Foothills

"Foothills"
8" x 20"
Pastel on watercolor board

The peaks in the distance looked like mountains to me, but the locals laughed when I referred to them as such. The big boys soar well above these, but they're also quite a distance from my friend's home. So I settle for the foothills when I visit my girlfriend in Colorado. 

I broke two pieces of my hard pastel as I began this painting. When I picked up one of the broken pieces, I squiggled its side, instead of the tip, on the board. It left a nifty mark. I did the entire painting with the sides of broken pieces.  It has an Impressionistic quality to it. And once again, the subtleties are not captured by the camera. It's pretty translucent and overlapped in reality.

Carol

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Path to the Fence

"Path to the Fence"
5" x 7"
Pastel on gessoed canvas panel

The landscape was a simple one, it was the textures that intrigued me. There were only a few elements, but they were gnarly and nubby and easily represented on this surface.  

I used the clear gesso on a previously painted and sanded down acrylic painting. The rep at the art supply store told me it would be possible, so I tried it. The underlying texture made for interesting new textures for the pastel painting.  I'm liking this medium more as I test its limits.

Carol

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Nautilus

"Nautilus"
6" x 8"
Pastel on canvas panel

A friend sent me a photo of this shell tonight. I had just finished a piece to post for January first, and felt pretty good about it, so before putting away my "toys," I pulled the colours in the shell and painted it.  

I have a nautilus shell similar to this one on a shelf in another room, but mine lacks this much colour. It's more like a standard opal than this "fire opal" kind of presentation.  It was fun to try to capture the essence of the shell.

Carol

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Heavenly Hydrangea

"Heavenly Hydrangea"
8" x 10"
Pastel on gessoed canvas panel 

The jewel tones of the hydrangeas caught my eye as I walked past buckets of them in my grocery store. I had my camera in my purse, so I clicked off a few shots. 

I've painted these beauties before, but now I'm trying my hand at capturing the essence of this closeup with pastel painted on a black canvas panel. I applied clear gesso on it then dug in.

Carol

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The Gang's All Here

"The Gang's All Here"
8" x 6"
Pastel on gessoed panel

While I was perusing my photos from the Botanic Gardens I came across this riotous scene. I happened on the colourful plantings when the shadows were deep and the blooms were at their finest. 

I'm thankful to have shot thousands of images from which to choose on days when my actual surroundings are grey, colourless and pretty much buried under layers of slush.

Carol

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Morning Behind Me

"Morning Behind Me"
4" x 4"
Pastel on hardboard

I saw this sky in my rearview mirror as I drove that morning. The opalescent colors lingered in the humid air and presented me with a rectangular gift of color for about twenty minutes. 

I tested a couple of products to achieve this texture.  I painted Liquitex clear gesso onto an aquabord panel. The gesso gave additional tooth to an already textured panel.  I didn't  sand it, just toned it, as usual, and proceeded. I'll be experimenting more as time goes on.

Carol

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Tapestry Roses

"Tapestry Roses"
4" x 4"
Pastel on gessoed hardboard

The roses in the pattern on my new scarf appealed to me — reminded me of roses I've painted in oil. Yet I wanted to depict them in the way my hand wants to paint some subject matter now. 

My paintings with this loose kind of scribble have generated a lot of comments. I'm intrigued with this style and plan to pursue it, if I can, in larger pieces.

Carol

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White Poppy

"White Poppy"
4" x 4"
Pastel on gessoed hardboard

I shot a field of poppies at the Botanic Gardens in April, including closeups of many of them. This was one of the closeups of a white whose shadows appeared to be violet.  

A spring flower appealed to me tonight while I paint all bundled up in polar fleece, a beret on my head and thick wool socks. Winter is officially upon us with temperatures in the low single digits.  

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Satiny Smooth

"Satiny Smooth"
4" x 4"
Pastel on gessoed board

I've enjoyed painting some of the iconic images of the season, so here's another gift of holiday cheer for... you. Perhaps I'll find a moment to do one or two more, but for this twenty-third day of December, I wanted to post something festive and loving. 

This was done on Aquabord with clear gesso painted AND sanded lightly. It's a great surface to paint on. I plan to do more on this surface.

