The Spanish Dancer - original oil pastel portrait sketch by Connie Chadwell

She does flamenco dancing, and she looks like she could be from Spain, but the model - Laurie - is actually of Irish ancestry.  I hope Laurie sticks around; she's really a wonderful model and it's so hard to find good ones.

This quick little painting is oil pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord, 10 x 8", and was a pleasure to do.  The Pastelbord is so forgiving and after the oil pastel is dry, easy to frame, as well.  Oil pastel performs beautifully on so many surfaces and I love almost all, the exception being canvas.  Although many oil pastel painters like to work on canvas, I'm not one of them.  It just never works for me and there are so many wonderful papers, plus Pastelbord, that finding a great surface for oil pastel is easy.

I really could go on and on about the joys of oil pastel, but it's getting late, so I'll save that for another post.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Sold

Lana - A Portrait Sketch - original oil pastel portrait sketch by Connie Chadwell

I love this particular pose and use it a lot.  This quick drawing - or painting - was a real pleasure to do. I saw in the model's skin tones lots of the green that I find so beautiful.  I love those colors in skin!  We used to have an old television set that had a messed up color reception, but I liked it because most of the people were lime green and fuchsia. It was a little over the top, and people in that color combination might be pretty scary, but it had a certain charm, in moderation, anyway.
Many redheads or those with lots of red in their hair have these green tones, plus there are different, but no less beautiful, shades of green in the skin tones of light-skinned brunettes - known as olive coloring. Just lovely!
I painted this oil pastel on 10 x 8" Pastelbord.
It's so cold here - 7 degrees last night.  This is probably nothing to Northerners, but it makes a total wimp out of me.  Summer, with all its heat and humidity, sounds great right now - hurry up July!  Thanks so much for dropping by - stay warm!  Sold

Mandy's Blue Mirror - original oil pastel figurative drawing by Connie Chadwell

I finished this painting yesterday at my Thursday Painters' group. It's one of those things that's around for a week or so and the decision hasn't been made as to whether it's finally completed. My dilemma was whether to use the background that was in the setup, plus whether I should put in all the detail that was in her dress. I know one should work on the whole painting simultaneously, but in this instance, I was just stumped.

In the end, I decided just to use the Colourfix paper in the Deep Black color as background and call it 'finished'. After all, that's why I buy this paper - it's really, really black and has the most marvelous tooth, so I thought I would use what I adore about this surface as the background for Mandy.

This piece, which I totally loved doing - I think because it hovers between a drawing and a painting - is on 12 x 9" paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by! SOLD

Portrait of a Bailaora - original oil pastel portrait by Connie Chadwell

I could have entitled it 'Female Flamenco Dancer', but the Spanish sounded so much better.

What an evening! My USB ports quit working, so I had an interesting time getting the photo on my laptop. Then my laptop quit on me for about ten minutes. I'll bet I get to know the Toshiba customer service people really well in the morning.

Back to my posting - it was a quick one and small - 5 x 7" on Pastelbord. I could have done a larger one and taken more time, since she held the pose awhile, but I just wanted to get the essentials down.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I was going to post a picture of family and friends at the table on Turkey Day, but got all involved in visiting and completely forgot.

Thank you for stopping by Hackberry Street Studio!

The Menu - original oil pastel figurative sketch by Connie Chadwell

The couple studied the menu for quite awhile. Very intent on getting just the right dish, I think. This 9 x 12" painting is on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper in black. It has this wonderfully gritty finish that is difficult to cover completely, so I don't try too hard to get it smooth. I really like the black bits peeking through, as well as the way the colors show up on the deep black surface. This sketch/painting is not very "finished", but I decided to leave it alone.

We're having such wonderful weather here in the Texas Hill Country now, that it's hard to stay inside and do art. I keep saying that I'll do some landscapes since the weather is so nice, but driven as I am to draw people, just never get around to it - so, off to the places where people hang out. Something to do, I guess, with my obsession with figures and faces.

Back in my studio to work some more on the piece, I listen to George Jones. Yeah, I know, I should be listening to Mozart, but I just love the "soul" in country music.

Thanks for stopping by Hackberry Street Studio!

The Daily Specials - original oil pastel figurative sketch by Connie Chadwell

I had such a good time doing this one, from life, in a small neighborhood restaurant, where they write the specials of the day on the blackboard. The initial parts of the sketch were done on-site and then filled in back at Hackberry Street Studio. The wonderful thing about oil pastel, for me anyway, is that it's very freeing. I just scribble away really fast (especially when working from life since people move around so much) and end up with a lot of oil pastel on the support; but since it's on Pastelbord, it will dry fairly quickly.

Maybe I'll paint a larger version in oil of this sketch and then again, this may be the only one, but I loved doing it. Painting is more enjoyable when it's done from actual models, I think. The waiter was a problem because he moved so quickly in and out of my vision, so he is less exact. Well, nobody in the painting is "exact", but he is definitely less so. It's 5 x 7". Thanks for looking!

Tango Nights - original oil pastel figurative painting by Connie Chadwell

I'm in an oil pastel mood right now, since I will soon launch a blog devoted to oil pastels and oil pastel artists. My first interviewee will be

David Berridge, who is an absolutely fabulous oil pastelist. Please watch for the announcement, which I will post on Hackberry Street Studio.

"Tango Nights" is on Art Spectrum paper and is about 12 x 9". Thanks for visiting my blog.

The Ranch Hand - original oil pastel portrait by Connie Chadwell

This was a very interesting guy and great model - hope we see him again at another portrait session.

I drew this on 20 x 16" Canson Mi-Teintes mat board - not the paper, but the board - and I love the patterned surface. It seems to help keep my drawing loose - not that that's really a problem for me (maybe just the opposite), but it does give a casual, less studied look.

Thank you for visiting my blog!

On My Easel - oil pastel portrait sketch

I don't have a completed painting, but I must post my assignment for the blog improvement class I'm taking, "Maintaining A Healthy Artist Blog" taught by Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris, so here's a work in progress.

The first assignment is to describe on our blog posts what type of blog visitors we would like to attract. (I think a lot of our homework will be posted on our blogs.)

My blog readers are a delightful cross-section of art lovers - artists, collectors, gallery owners, dancers, art students and many others. I love having them all visit and comment on my blog or send comments to me via email. I hope to revitalize my blog and keep them interested in stopping by Hackberry Street Studio .

The blog goals I'm pursuing are those of increasing the number of my viewers, as well as making my blog a more interesting one.

This drawing, which I will complete early next week, is oil pastel on Colourfix paper, 12 x 9". Maybe I'll post it when it's finished. This young girl wanted to wear her cap, but I felt it shaded her face too much, so I had her turn it a little. I don't know if this will work. At this stage, though, things can be changed.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!