Off to Seattle!

The big Colored Pencil Society of America International Exhibit and Convention is this next week in Seattle. I'll let you in on all the details when I return late on August 3rd.

Cheers!

Nectarines - Finished

Nectarines 8 x 10" pastels on sanded board Sold

I think this is the finish! I got rid of the fold in the cloth...I think it distracted from the nectarines. I tried to add interest to the cloth with just color, and it turned out sort of abstract.

Nectarines - WIP - 2nd update

Left to finish ....just a little tweaking here and there to tighten up a couple of edges and the fold of the cloth on the left side.

Nectarines - WIP

This is from real life, trying to get in as much practice as possible as I just committed to taking a class with Deborah Bays. My painting/drawing from real life is a bit shaky these days.

Here is a link to some of Deborah's work:

http://www.abendgallery.com/html_artists/bays_deborah/bays.htm

What I like about Deborah's work, other than it's fabulous...is she describes her work as "light revealing form, and conversely, form revealing light". I don't think I could have ever said it that poetically, but I love that same idea and have been trying to explore that this year.

So back to my practice.....this is 8 x 10 on Ampersand Pastelbord with Terry Ludwig pastels (and two Rembrandts).

This is the first step for me...to get some semblance of color, value, and shape on the board and get it covered quickly...like in a half hour.

I'd like to get to step 2 and 3 today but we'll see.

Things are looking up.....

I so appreciate all the messages posted here and through e-mail sending
support and prayers for our family and in particular our son.

The good news is he is doing much better. It seems his problems have
been drug induced/aggravated. He has been taking massive amounts of
meds since brain surgery last summer.

He was able to get a diagnosis on his seizures while at Swedish Hospital in Denver
10 days ago. Actually it was more of a "we know it's not this" diagnosis. Swedish
has EEG/Video Camera monitoring capabilities which told us that his numerous
seizures (15-20 a day) were not orginating in the brain. There seems to be some
disagreement about what is causing them.

Since the seizures are not orginating in the brain, all of the meds can be discontinued
as they only work on seizures originating in the brain. Too bad we couldn't have
figured this out right after surgery...it would have saved a whole lot of heartache.

The meds are working their way out of his body now and he is really like a new person.
Hubby took him and our grandson for an outing yesterday and said he was doing great.
There have been no seizures since Wednesday.

There is a lesson here....know what is being put in your body by the medical profession.
I certainly believe in a better life through chemistry, but the very drugs that are supposed
to help our quality of life can also be sooooooo destructive. I think doctors are very overworked and stressed, just like most of society today. You become a chart rather than a patient and it's so easy to prescribe a drug and hope it works.

Again, thank you all for your support.

With a Twist - Finished

Well, at least I think it's finished for today. I will probably pop it into a frame and look at if for a couple more days and see what I think.

On to the next project ;-)

With a Twist 8 x 10" pastel on sanded board

With a Twist - 2nd update

Spent a little time on this today, correcting shapes, adding a wider range of color and value. Tomorrow I will try to make the final corrections and adjust edges.

Note to self....a half-peeled orange and it's hanging peeling don't last more than about an hour when exposed :-0

With a Twist - WIP

This is 8 x 10 on Ampersand Pastel Bord with Ludwigs and a few Rembrandt's and Schminke's for the soft pastels.

I'm doing it from real life since I don't have any pressing deadlines at the moment. This is great practice and I definitely need the practice.

All I have done so far is the sketch and cover the board with some basic values and colors. Still have a long way to go.

I haven't done much artwork for the last couple of weeks, so I am in the mode of forcing myself to paint which always makes me feel better, but getting started is a "bear"!

Just to share a bit......

My adult son has been ill for the last year and a half, and we are just coming off the last round of surgery and drug "aftermath". He had a tumor removed from his left frontal lobe last August, and has had doctors pumping anti-seizure meds and narcotics into his body since then. He was in Swedish Hospital in Denver last week and had extensive EEG monitoring done to find out that his seizures do not originate in the brain, therefore none of the drugs being pumped into his body will help, and probably have contributed to the nightmare he has endured. Take away the drugs with their nasty side effects and he is beginning to feel a bit better.

He has 3 adorable children (2 teenagers and a 2-yr old), and a beautiful wife who has the weight of the world on her shoulders right now. I know they are strong, probably stronger than most people....but my heart hurts for all of them....and it makes it darn hard to have the energy and focus to paint.