Teaching Pastel and Selling Work

Felicia and I are continuing on with our 8-week session of our Art Boot Camp and so today was my turn to teach pastel to our students. I was a bit nervous because I love working in pastel (it is my first choice when working en plein air) but I have never taught it before. I wanted to be sure I could give good instructions to my students and help them choose shapes, hues and values which

Category › Pastel , Providence Art Club

Tuscan Vista

I entered my pastel into South County Art Association's All Media Open Juried Exhibit II (No. Kingston, RI) and won an honorable mention. That excites me, its my first pastel to receive an award. The exhibit runs from Oct 28 - Nov 13 and the opening reception is Thurs, Oct 28, 7-9 p.m.

Category › award , Pastel

Autumn Apples

Here is a quick, colorful still life I drew in pastels for Spring Bull Gallery's October exhibit titled "Step into Fall". Sometimes I feel like I have two completely different sides, one that likes to take lots of time with intricate colored pencil pieces and the other that likes to complete quick and loose pastel drawings. Hmmm.

Category › Pastel

Hot summer days in Maine

Sea roses on my walk along the Casco Bay.

New bouquet for the table in my favorite lime green rubber vase.

Sketching potted flowers in front of one of the shops in Portland.

Using the rough watercolor paper that I bought years ago when I had no idea about watercolor paper.

Tried adding pastels to just to mix it up a bit.

This is Jazzy, the other of my two very large 13 year old cats.

She is usually sprawled on the floor like an area rug.

Category › ink , Pastel , sketches , watercolor

Kamehameha Highway

This is just a quick pastel study for the June Virtual Paintout. I made a goal back in October of last year to do a painting each month for this challenge. I didn't get around to doing one in May and I'm really mad at myself. I should probably have waited til Monday to post this because I still haven't done my weekly painting but I'm going to be optimistic and hope that somehow I will finish one by then. Pushing myself is always a good way to get things done and I usually do work better under pressure.

Kamehameha Highway

Image Size 9" x 12"

Pastel
$100.00

Category › hawaii , kamehameha highway , oahu beaches , Pastel

Pasteling in New York City

I'm jumping around again. Quite a while ago, I signed up for Richard McKinley's pastel & oil workshop through the Salmagundi Club in NYC so here I am. Unfortunately, its been cold and gray but we've been having fun. Here I am on Tuesday with my painting of Washington Square and NYU buildings in the background. Working in pastel on white Wallis paper. We painted in the square all day and what

Category › Pastel , workshop

Sampson

This is my best friend, Sampson. We got him from the pound almost 9 years ago when he was 10 months old. This doesn't do him justice. He's not really this scruffy looking but I was having so much fun with his fur I got carried away with the texture. I think I gave him Terrier fur. Also, he's only got grey on his muzzle, toes and in his ears. I used a blue to give the highlights on the black but in this photo it reads more as grey fur. I'll fix that later. There are a couple of other things that don't look quite right so I'll look at it for a week or so and figure out where to take it.

Sampson is a German Shepherd/Rottweiler mix. We refer to him as our Shepweiler muttagree so that he doesn't have self-esteem issues. :-) Two breed mixes are the in thing right now so even though a Shepweiler isn't one of the recognized designer mixes, I don't think there could be a better mix. He is super smart, mellow, not an alpha dog, and he looks and sounds scary even though he is very sweet and would never hurt anyone. (Lizards and rabbits being the exception.) Actually, I think mutts from the pound make the BEST pets. I can't imagine finding a better dog than Sam anywhere.

I have been wanting to try painting his portrait for a long time. I even started one about a year ago using acrylic but I left the studio door open one day and a bird got in and pooped on it. It's not ruined but I guess I saw that as a sign that maybe it wasn't a successful painting. Everyone's a critic!

It took awhile to get a reference picture of Sam. Every time I pointed the camera at him he looked this way,

then that way. He refused to look at the camera.
I swear he was doing it on purpose. He's either extremely camera shy or just getting cantankerous in his old age. Anyway, after two days, he finally gave up and I got the picture I wanted.

This painting is done in pastels and I probably will try to do another one in acrylic or oil in the future.

Sampson

Image Size 13" x 18"

Pastel

Category › dog art , German Shepherd , nancy goldman , Pastel , Rottweiler

Tuscany Pastels Completed!

I have finally completed the five pastel pieces that I began in Tuscany last October. I can't believe it took me this long but I am really happy with the results and the struggle was worth it. Why was it a struggle? First of all my life has somehow become so busy with commitments that I just found a short block of time here and there. Secondly, I learned that trying to come home and work from

Category › Pastel

Tuscany Farmhouse

I've completed one of the pastels I started in Tuscany. The bottom photo shows my view and my watercolor underpainting. I use Wallis paper mounted on museum board so it doesn't warp when I apply the washes. When that dries, I apply the pastel. This is a simple farmhouse in the country, the field in front is growing grapes for a local winery. I was enticed by the rows leading up and down the hill

Category › Pastel

Pastel Workshop

These are two pieces I worked on in a pastel workshop last weekend. We worked in the studio from still life setups and I came home and finished them up. The top piece is done on Wallis Paper (white) and the tulips are done on Sennelier La Carte in a terra cotta color. Looking at these drawings, I realizek that as an artist I am a colorist. I love bright bold color! I tend to render objects in

Category › Pastel , workshop

Pastel Pear

This is a small pastel study. I had forgotten how much fun pastel can be.

Pastel Pear
6.5" x 4.5"
Pastel

Framed

Category › fruit , Pastel , pears

Italian Awning

Here is a pastel just to do something a little different. I started it about a year ago and decided to finish it this week. I love the looser, gestural look that pastels can give.

Italian Awning
13" x 8"
Pastels
Framed

Category › awnings , Italy , nancy goldman , Pastel , Shutters , windows