Paper Cuttings Pictures from St. Johns

The kids at St. Johns did these. I really like them.

Nature Walk at ArtBar May 18 - June 13, 2012

Penny Lane 9x12 oil pastel on canvas paper

Cloud Tree 9x12 pastel on mis tientes paper

Here's 2 pieces that I'm putting in the Wisconsin Pastel Artists Spring 2012 Exhibition.

Both of these were painted en Plein Aire.

Nashotah House 9x12 Oil Pastel on Canson Acrylic paper

Today we went out plein air painting at Nashotah House. Very windy & brisk but sunny. I liked all the angles on the roof.

I like the Sennelier, Holbein, Van Gogh & Xonex oil pastels. Craypas I don't like as much as they are too waxy and hard to build up color before paper gets loaded up.

I like acrylic paper because it holds up when I scrape back in. I like to "prime" the paper with a white oil pastel otherwise sometimes it's hard to get back to a lighter color.

18x12 pastel portrait on charcoal paper

Amanda

Painted at Milwaukee Sketch Club 4/3/12.

Ended up talking quite a bit today rather than painting so didn't quite finish. I also re-drew the face once and the eyes 5 or 6 times. I have this great black eraser that erases pastel almost down to the paper, although sometimes I just wipe off the excess pastel with a cotton rag. I tend to use rags even for painting rather than paper towels.

The model asked me how I chose the colors I did and to tell you the truth I don't know. It's just that life and people are not just one color. She had very smooth skin so I blended the colors on her face. I like the headband.

24x18 Pastel Portrait on Vellum Bristol

Painted at Milwaukee Sketch Club 3/27/12. I always need to put down a rag to catch the pastel dust because I like to layer the colors.

Yasutomo Pearlescent Watercolors

My cousin told me about pearlescent water colors in a pan so I looked all over until I found this pan of 16 from Michaels. Then I played around with them in my 8 x 5.5 Strathmore mixed media - vellum finish, visual journal.

The colors don't appear to be staining. Could lift them easily. The strathmore paper let me scrub and lift without apparent distress to the paper. However, the page did wrinkle/curl as I like to let the paint react with water rather than painting precisely, so if I decide to take pages of the journal will have to try maybe ironing them to flatten them.

I painted these pictures from my imagination/ memory. I like how the finished painting sparkles which doesn't show up when I scan the pictures. It was hard getting things dark enough.