A bird. I have never attempted a pastel painting focused on a bird as the subject. A bit mundane, but yet, completely differnt for me. I have had some requests to paint birds, and realized that I had never painted one in pastels. So I needed to try something first. Sure, I have drawn many birds with charcoal, pencil and colored pencil, just never pastel. It was an interesting process.
Sorry for no pictures of the process (do you guys even enjoy that? Lemme know), just did not do it for this. Plus, this painting was fixed to a board for most of the painting process, making the process of taking pictures (or in this case, scanning) rather cumbersome. I did not even use workable fix to layers the colors. Instead, I used increasing more "softer" pastels to achieve the same effect.
Hope you like it. Enjoy!
Friday, October 14, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
And now for something completely different
Started a new painting last week and hope to have it finished in another week. It is a small one, 9x12", and so it is much easier to cover the paper. I really want to be more productive so I thought this size would be perfect. Plus, I like alternating the size of the paintings, it just seems more fun that way.
The reason I am not posting the painting in a step by step process is because the subject matter is much different than what I am accustomed to painting. I think that this is the first time that I have attempted this subject matter. No that the subject matter is anything original, but it is new to me.
Interest piqued? I hope so. Look for finished product in a week or so.
The reason I am not posting the painting in a step by step process is because the subject matter is much different than what I am accustomed to painting. I think that this is the first time that I have attempted this subject matter. No that the subject matter is anything original, but it is new to me.
Interest piqued? I hope so. Look for finished product in a week or so.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Now what?
Finished and uploaded.
What a relief. The picture I was starting to think I would never complete is done. And I must say, I am happy with the results. There were several times while I was working and reworking this that I thought it was going to be a larger orange mess. But that is the beauty of pastels. Just hit it with workable fix and repaint it.
I thought reposting the other pieces in the sequence would be a neat idea. Thanks P-man, I am glad you talked me into taking pictures during the painting process. Of course, now everybody knows how much of a slacker I was about finishing this one. . .but I guess that is okay.
Now, I need something else to paint. But what size and what subject?
What a relief. The picture I was starting to think I would never complete is done. And I must say, I am happy with the results. There were several times while I was working and reworking this that I thought it was going to be a larger orange mess. But that is the beauty of pastels. Just hit it with workable fix and repaint it.
I thought reposting the other pieces in the sequence would be a neat idea. Thanks P-man, I am glad you talked me into taking pictures during the painting process. Of course, now everybody knows how much of a slacker I was about finishing this one. . .but I guess that is okay.
Now, I need something else to paint. But what size and what subject?
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Finally Done. . .I think
Well, after a nearly 6 month delay, I have finally finished "Mountains of the Fall". . .I think. The truth is, I never really know when a painting is done and this is no different.
Do not worry, I will be posting a photo of it soon so you can decide. It may need more work, then again, it may be over-worked. Just not sure.
And of course, now I think the title will need to be changed. The painting has become more about the trees in the foreground and less about the mountains in the background. Sigh.
But it is done. I think.
Do not worry, I will be posting a photo of it soon so you can decide. It may need more work, then again, it may be over-worked. Just not sure.
And of course, now I think the title will need to be changed. The painting has become more about the trees in the foreground and less about the mountains in the background. Sigh.
But it is done. I think.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Mountains of Fall
Now this took much longer to post than I had intended (or more precisely, I really have not worked on this in like forever). The progressing is coming along nicely, I just need to set some time aside to paint. I tried something a bit different and went right to work with the Unison pastels instead of the Rembrants. It turned out okay, but it just mearns that I will be using more workable-fix on the backend (which this piece desperately needs, if it ever is not raining and below freezing on the same day).
I really like how the deep purples folding into shadows, just the way I was hoping. I think with more details, this could turn out to be a very strong piece. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.
I really like how the deep purples folding into shadows, just the way I was hoping. I think with more details, this could turn out to be a very strong piece. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Painitings of Snow
It would seem that paintings about snow are one of my favorite subjects. Just one of those funny observations that you make when you finally begin to catelogue the work you have done over the years.
I probably should have posted these a few weeks ago, it would have been more appropriate after the foot and half of snow that we received. And as should be evident from their style, these are older paintings done in the mid-nineties before I really knew anything about pastels and how to work them. I had no idea aobut uses workable fix to add depth. Nor did I know about the more expensive pastels. I was in grad school at the time and the $35 purchase for a set of landscape pastels was a luxury expense ($35 = 7 meals at Taco Bell). Glad I bought them. It is sometimes good to go back and look at the older stuff, it certainly gives me perspective.