Carol

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Seventeen Layers

"Seventeen Layers"
8.5" x 10.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

I fought the urge to paint a landscape today, but two hours into my hair-brained experiment, I succumbed. What started as a vertical abstract with geometric panels, to be connected with botanically accurate trees and leaves, turned, actually turned 90° to the left and morphed into this.  

I tried to paint something that wasn't in my heart and ended up with something that wormed its way to the surface.  I'm sure there are about seventeen layers of ideas and images below the surface.  I wish I had photographed the journey.

Carol

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Birthday Ornament

"Ornament"
7" x 5"
Pastel on panel

Today is my birthday — the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. My home is decorated for the holidays, so the dark and dreary of this time of year is masked by the glitter and gleam of many sparkling things.  I wish others of you who are about to celebrate special birthdays, a joyful moment with someone who loves you. 

Love,
Carol

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Lalique Blue Jay

"Lalique Blue Jay"
7" x 5"
Pastel on hardboard

The jay postured as if it were intent on gathering vital information, or watching fledgelings about to drop into the sky for the first time. Nevertheless, the artist who fashioned the figure of this glass bird captured an interesting stance. 

I painted this bird with its bulbous friend last January. Both glass birds were borrowed, but fortunately I took photos before returning them.  As I said in this space a month or so ago, I'm trying to paint in pastel some of the subjects I've painted in oil.

Carol

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Evening Shadows

"Evening Shadows"
5" x 7"
Pastel on hardboard

It had finished raining and the leaves were still wet as the sun settled into her cozy spot for the night. The color was more brilliant for it. The hills glistened, as did the tips of the trees. It was a beautiful sight to witness, and a fond memory to paint.  

And speaking of fun, this was done on a hardboard panel primed with a toothy gesso that grabs the pastel and holds it as it smears across the surface. I totally enjoyed using the panel, and the joyful part is, I have two more.

Carol

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Slender Reflections

"Slender Reflections"
7" x 2"
Pastel on paper

My view across the stream was interesting in only one slender strip. Boulders jutted into the water, slicing what beauty that was there in half. But they also added interest in the middle ground, so I included them in my little study. 

I paint many of my pastel paintings on sanded French watercolor paper scraps that I saved from when I painted only in watercolor. They sand beautifully, then I tone the paper with a magenta and a sapphire that I again sand into the paper, then brush off.

Carol

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Winding Through

"Winding Through" 
6.5" x 9.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The stream turned a corner and wound between some trees before it widened enough to create a sandy shore on one bank. It was full of footprints the morning I saw it, none of which imprinted a branded tread or logo. 

Carol

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Tan Lines

"Tan lines"
10" x 8"
Graphite on tan paper

It's December, yet the model's tan lines were as provocative as if she had been in the south of France a week ago. Yet, the lines were only on her back. Her front was devoid of lines of any sort. Perhaps a tanning bed, but why would one wear a suit in a tanning bed?  As I drew her, I wondered if she was aware of her graphic presentation? 

I'm new to drawing the figure since spring. I'm in a group setting, but without a teacher, so it's once again, seat of the pants kind of art — just like watercolor, acrylic, oil and pastel. Why should this be any different?

Carol

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Beau Cool

"Beau Cool"
8" x 6"
Oil on canvas panel

More snow fell than was predicted, and it was warmer than it had been all week, so a celebratory romp in the pristine accumulation seemed appropriate. I gathered a scarf, hat buttons and a tangerine from the fruit bowl to dress Beau Cool. Then I fashioned a snippet of coat hanger wire into a smile. I bent the ends to poke into his sweet countenance and that single addition made my dog bark. 

I'm enjoying painting wintery themes this year. Snowmen have always been a favorite — in fact, I've sold more snowman paintings in my career, than any other subject matter. Yet, this is probably the first one to show up on my blog.

Carol

Sunset Rushing By

"Sunset Rushing By"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

The clouds fuzzed in the evening air as the sun dipped behind the tree line on the distant island.  The lake took on some of sky's colors, but was faster to concede to pending noir than the luminous air. 

It has been a while since I've painted a sky. My little pastels have taken the place of daily sky paintings. Either way, I'm making art.

