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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Two more paintings

    

      Another two from this weekend. I didn't have enough time to take photos and post as my mom, dad and aunt came up for a visit.
 
This one is of Connor, Cassies brother.  It was suppose to be an hour, but ended up double that because I was having so much trouble with his face.  It was too flat looking, and I was having trouble with the shadowing and having stripes at the same time.
   
Connor
Canson smooth side 9x12 pastel



Vermont Field
 9x12 Canson smooth side pastel
 This is from a hiking trip this past summer in Vermont.  I drove Russ my husband and daughter crazy because I kept stopping to take photos.  Its suppose to have Queen Annes Lace flowers in the forground that I didn't get time to in for the  1 hour sketch limit.  I can't decide if I should continue or not.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Sitting Pretty

9x12 Pastel on Canson

This is one of the one hour sketches finished. The sketch itself looked like a puppy and considering I was suppose to drawing an adult, I went back in and fixed it. Another 1 hour to do that.  Generally the lower jaw was too small.  Lots of other little things.

Here is the one hour sketch

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

RIley smiling


8x10 pastel on canson
My 2nd offering today for the one hour sketches that I would like to get done daily. This is Riley as a big boy, I went over by 5mins again for a touch up.
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Casie on Red Stripped Towel

8x10 Pastel on Canson- smooth side
Another 1 hour study from yesterday I didn't get the photo because the battery died. This is Casie our tinest cat in the house. She stays mainly upstairs, not liking company or the dog. I have a little timer that I set for an hour, but I noticed that I forgot whiskers and her nose looked strange. So I need to add on another 5 minutes.
I'm going to try to get atleast 1 one hour sketch out a day before I start in on other paintings.
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Thursday, February 18, 2010

RIley Pup

9x12 Pastel on canson

I had a little time today to do a 1 hour sketch. I really should be doing them more often, but its been ignored lately. I'm glad I did because it, the sketch reminds of the its importance Getting the quick broad gestures down, cuts all the tiny mark making and really plays a big importance in understanding value. You have to block in your values and then layer. This is my pup Riley looking all innocent and stuff.
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Monday, February 15, 2010

Icy Barn

 
11x14
Pastel
colorfixed primed matboard


 A different painting while I try to decide what to put into the House on the Hill painting.

I haven't done many snow/winter scenes, so here is another go at it.  An Amish farm down in Pennsylvania.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

House on the hill

10.5x14" on watercolor paper coated with burgundy colorfix primer

A new painting started from yesterday. I started from the sky which I don't normally due and I'm working my way down to the foreground. Although last night at about midnight I wanted to ruff in the value, hues and intensity before I forgot what I was thinking. So alot of patchy stuff at the bottom.

The house in the distance was horrible to work with! I continually messed up straight lines on the roof, thereby having to re due sky area, to which I didn't want to fool with. It was originally a different type of house with the windows set halfway into the roof line..without dormers and two stories. It had a strange addition off to the left side that I just couldn't make "real looking". So off with that house and onto a more"New England" type of house. Buildings are my nemesis. I also added New England type trees, where the photo was all pasture.

Originally there is a sheep on the left side, the untouched spot (red section). It is quite big and staring into the camera. Now I'm not sure if I want to put him there...maybe a few grazing ones further into the painting.

Lets hope I don't mess it up, since I have decided to post this as WIP(work in progress).
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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

2 cows grazing more

Another update to the cow painting. Trying to add further darks into the painting. Adding more warms into the foreground again.




Hoping that this is the finish. I increased the lights on the cows and played around with the shadows on them. Darkened the grass with greens, blues and oranges.


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Monday, February 8, 2010

2 Cows Grazing in Field

12X16" on mat board coated with colorfix primer



A new painting this week. I needed to do some more landscapes and wanted to give the cross-hatching a break. I started off with nupastel for the under painting and began to ruff in the mountains and sky first. I hated the mountain color and decided that the house and barn were much too large for its placement. I like the cows though :)


I decided to wash it off thanks to the colorfix primer. You have to really look, but I changed the house barn to an intirely new one with the side facing into the sun...and smaller. Not much else besides ruffing in the irrigation stream.


I then changed the mountain to a purple pink and got bored with the regular type of strokes with the side of the pastel. So I started cross-hatching again. The house looks much better and shows more atmosphere now.


Added more green to the front trying to get warms in front and cools in the back. I added more greens to the tree line toning it down somewhat.



This last one had more darks added to it to increase the value range in the painting. Larger strokes in the forefront, smaller as it goes back. I lightly suggested a path going opposite direction of the water/weeds hoping to create a zigzag effect.

I'm going to sit on this for a bit and decide if I need to add something else.


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