Another addition to the herd

Day's End, pastel,  4.5x6

Who, Me?, 5.5x7.5

Lately I've been painting cows. I know some of you will look at this one and say, hey, that's not a cow, it's a male. Okay, then, I've been painting cattle. But I like the word "cows" better than the word "cattle" and after checking with several sources--including the Oregon State Extension service--I think it's okay to use the colloquial term, cows, to refer to this group of animals. I really liked the way the setting sun sparkled on both the field and his silhouette. The next image, "Who, Me?" was selected by the winner of my recent drawing and is no longer available for sale. I've got another cow on the easel and will post it sooooon.

And the winner is...Jayme Armstrong!

Sunny Road, 5x7, $125

Congratulations to Jayme Armstrong of Portland, winner of my 58th Birthday Drawing for a Painting. Her prize is a $58 credit toward the purchase of one my paintings, some of which appear below. My husband, Alan, has been helping me photograph paintings, inventory/catalog the images, and protect/store the paintings. There is much more work to be done, and I'm grateful for his help and patience. Also want to express deep appreciation to oil painter Randall David Tipton for meeting with me a couple weeks ago to chat about blogs. He is a phenomenal painter and a wonderful person and his encouragement means a lot to me. Another artist I want to acknowledge for support and encouragement is pastelist Casey Klahn--thanks so much!

Snake Plant, 4.5x6, $40

Gray Sky, 9x6, $125

Who, Me? 8x6, $125

Wet Beach, 6x9, $125

Vendor in Green Dress, 4.5x6, $40

Summer Shadows, 7.5x6.25, $50

Reading on the Beach, 6x4.5, $40

Limes, 6x4.5, $40

Lime Reflections, 6x4.5, $40

Playing with pastels

model in red kimono

 The Milwaukee Art Museum will feature more than 100 works on paper, including pastel paintings, at "Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper" starting Oct. 14 and running through Jan. 8, 2012. Unfortunately, this show is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, not Milwaukie, Oregon, and I'll most likely miss it. Cassatt, Degas, Renoir, van Gogh, Cezanne and Toulouse-Lautrec all played with pastels with gorgeous results. Many contemporary artists also choose pastel as their favorite medium. Among them, I greatly admire Dawn Emerson, from whom I took a workshop in March at Dakota Art's LaConner Art Workshops. Here are the results of some of my own play with pastels at Dawn's workshop, followed by a couple photos of Dawn.

cropping experiments

composition I selected

owls in charcoal and pastel

Dawn Emerson at work/play

Dawn Emerson and early incarnations of her buffalo paintings

More hands

Found a couple more paintings featuring hands. Here's one of my husband's brother, George. Although the perspective is off on the hand resting on his belly and I'm not sure how I feel about the "vertically amputated" hand resting on the chair, I do like what I did with the foot, ankle, shin and knee in the foreground.

Portrait of George Peroutka 2010

The second painting features my husband's hand holding a sprig of lavender.  It took hours to get the lines and calluses the way I wanted them and I'm happy with the result. I like this painting quite a bit but need a better photo.

Sprig of Lavender (in my lover's hand)

Hands don't sell

This year I entered my first juried show and my paintings were not accepted. After shedding a couple tears (it was my first juried show, after all!) I wrote a brief and respectful email to the juror asking for suggestions about how I could improve so I could try again next year. He wrote back that my technique was okay, but the subject--hands--wasn't something that sells. Hmm. Maybe hands don't sell but they do hold glasses of wine and beer, prop up an arm during a nap on the beach, show a life of hard work, and wait a minute! I have proof that they sell--here are some hands selling bangles in Delhi!