Pastel class 3-14-09 and an ACEO

I missed class last week as I was in Portland, OR for a Colored Pencil Society of America Executive Board meeting. Portland was rainy and chilly but oh so beautiful and green! Coming from Denver which has become a dry desert area to the moisture and foliage of Portland seemed like such a relief.

Lots of productive planning and work was accomplished, good food consumed, and funny stories shared. It's such a great group and certainly is my "art family" across the US.

This week in pastel class I am continuing to build up layers of color with lots of texture and refining the drawing as I go. I also adjusted the shadow shape on the left...it was too diagonal for my taste before. Still lots of work to go, but I at least can see a few steps ahead of where I am....big improvement over where I began my pastel journey. I had no plan and no idea where I was going with any given painting.

Yesterday I continued using hard pastels (NuPastels)and also used some of my pastel pencils to give me a broader range of colors. I need to order a larger set of NuPastels.

Deb shared progress on a painting she's been working on, and we talked about composition and the need for space around your composition, particularly as it related to her painting. Such a big difference from her original somewhat cramped sketch to where the finished painting is going....same view, same subject....just more space and infinitely more interesting with a beautiful abstract quality.

I wish I had more space on the sides of this painting...but it's just paper and just a learning exercise.

Close up of cobalt blue bottle

ACEO

Many years ago I had a woodworking business and I had over 100 designs for wooden ornaments...I sold them under the name of Corn Street in various gift shops in Denver and Omaha. I recently have been considering repurposing the designs for ACEO's (Art Cards, Editions and Originals.)

This was my first using Stonehenge as the support and fabric, machine and hand stitching, embroidery threads, black quilting thread as the whiskers, acrylic paint, ink and buttons. The back is covered by another 2.5" by 3.5" piece of Stonehenge to cover up the stitching and provide a place to sign the ACEO.

I also will try a few with watercolor or acrylic....although the fabric is fun...the painting would be faster.

These pieces will be available in my Littleton Studio shop at 1000 Markets and Etsy.