Ballet Studio Sketch

 

12x10 oil on paper (paper size 16x12)

PURCHASE

Discovered a new paper from Arches specifically made for oil painting.

It's different from some of the others I've tried. It definitely allows for heavier paint and isn't very absorbent. I painted this last night and it is still wet and the brush strokes are quite visible. 

I saw that v....vaughan shared her painting recently which was done on the same material. I'll let her figure out how to mount and frame! 

There is no oil bleed through - the paint remains on the surface beautifully. It is smooth and I love a smooth surface to work on.

(I took this and posted from the iphone. I will update it with a better image soon)

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Blue Dancer

10x10 oil on panel

I am going to do another triptych of ballet dancers and began to work out ideas today. This will be available once I've decided on the larger work. Making blue flesh is crazy fun. Always good to push aside "what should be" and paint what is in my mind.

I'm off for Calvert now to enjoy their historic weekend events and to meet some artist friends whom I've known only in email. Saturday will be a full day. My traveling companion, V....Vaughan will be teaching an early workshop and I am sure she'll goad me into rising before dawn to paint with her.
Later in the day we will be at the Victorian Tea (V painting, me drinking heavily) and then Saturday night I'll be painting the gala event. I'm picturing "Moulin Rouge."
Our works from the tea and ball will be auctioned at the ball midway through the evening. Exciting stuff!

Dancer - 30 Minute Study

12x6 oil on paper - sold

This is a study I did before painting the triptych shown on Friday's post. As you can see, I actually reversed her for the larger painting.
I love these little quick studies done in oils. And in the coming days, it might be all I can do with the holidays ramping up! Yesterday, I went and bought some good sketching materials to do some more pencil sketches and washes.
I love the simplicity of such work. I am an admirer of "brevity." The artwork that I admire the most leaves a lot to the imagination. A bold gesture, no details, and broken line - the "less is more" approach.

Dancer Waiting - Sketch

pencil and paper

Ok - another of these. I can't tell you how tired I am today. I have been dragging. Could be the interrupted nights with my daughter coughing so much. My cold is lingering too and to be honest, my foot is hurting more now than post surgery. The dr. says it will be another month before I am 100%, with the pain actually increasing these next two weeks. And so - I didn't accomplish anything today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and I will feel better. I can't face the holiday season in this frame!

Dancer Sketch

pencil on paper

My daughter's cold was worse today - her asthma is always irritated by colds - so she stayed home with me. I got some business things done, but no painting. All I have to show you is another dancer sketch. BUT....



I will also promote the first ever Daily Painter's Gallery book Colour, Obsession, Joy and Torment. It looks like such a nice volume, featuring 146 artists whose work is found on the Daily Painter's Gallery. This group began sometime around the time I started blogging and has grown so successfully. I owe most of my blog's success to that site. There are some wonderful artists who exhibit their work online and are included in the group gallery. The book also has several well-written essays on the inspiration for the title (a quote from Monet) and on the subject of the technological art age which we're now embracing. I think I now believe that this is an official art movement. Artists are so much more accessible than in the past and in a time when reproductions and cheap pictures can be found at any store, I applaud any effort that artists make to educate people about original art and to make it more available to patrons. I can't wait to get my hands on this book. Stay tuned for ordering information.

Snow Queen - 30 Minute Study

12x9 oil on paper
$50 + s/h - sold

Getting back into the groove of things today. The dancer here is one of the two snow queens the Austin ballet has performing in their Nutcracker. This was a great way to warm up after a break from painting. Setting a timer makes me see the big picture and not get caught in details. I literally paint for 30 minutes and then its brushes down. I wish I could describe why this exercise works so well for me. I am suffering a little disconnect though between doing and talking about. I will try again tomorrow!

Ballet Dancer

colored pencil on paper

As we gear up for the holidays, the Nutcracker is such a nice Christmas story to set the mood for celebrating. We go to Houston in two weeks to see it there. Also going to the Galleria to ice skate of all things!

Saturday was the opening of the Small Works North America show at the Greenwich Workshop Gallery in Connecticut. Exhibit winners are chosen by votes from patrons. You can actually register online and vote for your favorite small works. The show is really quite impressive. I am thrilled to have two works in the exhibit which are hanging alongside many of the top painters in the country. This was a milestone for me. I have a couple more to yet check off my list, but they will come in time.

Ballet Dancer

pencil on paper

Last Thursday my friend Tess Walls and I went to Ballet Austin for a behind-the-scenes look at a Nutcracker rehearsal. The dancers were below us. We watched from a landing above the studio, the wall behind them is all glass and they were often silhouettes in front of it, making the figures all the more dynamic. The girls wore their practice tutus and I saw Degas in my head. I wish I could capture more of that dynamic line he did. (and like my friend Tess's sketches... beautiful!)
I was tempted to add some color, but I sent my pastels to a friend who is convalescing in Houston area...
I am convalescing as well. The surgery went fine and I am laying about for the most part. I am sketching though from my photos and things in the room (dog, husband, child, toys).