Sale of Still Life

Nectarines 8 x 10 pastel on sanded board

A very welcome event this week, a sale of one of my new pastels.

It's also been another spell of family issues so not much artwork is getting done. But I start my new pastel class with Deborah Bays next Wednesday. I'm so excited and will try to share as much about how my pastel work changes as I can. I suspect my colored pencil work will change as well.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Sunny Wall - WIP

Resource photo for "Sunny Wall" was taken in Mexico last November during my cruise and port stop in Cabo San Lucas. This little patio corner was so colorful.

Been working on this pastel for awhile...still have a ways to go but it is coming together.

It's 11 x 14 on Ampersand Pastelbord with soft pastels, mostly Ludwigs. The bright orange underpainting (see lower left corner for bare board) was done over the whole board with NeoColorII's. I wanted a really bright warm hue to show through.

I have a least a layer of soft pastels on everything except for the chair shape (lower left). Today I worked on the focus, the flowering bush.

Dry Brush Technique

This is for Ann ;-) She has asked the most recent questions about the dry brush technique, but I get questions alot about what kind of brush and what kind of results one should hope to achieve.

Many colored pencil artists have their own way of using the dry brush technique involving different papers and pencils. But this is the way I use it on the Ampersand Pastelbord with Coloursoft pencils by Derwent.

The Coloursoft are a bit more chalky than Prismas (Prismas being quite waxy), and when you brush them with a stiff bristle brush they behave a bit more like a soft pastel. Which happens to be the effect I'm after.
Here is a close up of an actual brush that I have used.

A pic of brushes that I bought in a packet at the craft store for about $8.00

This is the results I have achieved testing on gray Ampersand Pastelbord. You can see that the Coloursoft blends more than the Prismas.

I save my Prismas for working on Stonehenge paper where I also use the drybrush technique sometimes. That's a posting for another day.

This dry brush technique is what I used on the "Nectarines" colored pencil piece posted August 12th. The only drawback to this technique is that some of the chalky Coloursoft will brush off and you have to apply more layers. I don't brush too often towards the end of a piece....I usually result to using my fingertips to move the pencil around and to smoosh it into the board.

More Nectarines

Setup Photo - I found this clunky piece of wall art at the craft store in the clearance aisle for 50 cents, and then painted it black. These are my two trusty nectarines from the previous pastel post. I set it up in my nifty black box I made, with some fabrics from my quilt stash as backdrops.
Step 1 - Using my Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils, I covered the tan Ampersand Pastelbord with basic values and colors and smooshed them in with a stencil brush.
Step 2 - More colors, more values and more layers.
Step 3 - the clunky art piece in the back is starting to take shape with value, color and reflected light. More color, more layers.
Finished piece - Nectarines 8 x 10 colored pencil on pastelbord. SOLD

I am finding that my colored pencil work over the last few years has really influenced my recent pastel work, and that my recent pastel pieces have REALLY influenced this latest colored pencil work. I was using the cp's more loosely and more quickly than I have done in the past.

I can't wait to see how this all plays out when I start my pastel classes with Deborah Bays in Sept.

Pirates Captured Me.......not really!

I think this is one of the longest dry spells I have had on my blog. So sorry to be away so long.

The CPSA Convention in Seattle was marvelous. The weather was on the chilly side, what a nice change from 104 degrees back here in Denver.

The Renaissance Seattle was a great hotel. I am not too adverse to problems happening while staying in a hotel...things are bound to go wrong occasionally. Rather it's how you handle the problems that makes an impression on me. My toilet was on the fritz the very first night....when I called in the morning they were up immediately to fix it. I was happy.
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/seasm-renaissance-seattle-hotel/


The banquet room, membership meeting room, hospitality suite, conference rooms were all well laid out, well equipped and perfect for our needs. You could see the Space Needle and a great view of the Puget Sound from the 28th floor lounge (I even had a nice view of the Sound in my room). The food was lovely! Some of the wait staff needed a few lessons in humility but "ah...to be young!"

The week was jam-packed with activities, but I did manage to make a trip to the Seattle Art Museum to see the traveling Impressionist Exhibit. It came through Denver several months ago and I didn't make it to the Denver Art Museum....so I was thrilled to be able to see it in Seattle.
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibit/exhibit.asp If you have a chance to see "Inspiring Impressionism" take the time...it's worth it.

The CPSA International Exhibit is still on display until Sept 29th at the Seattle Convention Center (within walking distance to the hotel). It's a huge public space but the artwork looked wonderful on the walls. Sorry, I didn't get any pics of the exhibit. My camera was home on the kitchen table.

My 60th birthday was the travel day home from Seattle, but the week at the convention was one long celebration. It began with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Pike Flower Market sent by my life long best friend Sharon. She called all the way from central Nebraska to Seattle and arranged to have them sent to my hotel. I didn't even tell her where I was staying. They were waiting on the desk when I arrived in my hotel room.

Next year the CPSA Convention will be in Atlanta, GA. Hope many of you cp'rs that visit my blog will consider coming.....it's an awsome time. The people you meet are the best part.