Halloween Cakes, Finished

Here they are! The finished cakes!

Happy Halloween

Faces In Fondant, Faces #857-858

I have all but completely abandoned my blog here, because I am enjoying other things more than blogging. No, I haven't given up my art...that will always be with me. I actually have about a dozen faces I sketched but haven't posted. However, I did want to share these faces in fondant I'm making for some Halloween cakes. Fondant is a rolled icing that you can work like clay. These are not flat pieces, nor are they completely 3 dimensional...somewhere between the two. Lots of fun, and you can make them ahead of time well before making the cake.

I will be sure to post the pics of the finished cakes before Halloween! Take care!

Forever Summer

Dating, the gym, a birthday, and many other joyful distractions have detained me from posting here. But here's a few pics of things I've done amidst the bustle...

I know it isn't much, especially in light of my lapses in appearance, but that's it for the time being. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Face #855, "Sand Dollar Moon"

It's a rainy Monday here in Central Florida, the kind where you just want to roll back over and stay in bed when the alarm goes off. Nevertheless, I did get up to tackle a to-do list and this is my first stop. I worked on this piece below over the weekend, shown in progress then finished.

I am still trying to put together five pieces for a submission, and this piece may be a contender. I have been really particular about it, and want to maintain a high standard of excellence before presenting my work for the venue in question.

More faces to come in the future. Until next time, take care!

Finally!

 Finally able to get back here to post! In just the last day and a half, I've joined a gym, worked out, lost four pounds, broke two hearts, had a flat tire, bought the perfect skirt for what I hope is a perfect date, bought some new home decor items, and what else...made this painting below! (Laughing) busy,busy,busy!

I promise I will try to get back here to post sooner next time! Also wanted to share a nice hearty fall recipe. 

This sweet potato hash is loaded with antioxidants. Microwave a sweet potato for five to six minutes, dice it up with skin and all, set it aside. Over medium heat, caramelize a cup of red onions in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in about two tablespoons of minced garlic, and a teaspoon of dried sage. Add in the sweet potato. Cook for about two minutes more, and either add a cup of fresh kale or a cup of frozen greens(I used turnip greens). If using fresh, heat until just wilted. If using frozen, make sure it cooks through. Adjust sage and garlic to taste, sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy, knowing that in a study sweet potatoes eaten over a three year period reduced participants wrinkles by eleven percent...that's one powerful antioxidant! For vegans, pair this dish with some cannelini beans. For omnivores, pair with roast chicken.

Until next time, take care!

A Quick Post

Just wanted to share this one 16" by 20" piece I finished yesterday. Although I have some other things completed, they will have to wait until next time. I call this "Tim Burton Goes To West Dennis Beach". West Dennis is a town on Cape Cod where I used to live quite a few years back. An old friend keeps kidding around, referring to pics he's seen of my beach scenes as being West Dennis. So I made this piece for him. It looks so much better in person where the color is so much more vibrant and the subtle nuances are more evident, and it made me think of Tim Burton with some of his wild movie sets!

I will post again soon with faces! Until next time, take care!

Face #854

Just a short post on a face I rendered yesterday. I almost left it as it appears in the first photo, simply because I don't believe I will finish the piece.I really just wanted to add to the count. But I did go back and added to it, as seen in the second photo...

I think I will be trying to finish up my goal before the three year mark at the end of October. I think. So stay tuned for many faces in the next weeks!

Face #853

Can't say I got a lot of work done over the holiday weekend. At least not art work. I did, however, compile a lot of research to pass on to my new rheumatologist. He says he's never had a case like mine where someone got hit as hard with severe RA and within months has only the mildest of symptoms. Without any of the medications and through nutrition. He was sort of in awe. I don't think there's a lot of us who have done it this way. I had a lot of opposition to my decision initially, in spite of all the positive information I found on my own. I submitted my story in an amusing fashion to "thug kitchen", with a pic of the salad, below. For those who don't know what thug kitchen is, it's a web site with vegan recipes presented in a very deliberately profane way...hilarious.

I made this 16" by 20" pastel painting today. Have had a sort of strange day. What can I tell you?

Take care, until next time!

Faces#852-#852

It has been the craziest, busiest week for me with appointments, a roof that needed immediate repair, a last minute painting that needed to be sent out, and about a million other things. Just crazy busy, but fun. 

The faces below, face#851 and face#852, just seemed to come out of me this morning when I sat down to paint. There was no plan at all. They are pastel on black Canson paper.

 This one was a birthday gift that I mailed off earlier in the week...

I have more faces drawn and more to say that I wanted to post, but am just so spent right now! Until next time, take care!

"Saltwater Taffy"

As I worked on this piece below, I was thinking about the ambiguity of the sky at times...where you don't know whether it's a sunset or if it's day break...could be either. A sunset reminds me of the day growing older; or if compared to a stage of life, moving closer toward the time of a great reward with God beyond this life. But day break....glorious daybreak makes me think of being born...of a renewal of life with God, robust with possibility. 

"Saltwater Taffy" 16" by 20", pastel

I have been trying to compile a series of five pieces for a submission for months now. But I think this piece along with one other I did recently are strong candidates, a good start.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Hard to believe it's wrapping up! Until next time, take care!

