Strange Birds

I am really loving doing colored pencil on Pastelmat!  It allows me just enough detail, but the texture doesn't let me get tooooo nitpicky.  These two "strange birds" are actually cassowaries.  Large, flightless birds, about the size of ostriches, which live in the rain forests of New Guinea and parts of Australia.  They are actually pretty solitary creatures, but I liked doing two together.  My model for this painting was actually a lone cassowary at a small zoo in rural Maryland.  This bird's rather odd appearance has always intrigued me on each visit to the zoo and on the last trip I snapped a few good references.  I thought its coloring and variety of textures would be a fun project (and it was!).  It's 11 x 14 on anthracite (soft black) Pastelmat.    

Strange Birds

11 x 14

The original of these two will be available in my Etsy shop and prints available on FineArtAmerica

 (links to the right)

The Butcher and His Wife (Max and Celia)

This was done from a very small black and white picture of my grandparents, Max and Celia, in front of the meat market/grocery store they owned in Washington, D.C. in the 40's-50's.  I have wanted to do this picture for a long time.  The first decision to make was whether to correct the spelling of my maiden name which actually ends in an "h" not a "k".  The sign maker got it wrong and gave them a discount instead of redoing it.  I decided it had to be kept a "k".  I did this on a piece of sand Canson Mi-Tientes board.  I specifically chose this more highly textured surface to avoid getting too terribly detailed with this drawing.  I know me, smooth paper would have allowed for too many details that I just didn't have in the reference I was working from.  It would have made me a crazy woman!  It's 14 x 8 inches.  I thought I wanted to go with a sepia look and completed the whole thing initially using only light umber, dark umber, cream and eggshell colored pencils.  Although they were much older by the time I was born and how I remember them, I feel really content that I captured the essence of them.  They have both been gone more than 30 years and I found myself missing them all over again as I looked down at them.  When I initially completed it, I thought it had turned out just fine technically, but not very lively.  Well, I decided it needed some color.  If they could add color to sepia photos, which used to be a very common practice, I could add color to my sepia drawing, right?  Out came the PanPastels. They went very nicely right over the colored pencil, even in areas where I had burnished somewhat, which was a happy surprise.  The end result is very different, but I think I like it.

 

Max and Celia

Colored Pencil and PanPastel on Mi-Tientes board

14 x 8 inches

 

Carole's Bike

Just a few days later, it's me again!  This was one of those I finished just recently.  This was done with my sister, Carole, in mind.  She has been after me for some time to complete a third "red transportation" piece.  She has copies of "Old Red" the truck and "Red Boat" and kept telling me I had to do a third red transportion piece to complete a trifecta.  Well, in my sister's honor, I present "Carole's Bike".  This was done in colored pencil on Pastelmat.  It is approximately 7 x 7.  I really liked using colored pencil on this surface.  I was able to layer endlessly and it gives the appearance of pastel with the ease of using my colored pencils!  The color of the Pastelmat was a dark charcoal (they call it anthracite) and it really seemed to make the colors pop; however, a little more difficult to scan according to my scanning and giclee pro, Amy!  Anyway, here it is . . .  . .

 

"Carole's Bike"

 

Carole likes to have prints not originals, so this piece will be available in my usual spots.  Stay tuned, I'll actually be posting something again tomorrow.  Woo-hoo, two days in a row!