Sunflower in Pastels - Final

Sunflower

8x10.5

Here's the first of what I believe will be a series of sunflower paintings. I took quite a few photos of these beautiful flowers while at Callaway Gardens and they're all screaming to be painted. I'm also currently working on a portrait which I hope to have up soon.

When to say When...(Sunflower in Pastels - Work in Progress 2)

I've worked on this some more and am trying to decide if it's time to stop or if I want to put more details into it. I think I'll set it aside and look at it again in a few days with a fresh eye.

Tomatoes - Work in Progress Part 1

I was flipping through my sketchbook this past weekend and a piece of paper fell out with this sketch I'd done drawn on the back. I drew this a couple of years ago when I was inspired by the tomatoes growing in my vegetable garden. I thought it looked fun so I've decided to a pastel painting of this. Here's my initial sketch, I generally start off everything using a yellow ochre colored pencil so it's a little hard to see.

Sunflower in Pastels - Work in Progress

This is a pastel I'm working on of a sunflower. I love flowers and took lots of photos of a wide variety this past summer during a trip to Callaway Gardens.

Boston's South End Pen and Ink Finished!

Boston South End

Pen and Ink

8.5x10

Here it is! I've completed my pen and ink/watercolor? (did I originally say this was also going to be a watercolor?) of Boston's South End. I decided in the end to skip the watercolor on this one. I think the subject matter and the fact that I put in so much detail with the pen and ink warrants keeping this black and white.

I had some photos which I'd like to work with printed up today and I also have a bunch of illustrations for a children's book which I desperately need and want to work on. Unfortunately, I don't feel I'm in the mental mode to get back to those yet. I may pick one of those up next week. In the mean time, I think my heart is calling out to the pastels! While I'm working on that I've got the initial sketch for the first of the children's book illustrations set up on my desk where I can let my subconscious work through where I'm going to go with those style and media-wise as this seems to be my hang up on getting those past the sketch stage. 

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 5

I worked on the buildings and the plants, I'd liked to have gotten this finished but it's getting late and as I can no longer see straight I've decided to call it a night.

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 4

Mostly I worked on the brick sidewalk so, there's just the buildings, plants, and touching up left to do. I'm hopeful that I'll get the rest of the pen and ink done by tomorrow. Then I'll need to decide whether or not to proceed with the water color portion. I've been working on 300# watercolor paper which is not the easiest thing in the world to do pen and ink on such a rough surface. I need to stop frequently to remove paper fibers which get caught in the nib. Not to mention that the ink doesn't go down the smoothest on such rough paper. Not to say I didn't know what I was getting into, I've done this several times before, it's just to say that for that reason alone I may proceed with the watercolor. 

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 3

I worked some on the ground on the left and finished up the pole in front. I'm starting to wonder if I may just leave this as a pen and ink and not apply the watercolor to it. Usually when I do both I don't get as detailed with the pen and ink portion but for some reason I haven't been able to help myself on this one.

Boston's South End - Work in Progress Part 2

Here's the piece as it stands now. You can see I did make some progress over the weekend and last night. Not as much progress as I'd hoped but there is progress none the less and I guess there's something to be said for that.

Boston's South End - Work in Progress

This is a sketch for a pen and ink/watercolor painting I'm working on. I was hoping to have it completed by now but best laid plans and all...I've decided to post a step by step of my progress instead.

Different Strokes

4.25"x5.5" Pastel

This is my first submission for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes challenge. I had a lot of fun with this.