4/16/2009

Sophie at Fifteen


Go Here to Bid                                                           SOLD

Oil Pastel and Mechanical Pencil on Gray gesso-primed canvas, 4" square

This is a picture of my daughter when she was about 15, I think. I have
done a lot of paintings and drawings of her, and she always looked very
sophisticated beyond her years. I like this image because she looks more
her age, and also displays her "lost-in-thought" character.

I have a large set of Sennelier oil pastels - well two really. One, I put
together little by little over the years as I could afford them, and it also
includes Holbein and Caran d'Ache oil pastels. Except for the Holbeins,
which are square, I keep them sharpened to a point with a large-hole
pencil sharpener. The other set I finally bought on sale. It is so
I can hardly stand to use it. It includes ten or twelve iridescents that
breathtaking. They look white, but iridesce to yellow/purple, pink/green,
orange/blue, and so on. Those are also all sharpened to a point.
They are fun to work with, because you can just draw with them, or, you
can manipulate them with palette knives or brushes, and also with
painting mediums. For this piece I used Winsor & Newton's Liquin Detail
Painting Medium, as I was working so small. I don't generally care
for working on canvas, because of the texture, but this was OK. I have to say
in this case, the photograph truly does not do the piece justice.

4/15/2009

Two Golden Pears


Soft pastels on Sennelier Carte Pastel Board, approx. 7" x 5"
These two Bosc pears weren't in very good shape anymore, but they still had
some beautiful colors in them, and in the right light they were worthy subject
matter. I had a piece of Carte Pastel left, in one of their colors - which are very
strage, by the way - this one is sort of a cross between tan, curried chicken, and
moss. I scanned the image. Whether a photograph or a scan, it's terribly difficult
to give a color image its due. The "golden" quality doesn't really come through, for
some reason. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to imagine it.
Thanks for visiting.