father and child

pen and ink

I was cleaning out one of my drawers and found this drawing I did of my husband and youngest son. I had it printed out as a birth announcement. That was in 1991.

Back then I never worked in color. All pen and ink.

I am not selling the original but if you are interested I can draw a new one. email

olives on a spoon

8" by 6 1/2" daily pastel painting, unframed

I keep opening the olive jar and setting up those little guys in different poses. I wonder if they'll go bad quicker from being handled so much (I don't eat them).

Part of my collection at the Preservation Framer in North Attleboro, MA.

olives in a jar

8" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

Another still life I set up in the kitchen and took a photo of. I worked off the photo for reference.

I love olive oil but I never eat olives but I sure do like painting them for some odd reason.

$120 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

The January sale is still on and may continue through the next couple of weeks.

portrait of Jesse

This is a pastel portrait of my oldest son Jesse.

I've been working on honing my skills in portraiture. It can be grueling work to capture a likeness and I'm very happy with the results. Once I realized that working on a face is pretty much the same as any other subject it became easier. It's just a matter of isolating the various shapes and then fine tuning. Oh, and not being overly attached to the progress or results . . I have a tendency to get in my own way.
You'll probably notice that I got lazy with the shirt.
Anyone who knows Jesse would recognize him.

NFS

Another olive painting tomorrow if I can get started on it today. Also, the SALE below is still on! If you are interested in a larger work check out my blog of larger paintings. I have also reduced the prices on those paintings which include some oils and acrylics.

olives in a colander

6" by 8" daily pastel painting, unframed

No marbles today but there are round things in this painting. My husband was eating olives last night and I saw a painting opportunity and set up this still life with a mini colander.
I took a photo of it under bright lighting at night because I just love the intensity of night shadows.
I'm very satisfied with this piece which does not happen often.

SOLD

shooters

4" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

My shooters that I got off EBay arrived! They are so beautiful. I may share a photo of some of them.

I chose the dark background to make the colors pop. Yes . . the yellow one is cracked.

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

balance

5" by 8" daily pastel painting, unframed

This is another practice piece for the same larger painting that I mentioned in the last post.
A few more and I should be ready to start on the large painting. It will probably incorporate an element of each of these paintings.


SOLD

experiment 1

8" by 5" daily pastel painting, unframed

This is a bit of an experiment. I'm planning a painting for the next Connecticut Pastel Society show and this could possibly be part of the painting. I'm still working on multiple sketches.

SOLD

A bit of news - I won 2 awards this past weekend at the Blackstone Valley Art Association member show. The paintings that were awarded are Drumstick and Origami.

green marble

5" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

Another marble.

I'm practicing with various marbles on a small scale for a larger work. My guess is that the larger work will be easier because I won't have to squeeze my finger tips in little corners to blend the pastel.

SOLD

variation on Magritte's The Son of Man

5" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

I've been in love with surrealism as far back as I can remember and have been inspired by the surrealists in my own work.
So today's piece is a variation on Magritte's painting titled The Son of Man. The original painting is of the man with an apple in front of his face and more of a background. Since I'm searching my mind for more ideas incorporating marbles, I thought this would be a fun way to get my imagination flowing.

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Jefferson Memorial Art Challenge

7" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

It's been a while since I've participated in "Different Strokes From Different Folks" blog art challenge. Karin provides a photo and then everyone paints their interpretation of it. It's fun seeing the different results.

So here's my version of the Jefferson Memorial at night.

I've been featured on Lotsa 'Splainin' 2 Do blog. Matty found one of my digital manipulations on the web and asked if he could post it on his blog. It's a reference for a painting that I haven't finished yet.

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

7 Ball

5" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

Our stairs to the basement are very old and we've never repainted them. The pool table is also in the basement and I saw a photo opportunity.

The paint on the risers is peeled exposing the wood underneath. Thee are no paint chips though so we don't have to worry about lead and the granddogs wouldn't bother anyway.
I thought it worked quite well for the composition. Not quite a marble but it is a round ball.

$110 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

chocolate kiss

7" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

CVS pharmacy had christmas candy reduced by 90% and since I'm a chocolate addict how could I resist at 29 cents a bag! So I had to paint one.
I didn't want to get too detailed on this one so I focused on having the shapes suggest foil rather than painting every fold .
More marbles coming soon!

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

checkered floor

7" by 10" daily pastel painting, unframed

Another marble. Now how many ways can I represent these little gems without boring myself and everyone else?
I have some other ideas but the execution will be a bit of a challenge for a daily painting.

Hope you are enjoying these marbles as much as I am painting them.

$140 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

three marbles

7" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

I found an old bag of marbles in the closet and set these up. The last marble painting was referenced from image stock that I had permission to use. I much prefer to set up my own still life.
I checked out EBay for marbles and couldn't resist bidding on some 1" shooters. More marble paintings to come.

$110 with free shipping and handling in the US. Please E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

orange marble

5" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

I sold one of my marble paintings this week and it reminded me how much fun these are to paint. I have a few ideas involving marbles for larger surreal pieces for the future. For now I'll be painting a few more small pieces.
Does anyone play with marbles anymore?

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

dead bird

5" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

I found this bird on my patio last summer and took it inside to photograph. After taking a number of photos of it I gave it a proper burial.
I was amazed at the variety of color although I did push the colors a bit.

$110 with free shipping and handling in the US E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

apple a day

8 1/2" by 4" daily pastel painting, unframed

Another painting in the fruit and nudes theme. This is a "sketch" which I plan on using as a reference for a larger oil painting. Hands have always been a challenge for me and continue to be.

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US

E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

western sky

4" by 10" daily colored pencil drawing, unframed

Rather than just watch a movie tonight I brought my pencils into the living room and worked on this sketch.
I really miss New Mexico and Arizona. One of these days I'll move out there.

$100 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

nude and banana

3 3/4" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

I started a series of nudes with fruit about 8 years ago in digital format. This is one in the series which I plan to paint on a larger scale one of these days, but for now my goal is to become more consistent with small daily paintings.
The next two paintings will be part of this series. I'm happy to be painting surreal work again!
Part of my collection at the Preservation Framer in North Attleboro, MA.

finished elephant

5" by 7" daily pastel painting, unframed

The finished origami elephant.
The detail work was difficult on this scale but I think it looks fairly accurate. Next time I'll fold a dollar ;-)

$110 with free shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

origami elephant

Normally I don't post unfinished work but it's been such a long time since I last posted a pastel I thought I'd give you a sneak preview.
The reference for this is an origami elephant my daughter made for my youngest son as a christmas present. She gave him an old cigar box full of different origami creations made from dollar bills.
The finished painting will be posted tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by!