Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Another Commission, Another 30 Days, and Yellow


I have to admit these days that I'm a little worried about how I'm going to fit everything in once the mares all come back, as I seem to be able to keep myself quite busy with just four horses in the barn. Either I'll become more efficient, or something will have to give!

I finished another commission last week - this one was an oil pastel, 14 x 17, of a Golden Retriever named Monty. I also did Monty's portrait when he was a puppy, so it was fun to do him again as an adult. I used to work almost exclusively in oil pastel, so this was like visiting old friends, though I admit it did take me a little while to warm up again! Oil pastels don't get the respect they deserve. Sadly, that's part of what drove me to work more in oils - well, that and the fact that oils don't need to be framed behind glass!


Tomorrow is April 1st, and I'm not fooling about doing another Thirty Horses, Thirty Days. I'm going to post the paintings over on that blog, so if you'd like to follow along, join the followers over there, or join my page on Facebook. Some will be for sale as we go, so this might be a chance to add a small original to your collection.

Yellow. You're probably wondering about that. You might remember that last May I went to Saskatchewan and took a workshop with Val Hinz. I've been using the palette she taught quite a bit since then, and more recently I've been exploring different yellows, to the extent that last night I had oh, twelve, on my palette. It keeps life interesting. Yes, that's what we artists do for fun!

Better get to it - hope to see you over at the Thirty Days blog in April!

PS - This is a little WIP I'm not completely happy with at the moment. I played with it in Photoshop (out of complete frustration, no doubt!) and I've decided PS can paint better than me...at least with this one! It may show up in the Thirty Days if I can get it sorted out to my satisfaction, we'll see!

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