Friday, November 21, 2014

What's On My Easel


Yesterday and today were primarily spent in the studio, alone.  It was wonderful!  I cranked up Elephant Revival (amazing band out of Colorado), opened the window and painted until I was forced to put down the brushes.  I decided to start a new landscape, just to allow myself the freedom to loosen up and work out some of the rustiness.  It has been a while since I have regularly painted with oils, and to be quite honest, it's been a bit rough getting back into it.  I had to force myself to push through several bad attempts in order to get reacquainted with the paints and the way they need to be handled.  It has been very frustrating to say the least.  But yesterday things started to click again and that felt so GOOD!!!!

I still have a few finishing touches to add to the landscape, but it is pretty close.  I'll post a better photo once the paint has dried and the glare is gone. 

In the mean time, I am also finishing up a painting commission and hoping to have that completed in the next week. 

Maybe if I am lucky I will be able to claim some studio time over the weekend! 

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Light, Mountains and Clouds


I absolutely love the mountains. And clouds.  I really can't get enough of either.  Put them both together and I am in heaven!  Exploring the breathtaking and majestic beauty of this wonderful state is one of my all time favorite things to do.  What I find so amazing is that the landscape is always changing.  You can drive past the exact same mountain range 100 times and it will have a different personality each and every time. It has everything to do with the light. 

This small 6x6 oil was painted from a photo I snapped while driving home from a day trip looking at fall foliage.  The drastic sunset behind the range, the repetition of the gently curving fields in the foreground, paired with the back lit rain clouds made it magnificent.  Although I am happy with how this turned out, I really want to revisit this particular scene and play with the values and brushstrokes a bit more.  

Time to get to work now, I'm off to lock myself in the studio for the day!! 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Crunch time!


After a crazy fun-filled week with 7 kids under my roof, I am starting to get back into the swing of things!  Yes, you read that correctly, 7 kids ranging from 1 1/2 to 11. We had a great time, but needless to say, not a lot of artwork was accomplished for a few days.  :)

I did however manage to finish up this special commission for a beautiful friend in Sydney! It is a  sentimental piece that I was honored to work on and pray meets her expectations. 

With the holidays now rapidly approaching, it is crunch time!!!  I see a lot of late nights in the studio ahead of me. I hope my coffee pot is up for the challenge! I've also been busy packaging and preparing several commissions for shipment! It's been exciting and a little stressful to wrap these up and hand them over to the postman.  Anyone who knows me well, knows I am a bit of a control freak and giving these up to a complete stranger felt a bit reminiscent to leaving my kids for the first time.  That might be a slight exaggeration, but I can assure you, if I could hand deliver each drawing I would!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Keeping Busy


This week has gotten pretty busy, but no complaints here!  I am loving every minute of it and feel so VERY blessed!! I am really blown away by how quickly things have picked up!!

I finished this commission a few days ago and am working on several others at the moment, with a few waiting to be started.  The portrait commissions have been so wonderful to work on.  There is a certain level of intimacy in studying a persons face so closely.  I begin to develop a connection to each person that I draw and feel as if I know a bit more about their personality by the time I am finished. It is also a heck of a wonderful feeling to see/hear the happiness of my clients when they first see the completed piece! By far, that is probably the best part!!

Time to get back to work! Check back, I'll be posting more in the next few days!

Oh, and just in case anyone was waiting is suspense to find out what I thought of the Wolff carbon pencils... I have to say that I like them, but don't love them.  They aren't as smooth as the Lyra, but I plan to work with them a bit more before I make a final decision.




Saturday, November 1, 2014

In Search of the Perfect Pencil


This cutie is a commission piece I just finished up yesterday. It was also done in carbon pencil.  I am really enjoying drawing with carbon, but sadly I have worn my only Lyra Rembrandt down to a nub! In my search for replacements I was thrilled to discover a wonderful local art supply store downtown that I can't wait to explore when I have a bit more time!! Seriously, I was like a kid in a candy store! It was beautiful! I am fairly certain that the employees thought I was a bit strange... standing there wide-eyed, starring at the perfectly arranged rows of pencils and paints.  I don't care, it was wonderful. Sadly, they don't carry the same pencils I was looking for, but am going to give Wolff carbon pencils a shot.  I'm hoping I like them as much as the other.  I really can't wait to try them out. And, I guess if they aren't just what I am wanting I will have to head back to the art store to find something else try!