Venus #1

Pastel and Carbon Pencil on White Paper

8" x 9 3/4" SOLD

I don't know why, but I have always been fascinated

by classical sculptures from ancient Greece and Rome.

I have spent a great deal of time doing drawings of

them in many different media. My favorite is pastel,

however, which I usually do on acid-free sketch-weight

paper, using veils of color, vine charcoal, carbon pencil,

and several different types of fixative.

I start out with a layer of Nupastel (hard) in some color that

I like, and draw into that with a very skinny piece of vine

charcoal. The great thing is that if you don't like what you

draw, you can just keep covering it up with more pastel

until you get an image that you think you can work with.

At that point I will usually spray it with Workable Fixative.

Not too much, but just enough to make changes if I want.

Then I start adding more colors, more drawing, more vine

charcoal. I use the carbon pencil (Conte), because it doesn't

smear like charcoal pencil does.

After awhile, I will deliberately spray this with Crystal Clear

or Matte Finish, or other Krylon Fixative (outside of course!!), or

even Sennelier Fixatif Latour, which, being made from a citrus

base, I can spray right in front of my face, but it has a tendancy

to wrinkle the paper, as it has some water in it, I think (it can also

deposit some spots, but this can be a very happy accident sometimes!).

At this point I am deliberately trying to make the picture darker.

Then I continue to work on it with the same materials, until I have gotten

to a place where I am happy with it.

Next to my post is a small example of a larger drawing that I was very happy

with that is not for sale, because it is part of my private collection.

Thank you for viewing my work today.

Christina

Drypoint Etching , 4" x 5" $50.00
Click Here to Bid

This is a drypoint drawn on a metal plate

of my daughter's friend Christina. It is

wiped clean with no plate tone, because I

liked the lines, and tone clustered around

her head.

Impression of a Night in Venice

Acrylic on Archival Paper laid down on board, SOLD

5" x 6" $50.00 Click Here to Bid

This paiting was composed partly from a photo, partly

from memory, and partly from imagination. It was a

long time ago that I was in Venice, but I never forgot

how entranced I was by it. It is so quiet there, because

there are no cars! Just canals and boats. It is very

mysterious, but grand at the same time. I stayed in

a hotel that had a chandelier in the dining room that

was made entirely of blown-glass flowers in many colors,

hanging from the ceiling. It was about eight feet long.

I was amazed. It was probably made at Murano, in the

bay off of Venice, where they do all of the famous

glass work. I would love to go back there someday.

Tiny Pre-Raphaelite Sophie l

Oil on Board, 4" x 4" $50.00 SOLD

This tiny painting of my daughter was done from a

photo I took of her quite a few years ago. I manipulated

the photo in Photoshop - something I love to do - using

the lighting options, so that I vignetted her into this

circle. I just thought it had an unusual, "times past"

look. With her flowing hair, pensive expression, and

colorful kimono, she struck me as very similar to some

of the models used by the Pre-Raphaelite painters, who

seemed to favor extremely pale, long haired, pensive

women. My daughter is actually bright and and happy -

she's just a good model. I've done many paintings and

prints of her. She wanted to be an actress for a while,

and can be quite dramatic, which makes her a great

person to draw and paint!

This is just a quickly-done

painting, but there are things about it that I like.

"Essence" Copy after Degas

7" x 9", Oil Paint on Paper SOLD

This is an example of a technique known
as essence, that was used a great
deal by both Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec.
The oil paint is laid out overnight on
paper towels or blotter paper to soak out
the linseed oil. The next morning the paint
is transferred to a palette. Then, using
only solvent ("essence" is French for "solvent"),
one paints with the oil-less paint on any paper.
The paper does not need to be prepared in any way,
thus you can paint on bond paper, drawing paper,
pastel paper, charcoal paper (like this), Canson
Paper, brown wrapping paper, whatever. It is
really fun - and archival! That's how Toulouse-
Lautrec did all those paintings on cardboard that
are in the National Gallery in DC!!