I probably should have posted these a few weeks ago, it would have been more appropriate after the foot and half of snow that we received. And as should be evident from their style, these are older paintings done in the mid-nineties before I really knew anything about pastels and how to work them. I had no idea aobut uses workable fix to add depth. Nor did I know about the more expensive pastels. I was in grad school at the time and the $35 purchase for a set of landscape pastels was a luxury expense ($35 = 7 meals at Taco Bell). Glad I bought them. It is sometimes good to go back and look at the older stuff, it certainly gives me perspective.
Friday, January 14, 2005
Goddess
Been posting mostly grey and black and white pictures of late, so I wanted to show something with more color. This is one of those paintings that I like a lot, but am not so pleased with the name. Really had no idea what else to call it. I should track the original down and take a digital picture so that I can show the beach that she is standing on (why is all art pads 9x12 and all scanners 8.5x11?).
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Thursday, January 06, 2005
More Japanese Style Art
I love Japanese Art and although I have done some work inspired by Japan (and some out right swipes), I do not think that it has really influenced my style all that much. In college, I had a friend, Johnie C, who could create manga-esque illustrations that would make Shirow Masamune proud but I never really wanted to draw like that. Sure I thought it was cool as hell, but for what ever reason, it was not a style that I tried to imitate.
This picture was originally supposed to done completely in colored-pencisl and have a pagoda in the background. Several failed attempts to draw a realistic looking pagoda (that was in perspective) convinced me to try something. . .simpler. After much deliberation, I went with the pastel background you see now. Part of me wishes that I stuck with original design and part of me likes this result.
This picture was originally supposed to done completely in colored-pencisl and have a pagoda in the background. Several failed attempts to draw a realistic looking pagoda (that was in perspective) convinced me to try something. . .simpler. After much deliberation, I went with the pastel background you see now. Part of me wishes that I stuck with original design and part of me likes this result.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
New Year. . .Old Art
I had hoped to post some new art work this week, but alas, the holiday break was not as productive as would have hoped. I blame it on the good books that I received and all those college Bowl Games. Don't fret, I have not forgotten about my latest pastel painting and I actually did do quite a bit of work on it. Just not enough to post. But soon.
This finishes up the rest of my commercial art work (unless I find another vault of forgotten art, which is always possible). This is my first and only foray into furniture illustration, pretty satisfying, but not my cup of tea. But it does demonstrate to some (and you know who you are) that I can draw more than landscapes and women who can kick my ass. So there :P
The illustration started with a light pencil sketch followed up by wash (I used a sumi stick and not dilute ink). When it dried, then the pen and ink details were added. I really really like this combination of techniques and this just goes to show how much more versatile I was back when I was a teen-ager. The technique for the add is exactly the same as the fashion figure (I have the original lettering, but I am sure everyone is bored with those large sans serif letters). This one was never wrapped in ascetate and got pretty beat up, sorry about the glue showing through.
About ten years ago I had the opportunity to have this illustration shot on film by a rather large and expensive machine. I love the negative plate, it is so cool.
Hopefully, I get back to painting. So look for more paintings of landscapes. . .and. . .uh, pictures of. . .well, you get the idea.
This finishes up the rest of my commercial art work (unless I find another vault of forgotten art, which is always possible). This is my first and only foray into furniture illustration, pretty satisfying, but not my cup of tea. But it does demonstrate to some (and you know who you are) that I can draw more than landscapes and women who can kick my ass. So there :P
The illustration started with a light pencil sketch followed up by wash (I used a sumi stick and not dilute ink). When it dried, then the pen and ink details were added. I really really like this combination of techniques and this just goes to show how much more versatile I was back when I was a teen-ager. The technique for the add is exactly the same as the fashion figure (I have the original lettering, but I am sure everyone is bored with those large sans serif letters). This one was never wrapped in ascetate and got pretty beat up, sorry about the glue showing through.
About ten years ago I had the opportunity to have this illustration shot on film by a rather large and expensive machine. I love the negative plate, it is so cool.
Hopefully, I get back to painting. So look for more paintings of landscapes. . .and. . .uh, pictures of. . .well, you get the idea.
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