the Golden Pear

This is 8" x 10" on Pastelbord. I'll be back to my favorite format (6 x 18") for the next one! I scanned it in so it is doing something weird to the edges and the grain appears larger - but oh well it AGAIN gives you an idea of what it looks like.

I just was inspired looking through my latest copy of Pottery Barn. I know its not a magazine - its a catalog - but I can thumb through it just as long. For summer they have all the beach gear displayed and along with it was a little grouping of light green/aqua/light blue bottles that would look so good in my favorite format with a couple of white seashells. Well now I guess I have something to hunt for at the thrift stores and garage sales where I get most of my still-life models.

I'm on a roll with these drawings but unfortunately I have to take a break tonight and fold some of this laundry that is accumulating. I've been putting it through the washer and dryer but not folding it and putting it away. Back to drawing tommorrow!

Fiesta Orange

Here's another one for Monadnock Fine Art Gallery - one step closer to that 6-10 pieces I need to bring in. I'm starting to get tired - I guess this momentum can't last forever. I love the rendering of them all, but coming up with the compositions and lighting them just wipes me out. I set this still-life up the day before I did the sidewalk drawing and then yesterday when I got back from Art Walk until I went to bed and today all day I've been working on the rendering.

I am terribly excited however to finally use one of the fiestaware mugs that I purchased on ebay. I bought 10 of them in all the different colors and they've been waiting impatiently to find a spot in one of my still-lifes. :)

I'm ready for a real coffee now! :)

Sidewalk Drawings!!

We did it! Jess Ventura and I made chalk drawings/paintings on the sidewalk in downtown Keene, NH for our town's Art Walk artist demonstration day. We weren't the only artists there, there were a lot of demonstrators, but we were the only ones kneeling on the sidewalk and getting filthy. Yes filthy. Not only downtown regulars got to see the work but many of the schools in town had field trips to come see the artists and artwork and they really enjoyed the chalk drawings.

This was the first time either of us had done this and I haven't even used pastels besides once in high school, so we were both a bit worried about how it would go. We learned some tricks though so if you ever want to do one and need some tips email me!

Check out that image above all this babble - up there - a caterpillar somehow appeared and was crawling through my drawing in progress. I was really surprised at how much he smeared as he went through!

Cherries!

Can I just call upon my readers to help me with titles here? I have to say that rarely does a clever title come to me. I usually use names like Edward Hopper that literally describes the scene: "People in the Sun", "Sun in an Empty Room." Maybe I should start naming things like James McNeill Whistler, based on music but still just descriptive: "Symphony in White," Arrangement in Flesh Colour and Black," and most famously, his portrait of his mother "Arrangement in Grey and Black." I guess "Arrangement in White, Red and Blue" would suit this piece just fine, but I feel like I'd be treading on Whistler's toes.. So again, I call upon you nice people to help me with titles for these two pieces!

& the usual disclaimer: These photos are just terrible. Red just does not like to photograph well (it likes to flatten), plus since I've gotten back from Alaska my camera has taken mostly blur. :-( I may try again outside to see if it is better, but I like how my blog photos remind me of why I pay a photographer to shoot my work. My photographer, Mark Corliss, is a saint if you ask me!

You may be noticing that I've been working pretty hard since I got back from Alaska. Well, I think the trip has rejuvinated me, so expect to keep on seeing more and more work from me!

Tommorrow is the big sidewalk chalk painting day! If you're in Keene I'll be the one covered in pastel dust kneeling on the sidewalk creating artwork that will be washed off in the rain much too soon! See my last post if you don't know what I'm talking about. The time of the demonstrations for Art Walk is from 9-2 but I'm not sure what time I'll be getting there yet. It largely depends on what time I can get a babysitter!

Art Walk in Keene & Red Globe Grapes

Its Art Walk in my town again. Art Walk is a week long art show in downtown Keene, NH on Main Street and adjoining streets. The Main Street Merchants generously donate their window space to area artists so people can stroll down the street looking at the artwork of many artists at one time.

I'm showing just a small sampling of my work in the window at Bagel Works aka the Works at the end of Main Street. Wednesday is artist demonstration day when the kids from the schools get a chance to go on a field trip to see the work and participating artists are working for the kids and others to see. Jess Ventura and I will be doing sidewalk pastel drawings right outside of Creative Encounters framing who is sponsering the drawings.

& now finally here is a new piece I've just finished sans tweaks. Size is 6" x 18" my favorite! The photo is just terrible making all the reds the same and blending the red grapes right into the cloth on the right. Oh well! You get the idea. This one will be going to the new gallery in Keene called Monadnock Fine Art Gallery. They want 10 pieces - at least 6 to start - from me. This is number 3 so I've got more work to do!