Lean on Me

This piece, entitled "Lean On Me" is 16 x 20, colored pencil. Though, there are some things I would change -- as is often the case, it seems, I had a great absorbing time working on this one. I have entered it in the 11th Annual FMP Membership show on Ann Kullberg's site. I have ordered some prints and am looking forward to seeing how they look.

It is scorching hot and time is flying. Trying to decide what to start as a demo piece. Lots of things I could work on, but not all of them do I want to do as a demo.

Hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by!

WIP2 -- Where Does the Time Go?!?

So sorry I have been MIA here at my blog. I honestly do not know where the time goes, so fast. When not preparing for my class, grading papers, mowing, teaching my class, cleaning, doing laundry, did I mention mowing, weeding the garden, cleaning stalls, oh yeah, did I say mowing -- I have drawn whenever possible, but I turn around and see I have not been blogging in over a week. So sorry.

I did send for and received, yesterday, the rest of my Trimline art fair tent. Now to find time to practice putting it up. I may be practicing at the show! My first show is rapidly coming up on June 12-13. It is near me in Granville, Ohio. Remember the poster contest? It's that show -- The Granville Art Affair. Have some prints to order and get ready, clean the SUV for packing, get more brochures and cards, finish the above piece and start a demo and then pack the SUV. My class ends that week. Oh yeah, I am working in a weekend course on framing before then too. Whew. Wish me luck in being ready without a nervous breakdown!

I am absorbed in working on this piece whenever I have a moment, some things about first horse are not to my liking, but moving on for now.

A New Project --WIP

Well, it isn't Saturday, but I did get to start this on Monday and worked on it today some.

My refrigerator went out on Friday, spent Saturday cleaning it out, mopping up and then cleaning the great room in general. No repair person can come until Thursday A.M., it is only two and half years old, at least I have an extended warranty. Feels like camping out until then.

The above work is 16x20 colored pencil. I liked the poses of these horses so went for it. I usually like to work all over, put am afraid of smearing the foreground, so am working from the back forward on this one.

Beautiful Horses

Tuckered Out by Mona Majorowicz



Colton by Mona Majorowicz



I just got these two love prints of Mona Majorowicz's wonderful work framed. My picture taking skills do not do the images the glory they deserve, so please go to Wildfaces Gallery to see them more accurately. I do feel very lucky to own these prints. The prints in person are even more beautiful than the computer monitor views. I can only imagine, at this point what Mona's original work is like when viewing in person.

I framed them to match as much as possible, while still flattering each piece individually as much as possible. I hope you find them flattering, Mona.

I am way too busy preparing for a college course I am teaching spring quarter in the human services field. I do hope that I can get down the road a ways and then only devote a very limited amount of time weekly to the teaching leaving clear time to work on art. That plan and my anxiety about being fully prepared has kept me from working on my art ever since I completed the Precious Bullie Baby series.

Teaching is a process much like art -- ideally alot of thought goes into how to convey ideas in an interesting way which is effective in engaging the student/viewer. At this point in my life, I find it difficult to keep this thinking going simultanwously with teaching non art related things with my own art production. Like I said, I hope to get down the road a little more with the teaching creativity and then hopefully put it into a mental compartment which does not interfere with my ongoing art process.

I am sorry that I did not post any of the Precious Bulloie Baby completed work yet. I decided that it would not be fair to the exhibit to do that. I will do so as soon as the exhibit goes online on April 1st. The trio is being framed at the present time.

I am working other jobs right now in order to have extra cash to buy the rest of my art fair display. I am continuing to apply to art fairs for the summer and fall. So far I have heard from two. I am on a waitlist for one near Cincinati in May and am accepted into the Zanesville one I did last yer in August.

Raining too much here now, Hope you all are dry and happy! Thanks for stopping by!

Artistic Style Part IV - Some Inspiring Realism

"Cute White Kitten" 12x9 inches, colored pencil on colorfix, $135 unframed, $165 matted and framed with plexiglass.

Giclee Reproductions also Available. Contact me.

In thinking about why I am currently working realistically, I will say the primary reason is choosing to depict animals and very much enjoying the connection with others that comes from a pet portrait commission. I do not seek to be what I consider to be "photo-realistic". I am motivated to bring the animal to life within the best of my capabilities without going down to such a minute/detailed level. Though intrigued by colored pencil when coming back to art, I was at first relunctant to try it because it seemed to be too "meticulous". I feel I currently work somewhere between how a soft pastelist works and traditional colored pencil techniques with my work. I was also taught that an artist needs to be able to do realism before finding/looking for another voice. That is, one must build an ability in speaking one language before attempting to translate that language into another. Or an artist should have ability with the basic tools and concepts and what has gone before in order to develop further in other artistic ways.

I never was extremely fond of the "photo-realism" which (pre-computers) copied a photograph in a very large format by using the squares or pixels. I did look at this art with a type of fasination at times, however. I just find some of these methods too miopic -- I don't feel I could get in a "zone" using them so exhaustively. However I am wondering if some of the works I currently admire wouldn't be considered more "photorelaistic" than "realistic" in style? I would like to know your opinion regarding this question. Here are some links to some contemporary realistic animal art that gave me chills when I first gazed upon them: a horse portrait on Wet Canvas by Linda Jonsson of Sweden,

Pastel Goat by Nutty at the Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum, Haflinger Portrait-"Nuss" by Sabine Lackner, also at the Pet Portrait and Wildlife Forum,

and last but, certainly not least, all of the work by Melanie Phillips.

I am currently intrigued with "the bringing to life" aspect of realism. It is an enthralling challenge for me to try to get it right. I am experimenting on developing facility with colored pencil techniques as I do this. I am most in the zone when using hand and eye coordination to develop the work as a whole. I think I am in one of those repitious circles of life by improving my work in the basics and going from there in whatever develops.