Carol

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Magenta Poinsettia

"Magenta Poinsettia"
6" x 6"
Oil on hardboard

I found a colorful poinsettia to add to my holiday cheer paintings. I like that this one is not only red, but purple and pink, as well.  

Carol

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Holly Berries

"Holly Berries"
5" x 5"
Oil on hardboard

Yes, yes they are itty bitty snowflakes in the background of this pretty little painting.  It is, after all, winter. Not quite the solstice, but definitely winter.

'Tis the season to paint holly :-)

Carol

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Ruddy Wheat

"Ruddy Wheat"
4" x 5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The field of wheat had taken on the complexion of a roasted chicken, or a marshmallow on a stick before it bursts into flame. I knew it would not be waving in this field the next week when I drove past.

It was fun to depict the different areas of colour in the field on this small painting. Nearly as fun as making the thin line of fence with my stick of pastel. I love this crazy medium.

Carol

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Straight From The Heart

"Straight From The Heart"
6" x 6"
Ink on paper 

I used mostly straight lines in my heart this week. I also used an ink pen with graphite for shadows. The problem with ink is there's no fixing a wiggle, or a momentary lapse of memory when using permanent black on pristine paper. So here's my offering, in keeping with my Saturday heart gig. 

Carol

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Happened Upon It

"Happened Upon It"
6.5" x 9.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

As I exited the canopy of a dense pine forest I happened upon the verdant bank of this pond. I photographed the scene for future reference and maundered back in amongst the sticky tree trunks and the needle-covered floor. 

Carol

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Icy

"Icy"
9.5" x 6.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

It's cold where I live, but not this cold, nor is it this barren. There's ice on the puddles, but they're not this expansive, nor this deep. Snow has fallen, but it won't still be here come spring. I'm thankful to live where it's appropriately wintery — not outrageous.  

The way I first finished this painting was to perfectly reflect the mountains in water with dry rocks on the shore of a body of water. It was boring. I was ready to fling it into the trash when a voice said, "Keep the mountains, blur the rest."  I did that and instead of tossing this sheet of watercolor paper, which is what I paint on, I'm pleased with its frigid iciness. 

Carol

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Colorado Moose Calf

"Colorado Moose Calf"
7" x 8.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

We had driven for two days without seeing any wildlife, then critters began appearing out of nowhere, or maybe we finally acclimated to our surroundings and could see the forest for the trees.  

This calf was on one side of the meandering stream and the cow was on the other.  Thankfully, I was not between them when the opportunity to photograph them came.

Carol

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Rock Pile

"Rock Pile"
4.5" x 5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The sky, trees, rocks and weeds intrigue me when I visit my friends in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  The shapes and colors are so different from what we see here on the suburban prairie. 

As I have mentioned before, I am repainting some of the subject matter I've painted in oil and acrylic in pastel. I find it very satisfying.

Carol

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Long Fields

"Long Fields"
1.5" x 6.5"
Pastel on sanded paper

The Iowa landscape still resonates with me long after I visited there in July. This tiny painting reminds me how the fields looked, demarcated with trees and shrubs, like stitching between strips of fabric on a quilt. 

Carol

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Prickly II

"Prickly II"
6" x 8"
Pastel on sanded paper

In the desert building of the Chicago Botanic Gardens are some nifty cacti. Well, for a midwestern gal, they're pretty impressive. And I'm privy to them in a greenhouse setting, not out in the wild where I'd LOVE to see them, photograph and study them. This was fun to do, as it was my own photo, but I'd love to see them growing naturally.  

My experience is that the magenta and orange pastels photograph much differently than the greens and yellows as seen on the cacti. The background is intense, but not quite the way it appears here. It is about four layers of my scribbly marks, not a solid mass at all.

Carol

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You Gotta Have Heart

"You Gotta Have Heart"
6" x 6"
Graphite on paper

In keeping with my other two Zentangle drawings, here is another heart. I've used different patterns to fill in the same basic shape. I have nothing in mind when I begin, except that it will be drawn in a square format, a heart and done in a soft graphite pencil so I can smear shadows where I want them. 

Carol

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