painting on it just recently--- sometimes it is good to return with a fresh eye.

January thinking

     It has been a bit bleak with grey skies and gloom  until we had snow but that was not much better. I had to go out and put pots covering all the hellebores to save them from frost. Since then, I have been working on a entry for Public Art for wrap-arounds for utility boxes. I submitted all florals as I thought they would be cheerful and it would be nice to see flowers blooming instead of a lumpy green box. This is one I submitted- "Red  Lilies" - a tall batch of lilies growing in my garden. I am looking forward to having flowers blooming again and thinking of different combinations that would make nice bouquets.

     I may very well have flower paintings for next November's GuessWho? art show. The paintings are all 10x10 on thick canvas or board and all sell for $100- so I'm suggesting to all and sundry - and doing it myself too- that we take an envelope, mark "10x10" on it and put $10 in it each month. Since October is the 10th month, that means that for the beginning of November (and this year's sale is on November 7th), there will be $100 in the envelope and saving it will have been relatively painless.