The Shell Seekers

I wanted to show this cropped close up of a painting I worked on part of yesterday and today. Since the piece is about 23" by 19", the close up is a more accurate portrayal here of the actual scale and work. There are things you otherwise miss when looking at the smaller overall image on screen. In any event, I like this section of the piece all by itself. Perhaps I will do more pieces with the shells by themselves. Maybe on the Shizen paper?

 I don't know if these two pieces below, are the beginning of a collection, or not.  I like the idea of shell seekers, and these two pieces are both a nice size. The first is about 23" by 19", and the second which I went back and finished is 20" by 17.5" or thereabouts.

These two pieces are not worked on the same surface. One is the smoother side of a Canson sheet, the other a toothier Fabriano Tizano sheet. While on the same theme, I don't feel the mood is the same in the two pieces.

I had a guest over my weekend, so didn't get in much work. Hopefully I will make up for it over the week. This should be a quieter one. I hope. And warmer, too!

Until next time, take care!

Charcoal Sketches

Just some sketches I squeezed in over the week...

The first one below was on the Shizen paper, with regular and tinted charcoal.

 Then a couple of quick charcoal sketches on some drawing paper...

Until next time, take care and have a great weekend!

Faces #767, And #768

For anyone who has ever had an adverse reaction to a medication, you will know what I have gone through for the last couple days. A medication that I have previously taken without any problem, is suddenly one I am now sensitive to, and which has made me miserable for the last few days. So that along with some other issues have left me recently less than productive, unfortunately.

This first piece below, 20" by 20", pastel, is either in progress...or not. I can't decide if I like it enough to spend more time on it, or if I should just move on.

 Here is a quick sketch in charcoal...

 Then... I bought this cart and assembled it (below)with its very narrow drawers hoping to house my ever growing number of pastels. It's a nice cart, wasn't too expensive, and I'm looking forward to having better access to my supplies which have been currently jammed up on another cart I've outgrown.

That's my story for the time being. I'm hoping to get in a few Shizen pieces for my next post. thanks for visiting, and until next time, take care!

Shizen-Shazam

I would like to have been able to say that I got as much done in the last few days as I had over the past weekend, but that just wasn't the case. I've been jammed up with errands and chores (groaning). I did, however, squeeze in this piece on Shizen paper as well as a five minute sketch in ball-point pen. For the Shizen piece, I wanted a strong emphasis on the tree as well as some deeper color in the overall composition. It was a gray day here yesterday, and this was color therapy!

I just grabbed what was lying around on the coffee table to do the sketch...the result; a gratifying five minute doodle.

I expect that I will be able to get a lot done in the next few days after having taken care of all those errands. that's the plan, anyway! Until next time, take care!

More Shizen Paper Play, Faces #762-#766

I sure am having fun with the pastels on the Shizen paper. I did these first two, below, on Friday...

 This next one is pastel on Murano paper, done on Sunday...

Then charcoal on Murano...on Sunday.

Two in graphite I did on Saturday...the first of which didn't photograph real well.

Those were my art adventures for the weekend. I don't have a lot of time this morning, but figured I'd at least get these uploaded and posted. Hope everyone had a good weekend! Until next time, take care!

Test Driving New Products, Faces #758-#761

Among the new goodies I ordered with a recent gift certificate, were two sketching sets. One is a sketching set of "hard" soft pastels. When selecting pastels for use, I not only look for color, value, and intensity; but also for different degrees of softness. Very soft pastels will fill the tooth of a surface more quickly, and are great for coverage. Harder soft pastels are better for actually drawing with the pastel, details, and refining. Many people work the hard pastels over the soft or vice versa. I have found myself doing either depending on what I was working on. The other sketch set I purchased in the pic below has graphite and charcoal sticks, as well as pastel, charcoal, and graphite pencils.

 The first pic below is just using the pencils in the second sketching set. I do like the nice availability of different values in the set, as well as having the option of filling in larger areas with the graphite or charcoal sticks if desired.

 This next face was done using items from both the new sketching sets as well as some other soft pastels I added for good measure.  I started with a loose sketch in charcoal pencil. Then, I used very soft Unison pastels over the harder pastels in this instance. At the very end, I went back over some areas with pastel pencil and charcoal pencil just to refine the details.

 Finally; while not using either sketching set, I tried another face on the new Shizen paper. I still don't think this paper is best suited for more detailed faces, but love the look of the background. I keep thinking maybe I'll do a bunch of swatches on this paper and combine them in some kind of mixed media piece. Or just use the papers for painting blooms and such.

I look forward to exploring all these new items more, and posting the results here! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Until next time, take care!