Colour Pencil Workshop

A busy weekend for me, I took a 2 day course in Colour Pencils. It gave me a chance to do something different and I love the results.

One small picture I finished as a test.

"Marble"
Here is the next picture I started but didn't have time to finish. I'll work on this next weekend.

Stripping Overburden, step 1:


This is another one I started when I couldn't stand looking at the yellow caterpillar any longer. :)

This is Dixie's Pup, step 1: It is done on black pastel paper and I will take my time so I can frame this one.

Pam

I'm just touching up Tent City before I bring it to the art club to be displayed at the NOVA awards tomorrow night. It is a representation of the early days at the Hollinger mine, in Timmins. The workers had to sleep in prospector tents until enough hotels or homes were built nearby.

I went all out, just asking myself if the painting made me happy as I worked on it. I changed whole sections at a time. I am now "happy" with the finished work although it isn't my usual style. Who knows where I'll go next. :)


Pam

Dancing Solo

I'm doing a graphite drawing called "Dancing Solo". I'm trying a ballet theme and practicing drawing the pointe shoes and later on the ballet stances.

Step 4:
I'm still adding shadows to the legs and feet, balancing out the darks and lights. I hope to finish this soon. I'm not certain how detailed I want to be in my finished drawings. I am really enjoying it though. :)


Step 3:
I am increasing the darks on the left side of the background with a 4B pencil and buffing (rubbing hard) to get a sheen on the paper. I'm also starting to fill in shadows on the feet and will continue with the leg shadows.
Step 2:
I've rubbed the dark area with cotton swabs and then with a folded tissue to smooth out the lines. I then used the cotton swab (dirty with graphite) to start shading in the slippers. I used a small dry paintbrush and scrubbed the dark area again and then used it to pull a little graphite onto the leg area without leaving pencil marks.



Step 1, Dancing Solo: 5 x 10 on matt board.

This is far from finished. I'm just trying to establish the dark areas with layers of 6B graphite pencil that I will rub to make a uniform background.



Pam

Where is SPRING?

Someone said it was spring. WHO SAID THAT??

It's still snowing in Northern Ontario (Timmins specifically) and I am really getting fed up with it. I love winter but in the last week I've been aching for a sign that spring is really here. Well, more likely we will jump right into summer without a spring.

Does this look like April 7th to you?


I'm getting depressed. Oh well, I can't let that stop me from painting. I have to finish tent city and my copy a master.

I have a new charcoal study (nude but tasteful) if you look at the March entries. I didn't want to start a new section for charcoal.

Pam

Finishing my Copy a Master

Well, I have to finish this copy of William Adolphe Bougeruereau's, Gabrielle Cot painting by the end of April. A rush is on to finish it. As I am doing it in acrylics, the effect won't be the same but I am trying to create it in layers as he did.

The next thing to do is correct the eye, nose, mouth, ear and back of neck shapes to match Bougereau's original. Then I can continue with layering the lighter colours of the face, neck and silk dress.

Step 4:

Pam

The Polar Bear Habitat

Last Thursday our art club visited the only current Polar Bear rehabilitation center in Ontario, The Polar Bear Habitat. We wanted pictures of the bears in snow and in water but in the summer there is an enclosure where you can swim with them (with a sturdy glass between you and the bears).

What a thrill! I plan to make some polar bear paintings; one for The Polar Bear Habitat, one to hang for awhile at the Timmins Museum. Hopefully, I can return during the summer and visit the Heritage Village that is part of the habitat.




Pam