Red Hat - original oil pastel portrait

Here's one that I did on 12 x 9" grey Pastelbord.  Great model - didn't get to finish it, though, before the time was up, but I am happy with it.  Thanks for looking!

Blue Night - original oil pastel portrait

This piece is one that I did mostly from a charcoal drawing, although I did begin working with the oil pastels while still at the drawing group.  Alas, there wasn't enough time before the model left, so I did have to spend more time working from the drawing.  It's on 8 x 8" Ampersand Pastelbord, one of my favorite surfaces.
I've been away for awhile, in London and Paris - was lucky to have seen the Gauguin show in London and the 'Degas at the Opera' show in Paris.  I loved that they showed Degas' work using essence - which I have rarely seen - and gave such an honest portrayal of the realities of the ballerinas' lives.  Not just pretty paintings, for sure!
Thanks so much for looking!

Melissa - original oil pastel portrait

This fairly quick little 7 x 5" portrait on Pastelbord was fun for me because I didn't really draw it first - just colored the shapes I wanted and the model and I were very pleased with how it turned out.  It captures her personality, I think - sorry for bragging a bit, but portraits can be hit or miss and when you get a hit, it really feels good!  Thanks for looking!

Jessye - oil portrait sketch

This quick 12 x 9" oil sketch was done on Gessobord - I kind of like the effect of neutrals (which are beautiful in their own right) with a bit of color.  Thanks for looking!
                             

New Year's Jive - original figurative oil painting

Starting 2020 off the right way, this little jive couple keeps the dance going on 6 x 8" Gessobord with lots of brushwork describing their energy.  Thanks so much for looking - and Happy New Year!

Sketchbook Nude - original charcoal drawing of a nude

I was attempting to draw the model without much modeling.  It was kind of slow work since there was no gesture drawing as I usually do.  Loved the heck out of doing this one!  It's about 10 x 14" - thanks for looking!

Jiver Twirl - original figurative painting of dancers

Just a couple of jivers having fun - oil on 8 x 8" canvas.  Hope you're having a great Thanksgiving!

The Student - original charcoal portrait drawing

Here's a 14 x 11" drawing of a young woman done on Strathmore toned paper, using General Pencil Company's EuroBlend charcoal pencils and vine charcoal. Hope y'all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah with Red Hair - original oil pastel portrait

Loved doing this one - made the background "chartreusy", even though in real life it was grey.  There's just something about greens and aquas - yum!  Plus, with the red, red hair, I couldn't help myself.  Anyway, this little drawing is 7 x 5" on Pastelbord - will probably put it on a small easel.  That's another of the things I love about Pastelbord - I can display my work either on an easel or framed using spacers.  Makes art life easy!😃

Ready for Odile - original figurative oil pastel

 Maybe I will eventually do this one in oil paint or acrylic.  The Black Swan is a fascinating character and what a beautiful ballet "Swan Lake" is!  This piece is on 14 x 11" Pastelbord.  Thanks for stopping by!

Jive Scribbles No. 7 - how I draw jive dancers

I've had this drawing for months and finally decided to post it since at the moment, all I have are pieces in various stages of finish.  This drawing was a lot of fun to do - just scribbling gestures all over the paper with smaller scribbles on the bottom.  I used an Itoya Calligraphy pen, along with fine  point Sharpies.
 I was lucky to be at a jitterbug exhibition where it would have been so awkward to pull out my pencil and paper, plus it was really dark where we were sitting.  And anyway, I've decided that in these instances, memory is better, even if you can only remember one bit of the dance.  (The reason for that approach is that when you're drawing - unless you're doing a blind gesture - you'll miss lots of the actual dancing because it goes so fast.)
So when I returned to the studio, I streamed some oldies jitterbug music like "Tutti Frutti","Whole Lot of Shakin Goin On", "Rock Around the Clock" - great jive music.   And, using the fine point pen, drew just a bit of what I remembered from the dancers' movements and then keeping my pen on one part of the gesture, began another drawing of the same subject in a slightly different position.  I love that layered look for drawings!  And having the jitterbug music on is kind of an inspiration and helps me to remember more of what happened on the dance floor.  It reminds me not to get tight and to just let the lines flow.
Worked my way across the page - only drew a couple of gestures before the main drawing, but sometimes I do a lot more of the fine line gestures - and then end up doing a bolder line drawing.  I added a few smudges of charcoal in the center.  The little gestures on the bottom are there because I was just fooling around while listening to the music - I never meant to post this - it's just a stream of consciousness kind of thing.  This drawing is on 16 x 20" Canson board.  Thanks for stopping by!

