Another still life

Here is another study of beach pebbles from life. This one took a lot longer than the one I posted yesterday, and it used some of the same rocks. (Obviously the speckled one and the black one are the same, but also the little white rock between the black and red ones was in the last painting). I feel this is overworked, and it doesn't have any of the freshness the previous one had. Oh well! It was fun figuring out how to paint the granite pebble! Beach Pebbles IV, 2008 watercolour, 5 x 7 inches, $45 unframed

A Black Sheep in Every Family (Still life study)

Last month I collected a bag full of pebbles from the Irving Nature park for painting in my studio. Finally last night I got around to setting up some rocks to paint! I turned in my pastels in favour of watercolours however. This is the first of the two studies I did last night, and is also my favourite of the two. I like the freshness of it, and the shine on the black pebble. Beach Pebbles III, 2008 watercolour, 4 x 6 inches, $30 unframed

The Standoff aka more Beach Pebbles

Here is a small pastel that I did from a photo I took at the Irving Nature Park last month. There's a beach there with wonderful smooth sand and a plethora of beautiful pebbles of all shapes, sizes, and colours. I tried to make it look as though my initials are written in the sand. Not sure if it worked or not...
The Standoff, 2008 soft pastel, 6 x 6 inches, $40 unframed
Here is a crop of the same painting. I think I prefer this version as I find it more interesting without the upper rock.

More beach pebbles coming soon! :)

Family Farm - commission

Here is a commission that I've been working on for the past few weeks. It's the family farm of a coworker of mine. Now that I'm looking at it on the computer, I see a few things that need some work, but on the whole I rather like it. In the reference photo the crop area in the foreground was a lawn, because the farm is not currently functioning as a farm. Where my coworker wanted to present this as a memento of days on the farm, I thought it would be appropriate to change the lawn into a crop field. :) Family Farm, 2008 soft pastel, 10 x 22 inches, Private Collection

Reworked an older pastel

This past week I sorted through my boxes of finished pastels and picked out a few that I realized I could do more work on and make better. The first of these is 'Tributary', from a photo I took between Fredericton and Saint John last winter. This is what it looked like the last time I 'finished' it.

This is what it looks like now, although the colours didn't come out quite right in the photo. The colours are actually truer to the photo above, but as you can see, I put more detail in the snow clumps and water, and removed a lot of the branches on the left hand side.

Tributary, 2008 soft pastel, 7 x 10 inches, $75 unframed

Another copy..

This is another pastel that I've copied from Kim Lordier's work. I rather like this one, although I struggled with the colours in the background hills. Evening tree after Kim Lordier, 2008 soft pastel, 5 x 9 inches, NFS

Copying the masters...

For fun and the practice I've been copying paintings by Kim Lordier - who is a master pastellist. She has a website for those who are interested - just google her name. Here is a copy of one of her paintings:
Sunset path after Kim Lorder, 2008 soft pastel, 9 x 12 inche, NFS

More snow and trees...

This is also from a picture on wetcanvas, although I doubt the person who took the photo would recognize it. I am not totally displeased with this one, although I know that it could be much better, I'm just not sure how to get it there.
Sunpath, 2008 soft pastel, 5 x 9 inches, $50 unframed

From my own photo this time...

This is from one of my own reference photos. Last Christmas Erick and I went on a 4-wheeler drive through the woods out to his parent's camp on the lake. By the time we got there the sun was setting, and I got this shot of his parent's camp, with the sun in the clouds behind. The sky and the ice on the lake were both pink and purple.
The Camp, 2008 soft pastel, 5 x 9 inches, $50 unframed

Another mini

This is also from a photo on wet canvas. In the photo, the bottom half is a large waterfall which these rapids feed into. I though the composition was better in the top half, so I only painted that part. I rather like how it turned out.
Sun on the rapids, 2008 soft pastel, 4.5 x 4.5 inches, $30 unframed

A second attempt...

This painting is from a photo in the wetcanvas reference image library. I've painted it before, but this is the newest effort!

Sun Stream II, 2008 soft pastel, 4.5 x 4.5 inches, $30 unframed

Here is the old version:

Sun stream I, 2007 soft pastel, 11 x 14 inches, private collection

Snowy Trees

This painting was done from a photo I took on my way down to Saint John for a riding lesson last winter. I think it was in December or January. I took a lot of pictures that day, and I liked this one for its simplicity. I modified my painting slightly from the reference in that in the photo, all the trees were the same distance from the road.Snowy Trees, 2008 soft pastel, 4.5 x 4.5 inches, $30 unframed

Another Snow Scene

This painting was from a photo on wetcanvas. It's one of the most popular winter scenes in their reference image library, and as such people paint it all the time! These past 2 weeks I've seen three other paintings of it. I like mine the best though! ;) (That isn't usually the case!) For interests sake, I've posted the reference photo as well, below.

The Long Road Home, 2008 soft pastel, 9 x 12 inches, $135 unframed

Orchard after the Ice Storm

This is from another of mom and dad's photos. It too was taken after the big ice storm in 1997. The apple trees were covered in ice, and the sun was setting behind them. The photo is gorgeous, but I didn't do it justice here! :P
Icey Apple Trees, 2008 soft pastel, 7 x 12 inches, $85 unframed

Before the cut

This is from another photo of my parent's field. This was taken probably in mid July at least 10 years ago. The yellow and orange flowers are hawkweed - this little fuzzy flower that looks like a small dandelion and smells like vanilla.
Before the cut, 2008 soft pastel, 5 x 7 inches, $45 unframed

Oh, and I also uploaded a better photo of "Haymaking"... The post from Thursday Nov. 6th now has a better picture.

Another painting of "home"

Yet another painting based on a photo from my parent's farm! This is from a photo that was taken the morning after the big ice storm in 1997. Everything was coated with ice - even the fields, so much so that we could skate on them! This was the view from my parent's driveway, looking toward Minister's island.
After the Ice Storm, 5 x 7 inches, 2008 soft pastel, $45 unframed

Haymaking

This is from a photo of my dad making hay one July. This was also completed with no blending.
Haymaking, 5 x 7 inches, 2008 soft pastel, $45 unframed

Chamcook chicken yard

Another pastel completed following my "commitment to no blending"! This one is quite small, on a very abrasive pastel paper. It's a view of my parent's backyard, looking over the chicken yard towards chamcook and greenlaw mountains. The light in the photo was that pinkish light of a cold November/early December morning, and I don't think I quite got that across. I think I needed to go a little bolder with the colours used. Still, I like it because I like the subject material! :)
Frosty chicken yard, 4.5 x 4.5 inches, 2008 soft pastel, $30 unframed

More songbirds

After yesterday's cedar waxwings, I've made a commitment to try to paint without blending! (Blending is when you rub in several layers of pastel together with your fingers or with a blending stick.) When one doesn't have many colours of pastels blending is pretty essential, but I have enough colours now that most blending is unnecessary. In addition to wiping out the nice visible pastel strokes, blending also dulls down colours and makes them look muddy. So these two bluebirds were both done with a minimum of blending! I am fairly pleased with them. :)

Bluebird I, 2008 soft pastel, 3.5 x 5 inches, $25 unframed

Bluebird II, 2008 soft pastel, 3.5 x 5 inches, $25 unframed

Cedar waxwings

These paintings are from photos in the wetcanvas reference image library. They're both 3.5x5 inches, on canson paper. Cedar Waxwing I, 2008 soft pastel, $25 unframed

Cedar Waxwing II, 2008 soft pastel, $25 unframed