Morning Glories and Tropical Storm Beryl

Neopastels on Pastelbord, 5x7

Tropical Storm Beryl on the horizon

Ponte Vedra Beach, May 27, 7 a.m.

Our glorious beach at sunrise, May 27

Getting back to the OP's this weekend, have been busy during the last few weeks as we are coming down to the end of the school year. Both of my boys are looking forward to a long summer ahead... can't say I blame them. This is going to be a great time to catch up on artwork.

We had a tropical storm come through yesterday, was much ado about nothing really but it did stir up a lot of panic and alarm. Most of our Memorial Day festivities were canceled due to the storm. Today just windy and some rain. Hoping everyone had a nice weekend!

Daffies

Neopastels on Pastelbord, 5x7

I love daffodils.. they are a challenge to paint. I have taken that challenge up with white flowers and yellow flowers... there is not an easy solution for the darks, especially on yellows... do you reach for the yellow ochre, the oranges? Did you know that if you mix black with yellow, instead of getting a darker shade of yellow, you get green? Yes, very strange but this is how pigments work. I love yellow, it's a bright and sunny color, full of life and light... definitely a challenge to capture in paint :)

Happy Weekend!

Beach Daisy

Beach Daisy

Neopastels on Pastelbord, 5x7

Crazy sky last night in Ponte Vedra

The beach this morning

These little flowers grow all along both sides of the boardwalk leading down to our beach access... they are so pretty, there are other wildflowers too but these look like little mini daisies or sunflowers :) So pretty and paintable! The beach has been glorious lately.. the waves are perfect for surfing and the breeze so welcomed after a long run.

Happy Mother's Day this weekend to all the Moms :) Enjoy your day!

Water Lily

Water Lily

Neopastels on Pastelbord, 5x7

Wow, this was a challenge.. I really wanted the white to pop out and had to decide on different color browns as a dark background to make it look like there was water behind the flower and depth.. I think I created the right amount of depth, but there is still a lot I don't understand when using colors. This was based on a photo taken by Tennerka (Irene) on Flickr. I also just received a gorgeous DVD of photo references from my friend Bente Hansen (please view her awesome art on www.bentecreates.com).

Thank you for viewing my artwork.

Feeling Pretty

Rembrandt Soft Pastel on Pastelbord, 5x7 

based on a photo by Katsu333 on Flickr (used with her permission)

This is my very first soft pastel painting. I treated myself after the sale of my last painting to a box of Rembrandt soft pastels (60 half sticks). Wow.. I think I'm in love again! :) They are VERY similar to the oil pastels in their way of application and blending but paper stumps are not as effective. I also found out that you can use water with regular pastel as a wash first and then put color on top. Very cool. All in all, I've been reading and learning so much lately. I hope to get back to my ops soon but there is just so many mediums that I love. I'm so glad it's the weekend!

Hollyhocks

Neopastels on Pastelbord, 5x7

This is not from my own reference (unfortunately, as I'd LOVE to see these kind of flowers around the neighborhood). I did an acrylic painting two nights ago of a similar reference and really fell in love with the colors and flower shapes, so decided to do one in oil pastels. I can't believe the weekend is nearly over.. I'm not ready for Monday yet! Hope everyone is enjoying April. We're finally getting the April showers that will bring a ton more of May flowers :) This is good for me, the flower painter!

Red Canna Lily I

Neopastels on Pastelbord, 5x7

This painting was done from a photo I took about 7 years ago in my neighbor's garden... I am finding many photos that I can use that I had forgotten about so I will be doing more Canna Lilies as well and hoping to do some acrylic paintings of wildflowers. This is a great find for me because it helps take the pressure off of finding photos on the internet. I am feeling much more confident with oil pastels now. I am learning the handling differences between the Sennelier and Neopastels... and it's really liberating!

Soon to be the weekend! Enjoy!