Drawing with My Fingertip IPhone Art - portrait drawing

Something to do while waiting - drawing on my iPhone - usually I just use it to remind me of a scene, but occasionally I get brave and post one to my blog.  It's just fun - never know how it'll turn out, but I guess that's the way with just about everything. 😊

Stella Doing the Twist - original charcoal figurative sketch

Play old-time rock 'n' roll music and get the model doing 'the twist' - much drawing fun!  (I recommend Chubby Checker's music.)  This all dates me, of course. 😃 I loved doing this drawing and would like to do a much longer piece of dancers twisting - it would probably have an athletic look - something to pursue - always looking for ways to depict the figure!  This one is on 14 x 11" Strathmore toned paper.  Thanks for stopping by!

Morning Watercolor Ivy - original watercolor sketch of ivy

More watercolor practice using the little jars of ivy in my kitchen window.  Not a watercolorist, of course, but fun to do and sort of gets me going early in the a.m.  Was so anxious not to overwork, that I left a few things really unfinished.  I'm wondering if anybody out there is as likely to overwork - in any medium - as I am.  It must be a personality thing.  I did this one on 9 x 6" cold press paper.  Thanks for visiting!

Nellie's Red Hat - original oil pastel figurative drawing

Totally love those flappers!  And the delight of not having enough time to make it an actual "finished painting" so it remains loose and more of a drawing.  Of course when is it a drawing and when is it a painting?  Some of my most successful drawings have been done with oils and you probably can say the same.  I was reading the other day about alternating between paintings, which I do, but always setting a timer for each one so there's a freshness for each piece.
I sometimes set a timer, but then get hung up on some little something and turn it off.  And then the overworking sets in.  Memo to me - obey the timer!  This drawing is on smooth Colourfix paper.  I bought two packages - one fresh grey and one black - great for lots of media - 12 x 9".  Thanks for looking!

Two-Stepper Sketch - original oil figurative sketch of dancers

Every summer I go to the rodeo dances here in Junction and draw and take photos, just like I do at the rodeo that precedes the dance.  I have tons of drawings and photos that I can draw upon (pun intended) through the winter months.  There's just nothing like the way people move, plus their expressions - endlessly fascinating, I think.  Like this guy and the way he was looking at his dance partner - I keep wondering. . . .  I'll be posting more two-steppers in the days ahead - have been looking for two-step instructional videos for those of you who are interested in learning, but most I've seen are so corny.  Will keep searching, though.  This one is 14 x 11" on stretched canvas.  Thanks for looking!

Portrait Sketch in Sanguine - original portrait drawing

I seldom use sanguine, but used it along with a few General's pastel sticks and had a good time with it.  Colors in the pack were perfect for redhead coloring and I used smooth 9 x 12"  Colourfix paper in Fresh Grey, which has a blue tint so the color couldn't have been better as a surface, I think.  Usually I'm not a fan of drawing teeth, but in this case, the model had such an engaging smile that I found it a pleasure.  I knew, though, that it would be difficult to hold, so I got the smile down right away because I loved the way it looked at the beginning.    Thanks for stopping by!

Blue Robe - original watercolor portrait painting

The cobalt blue robe was so pretty on the model and showed off her porcelain complexion perfectly - a joy to paint her.  Watercolor is always so iffy for me - tough to put the paint down and leave it alone, so maybe it's good I didn't feel there was enough time to get everything finished.  Putting the paint down on the paper and not noodling with it is foreign to me but I worked hard to do that here - just lifting the brush and not going back. Whew!  On about 7 x 6" watercolor paper.  Thanks for stopping by!

Floating Nude - original oil pastel nude

I loved the pose and painted it on 5 x 7" Pastelbord using Sennelier oil pastels.  This brand of oil pastels is like painting/drawing with a luscious lipstick, plus by not sharpening to a point, I feel it keeps my work from being too tight.  It seems that when I touch the surface with the blunt, unsharpened oil pastel, it's anybody's guess where it will land 😀 and that often works out well, I think!
When I looked at this piece later in the day, I realized I hadn't fully covered the bottom with the red rug and decided it looked like she was floating - sooo "Floating Nude" it was.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ivy - original watercolor with ink painting of ivy

I was looking out my window and decided to do this little jar of ivy in the window.  After doing the leaves, I decided they needed a few lines - I'm a line lover - so I took out my ballpoint and added lines here and there.  It was early morning when I did this one and it was fun to start my day with this little piece - about 8 1/2 x 5 1/2".  Thanks for stopping by!

