Day 7 Italian Air Space 3

Trying LaCarte paper for a different texture for the "Italian Air Space" series. It's amazing how just a specific paper can create a very distinct look and feel when applying the pastel.

"Italian Air Space 3"      7" x 10"      pastel        $145

Day 6

Here's the follow-up to yesterday's drawing. I'm enjoying these arial images and may run with it for awhile. I've taken some more photos from over Iowa....now I just have to find them.

"Italian Air Space 2"     8" x 12"    pastel   $285

"Italian Air Space"

Day 5 didn't go as planned and the Tuscany village is still in the works but I completed "Italian Air Space 1" Don't give me grief about how fast I work. This one was already 1/2 finished  and I like walking into my studio with a 1/2 finished piece on the easel. It's much easier to get excited about finishing something than being faced with that blank piece of paper. I almost always try to plan what I'll work on the next day to avoid the "white paper syndrome, which plagues writers and artists.

"Italian Air Space"      8" x12"     pastel      $285

This piece is on sanded pastel paper which was created using Art Spectrum's terra cotta colored pastel primer. I use an cheap brush so I can get all those textured marks.

"Casa Laurey Lavender"

Day 4 has one more entry to the "Casa Laurey" series. This time I'm suggesting, without drawing individual plants, fields of lavender. This will be the last of the "Casa Laurey" series but I'm thinking about an Italian village on the hill for the next series. All of Tuscan hilltowns that we visited were indeed on the hill, built there for protection and to allow all of the surrounding land to be used for farming.

"Casa Laurey Lavender"    7" x 10"    pastel

"Casa Laurey" Day 3

So here we are at Day 3 and I'm continuing the "Casa Laurey" series. I like working in a series to see how far I can push the color and keep the concept in tact. This first image is actually the 1st of the series and you can see that it's closer to reality with the soft sky color and the tan of the plowed September fields. Full reality would dictate the field color to be a warm gray clay color, but that's just too.... hum.....gray for me.

"Casa Laurey #1" 7" x 10" pastel

Today's image is another of the Casa Laurey series with the addition of sunflowers which bloom is late July. Since I was in Tuscany in September this is my imaginary version of what an overwhelming field of lovely Tuscan yellow could be.

"Casa Laurey's Sunflowers" 7" x 10" pastel

Day 2 for Pastel A Day

"Casa d'Laurey" is the second of my Italian series for "Pastel a Day" This house can be seen from the Val d'Orcia in Tuscany and I named it after my favorite tour guide - Laurey Masterton. Laurey was instrumental in organizing the trip that I and my 5 pastelling buddies took to Italy in September.

"Casa d'Laurey" 10"x7" pastel

You will notice a difference in texture between Day 1 pastel and Day 2. Day 1 is on a sanded pastel paper created by painting pastel primer on to museum board using a cheap student grade brush. I use this brush because I want the rough strokes to show. If I use a sponge brush the texture would be very fine, similar to the sanded texture of Day 2 pastel. Day 2 pastel was created on Sennelier's LaCarte sanded paper which has a very fine sanded texture and will have a smoother look to the final piece.

Pastel a Day

Yes, it's the old New Years Resolution time - only 15 days late. I woke up this morning determined to refocused on new pastels for the coming 2011 art fair season. In November I moved part of my studio to Artists' Attic in Victoria Square at 401 W. Main, Lexington, KY and I've been having lots of fun experimenting with oils and new directions for some pastels. But now it's time to get back to more serious work. Goals always help. So my goal for the next 60 days - the number of days before KYCrafted The Market at the Fairgrounds in Louisville is 1 pastel per day. And I'm going to post each new pastel every single day. Bets on how long before I miss a day?
Here's the first entry for my 2011 "Pastel A Day" adventure.

"Val d'Orcia Farmland" 8"x12" pastel

Just in case you're curious about some of the new oils, here's one that will be part of the Artists' Attic "Off the Wall" in studio exhibit. Reception at Gallery Hop Friday night February 18.

"Florence Tourist Morning" 40" x 30" oil

See you tomorrow!