I'm publishing from my tablet again today with faces through to #850. Just 150 more, and I'll have met my goal for this blog. I think sometimes I could just rush it through, but then as long as I'm enjoying whatever pace I'm going, it isn't that important. Hey...I'll get there just the same. I try to have the same attitude about other goals in my life; to enjoy the journey and process unhurriedly... It's an adventure to be savored after all. People are noticing me a lot more lately...tell me I'm glowing, tell me my work is at its best, wondering what change has come over me. It's the renewed appreciation for life that God has given me!

I have another mixed media piece to show, and some sketches below...

"Lady Of The Shells" 16" by 20",mixed media

God bless you, thanks for visiting, and take care until next time!

A Day At The Beach

While some family members and friends of mine were at the beach this weekend, I was painting one! I had posted on Facebook the now framed and titled painting below, and my childhood best friend saw it and made inquiries about buying it. I told her "no", because it was a gift...but promised to make her a painting with a beach theme of her very own.

"Once Upon A Daybreak", 20" by 32", pastel and mixed media

Here it is before adding any of the mixed media elements...just a virgin stretch of beach.

Here it is finished. It truly does remind me of the shores of Cape Cod where we spent our summers as kids! She loves it and can't wait for it to arrive in her mail box.

Last night I added another face to my count, bringing me to 846!

And below, in what may be its finished state...

I wish everyone a good Monday! Until next time, take care!

Summer Heat, Faces #834-#845

This is my first time publishing a post from my new Nexus 10 tablet, so bear with me! I have added a new blog header, and a Gallery II page this week. And I'm finally posting the backlog of sketches I have had done, as well as a new piece "Summer Heat". The new piece, shown first, is 16" by 20"' pastel on mat board, below.

Then, below, I have a drawing in charcoal on a sheet of decorative paper...

And then, more charcoal as well as drawing pencil on toned tan and regular sketch paper...

That's the extent of my new publishing adventure using the tablet. Thanks for reading, and until next time, take care!

Untitled Mixed Media Piece

Wanting to escape from the world for a while, I turned my phone off and threw myself into working on this 20" by 32" mixed media piece (below) all day and part of the evening on Sunday. Still trying to come up with a title for it as of this writing, but it is to be a gift for someone...

Here it is below, shown in photographs as the piece progressed. I started with a large piece of mat board in a pale salmon color, painting the landscape directly on the board in pastel. Then, using both drawing pencils and pastels, I rendered the shells on pastel paper and cut them out to be attached to the piece. I also cut and added the marbled paper strips and triangles. 

In this next photo, I have added a scallop shell which I rendered and cut from a decorative paper with gold accents.

More decorative paper is cut, auditioned and added...

The finished piece again, below. I think I am going to go with a black mat border before framing.

Hope the week is off to a good start for everyone! Until next time, take care!

Design Considerations

Hard work pays off. Even if a person feels that their more raw ability is a gift from God, they may spend a lot of time working to nurture that ability. So to try to explain years and years of work, and the many design considerations that took place along the way...seems kind of ridiculous. Many times for me, rather than explain all of the preceding years, I just say I drew, painted or rendered a piece. But occasionally, on certain pieces, I do share the specifics of my process that went into that individual piece if it seems noteworthy.

I photographed the piece below, thinking for my intents and purposes, it was finished. Two more faces, done. And also, because by this point, I had gotten what I came for. It was a surface study of working with this particular type of mat board to not only see how it took the pastel, but also to maximize the color of the mat board beneath the pastel. I let more of the surface show through when painting the woman, than the man who is painted more opaquely, so as to make her seem to recede. Not only is the pastel applied in more thinner layers with her, but in some areas of what would be shadow or highlight there is almost no coverage with the pastel at all. While I don't know what brand of mat board this is, it was a pleasure to work with...an absolute pastelist's dream. 

 After the piece sat for a day, I decided to add a watery background. Not only because of the mat board color was a watery scene an obvious choice, but also because the way I rendered the couple: how they seem to melt and fade into each other and the background fluidly.Originally, it started out with just bluer water and sky. But try as I might to go with a more subdued color scheme, it didn't work in this piece. It sat on my easel for a few hours before finally nerving up to add in the pumpkin shades in the sky, and other subsequent changes. Lastly, I added the moon not only as a whimsical touch, but also to reinforce through repetition the direction of his face turned toward her. Although the man is rendered more opaquely and closer to the foreground, her more "head on" pose and his looking at her makes her the more dominant subject in the painting.

 16" by 20", pastel on mat board

That takes me to 833 faces. Can you even imagine if I had given this much of a lengthy explanation of every face I had done?!!

Until next time, take care!

Toned And Tan, Faces #829-#831

The "toned and tanned" in the title of this post is actually referring to paper, and not a person. Specifically, a pad of Strathmore Toned Tan papers suitable for both light and dark media which I purchased earlier in the week. Although I still have some other sketches of faces I have not shown yet, since I was "test riding" this new paper I decided to show these drawings(below). I probably like the second drawing the best out of this bunch.

While I was buying the Strathmore pad, I also bought two large pieces of mat board which I had quartered. I am anxious to use those and will do a few pieces on those soon. But maybe not all faces...I have been wanting to do some abstract mixed media pieces as well.

I find myself hooked on two newer tv shows. On Sunday nights when I'm usually too tired to paint or draw, I settle in for Showtime's new show Ray Donovon (excellent). The other show is not as new and I'm catching up on its first season of already aired episodes; is NBC's Chicago Fire. Both these shows are worth checking out if you don't already watch them!

Until next time, take care. And thanks for visiting!