Profile in Charcoal - original charcoal drawing of woman in kimono

Love these profiles - this is a quick one in charcoal on 12 x 9" smooth Colourfix paper.  Not a lot of grit to it (what did I expect when it says "smooth") and I like it a lot for pastel pencils, not so sure about using it when drawing with charcoal.  It'll be okay with oil pastel, but won't hold lots of layers, so I'd better work at getting it right the first time and not piling it on the way I ususally do.  Thanks for stopping by!

Leah in Green - original oil pastel portrait

Green is such a beautiful color and I'm always looking for ways to include it in portraits, so it was wonderful that Leah strolled in wearing a green top.  Generally I like to mix greens, but I had a dark green that worked well and I lightened it here and there with lighter values - not with greens, but warmer colors like peachy shades.  I used mostly Holbein oil pastels on 7 x 5" Ampersand Pastelbord.   I'm posting this while listening to the soundtrack from "Honeymoon in Vegas" - so great and a funny movie, too!  Until recently, multi-tasking was considered a good thing, but lately I've been hearing that it's not such a great thing for one's brain.  Gotta protect those cells, so stopping now to hear the rest of Vegas, then on to Johnny Rodriguez.  Thanks for stopping by!

Portrait Sketch in Oil - original drawing in oil

Trying out the Strathmore oil paper, which I love, with a quick little sketch.  This paper has a linen-like surface that isn't at all distracting and is also perfect for oil pastel.  Strathmore has introduced some papers lately that I really like, in addition to this one - their Printmaking as well as the Dark Blue toned paper.  They're both great additions to the Strathmore line.  Thanks for stopping by!

A Couple of Baseball sketches - charcoal drawings

I have pages of these, but kinda liked these two - seemed to have the fire.  Keep hoping for the O's but alas - maybe next year.  Thanks for looking.

Blue Sofa - original oil pastel figurative painting

  This little 5 x 7" piece is Holbein oil pastel on Pastelbord.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Sweet Jive - original oil pastel figurative

I love the looseness I can get with oil pastel and fairly gritty surfaces (in this case Ampersand Pastelbord).  Lines, scribbles and emotion always make me feel like I've done something with my day!  I used Holbein oil pastel on this 7 x 5" piece.  Thanks for looking!

Seated Nude - charcoal drawing of a nude model

My most fun art thing - drawing from the model.  I love the emotion that shows in the posture of every person, whether they are posing in the studio, or maybe visiting with friends or reading a book, whatever - it keeps me on my artistic toes.
In this case, I found the dignity in the pose so beautiful. And, of course, my usual complaint -  there's never enough time to do everything in a timed drawing, so I went for some lost and found lines in this piece. It's about 9 x 9" - on Strathmore toned paper, using the ever wonderful vine charcoal.  Thanks for looking!

Three Nudes - ballpoint pen sketch

One of those drawings I like to do at drawing groups - putting three figures over each other.  I like that there's no time to fix things, but just record my response to the model.  When I do these kinds of drawings, I always leave with a sense of accomplishment - even more than when I've done a fairly successful painting.  Not sure what that says about me and am not going to try and analyze, but just go with it.  I matted this to about 10 x 7".  Thanks for looking!

On My Easel - Portrait of a Scholar WIP - oil pastel

Definitely a work in progress with much more to do, but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's too "warm" for me, so am doing a bit of cooling off - blue in the background and possibly more to come.  This is one I'll leave alone for a few days and see how it looks then.  I have lots more to do re drawings and paintings.  Will post again when it's finished - 16 x 12" on gritty paper.  Thanks for looking!
To see more about the oil pastels I'm using in painting this portrait, click here to visit my oil pastel blog.

It Begins with a Gesture - original charcoal figurative gesture drawing on toned paper

Well, at least for me, it always starts with a gesture.  I think gesture drawings are almost as individual as fingerprints and I love seeing how other artists approach their drawings and often, ultimately, their paintings.
Some artists draw from the inside of the figure (or subject) and sort of "feel" their way to the outside of the figure, but others do the exact opposite, working from the outside in.  I have even seen a few artists who put down a single line with few or no 'searching' ones.  Whatever works for the artist is the perfect approach to drawing gestures!
Those starting lines can be so beautiful and I think it's important not to erase the lines with which the drawing is begun - those 'exploring' lines give a bit of life to the drawing.   When I forget that, and  erase a line I think isn't working, I'll often accidentally put it back in the same place, and then it can be too dark and the paper may be roughed up, so I usually try to keep the eraser far from my reach! 
Gestures are such a stream-of-consciousness endeavor.   Some days I think I will just do gesture drawings only from now on - and yesterday was one of those days.  Great things can come from gestures, but even if nothing fantastic develops, we still have an interesting record of what we were seeing at that moment in time!
This drawing is done on Strathmore 8 x 6" toned Mixed Media paper.  Thanks so much for looking!