Mountains

A3 (12"x16"), Pastel

Painting landscapes is one of great pleasures. I forgot it, as concentrated mostly on still lives to improve my technique. It is like watching the small details, focused and concentrated. And then, suddenly, get the wings and see the wide world.

This is my contribution to Studio Atelier challenge (here).  

Pastel sticks are so dusty. And I have to remember not to use fingers, though they are the best pastel grinding tool)).

Onions

I am late with "Onions" contribution to Rookiepainter challenge (here). A lot of things to do did not leave time for painting, but these onions were holding my attention very tight.
I used watercolor, watercolor pencils, pastel pencil and PITT sepia marker here. I was sorry that A3 size (12"x16") was not enough for my hungry hands. And I wanted to make them red, really red!
Someone was missing doing painting for sure..))


Recently I have received a letter from the New York art gallery which offered me the supervising and promotion of my art in their gallery during a year. For the annual fee of 3450USD. Interesting offer, isn't it?

Portrait Sketching

I asked mom: "Will you sit and pose for me, I need to practice portrait painting. But probably you will not recognize yourself and you will have to sit still for more then 1 hour?" She was very dedicated "painter's mother", so she agreed.  I managed to do this sketch in 40 minutes, tried to be quick and not to make her get tired, so missed several very important measurements checkings.. Her interest was huge and she asked me when saw the result: "Is it a woman?")))

I found fountain pen with blue ink on my way to the office. Fell in love from first sight and drew in blue all day long..

When waiting in the traffic jam I saw the man on the other side of the road, at the bus stop, waiting, too. I liked how the trees were surrounding the plastic construction and tried to catch their shapes.

The Bridge

Watercolor on Arches, 30x40cm

Yesterday I read in James Gurney's blog about the gamut triangle and decided to try the method. To tell the truth I was not very attentive, just saw the picture with triangle and wanted to try.

The colors from cool-blue to ochre were chosen in the color wheel.
I need to read his article again, attentively. These colors combinations look rather dull and boring here.

I was busy this week with office work, so free Friday evening was like a bless for painting. Daylight lamp and pre-drawn sketch, which dusted for a week on my easel, made the pleasure of painting come true.
I painted on Arches, enjoyed every moment of this paper.  Though I still think that I am not good enough for it.
The painting was inspired by my friend JMs' blog photo here.

Copying Masters

Here I copy masters, so please do not compliment me for color and composition.
Why I was so interested to study work of Jane Minter and Joyce Washor? They know so much about hard and soft edges in watercolor painting and manage so good, combining it with knowledge of color combinations and tonal structures.
I need to practice more to get this easiness and  freedom.
I received Jane's permission to post the copy. Joyce did not reply to me, so I post my study without her permission. In case she is against it, I will remove the sketch at once.

Sketchbook

EDM task "Draw a book" (link to list) turned into the painting of the bookshelf.

This is the last drawing in my Montenegro series. Bye, summer, bye, sunny Montenegro.

Quick sketches of people from the cafe window. The cafe was near underground station and my models supposed to stand still and wait for their appointments. Instead, they were so restless, could not be motionless for a minute and wait till I draw them correctly)).

The Peony

I did not realized that I missed the pastel sticks so much.
It was double pleasure: straight and clear pastel colors (in comparison to watercolor which always has independent opinion how it should behave in my paintings)) and dark grey-green paper (I tried tinted paper for the first time and loved the effect).
Many many thanks to Jen and her "Rookiepainter challenge" for these pleasures and possibility to draw flowers.

Sausepan And Marrow

My mother has rather old enamelled pan. Its lid is made of metal, too. So when cooking you always have to be careful if you do not want to burn the fingers. What to do? Wine cork works as finger rescuer, when  mounted under the lid's hook. Illustration enclosed))

My discoveries, which I want share. Yes, these men know how to draw and to paint:


Tim Oliver

Rene Tomczak