Really Blessed and "What Bird Seed??"

What Bird Seed??

10 x 10, pastel

This has been the most amazing month in so many ways regarding my art. It started off with a wonderful workshop with Margaret Dyer, taking me way out of my comfort zone with painting the figure from life. She was so inspiring. But then it continued that following Thursday when I learned that she had awarded me the first ever Britta Herzog Award for Creativity at the Austin Pastel Society Juried Member Exhibition!!

The blessings have continued these last 5 days with sales of my paintings both at the Gallerie at Gruene and online! All I can say is God is Good and I am blessed beyond measure. 

We have deer in our yard ALL the time. They love our shrubs but they also love the bird seed. I have been wanting to paint this subject for awhile and since I was needing to replace a painting at the Gallerie, now was the time. This was so fun to create! When I took the reference photo, the deer had such a surprised, 'oh, I've been caught' look. Love it!

Gracy

Gracy

10x10, pastel

Pleased that now I can reveal this Christmas commission of Gracy. She was really fun to paint, those sparkling eyes! This was the first painting where I had to paint a tongue head on....somewhat tricky. But as always a great learning experience.

Hope you had a Blessed Christmas and looking forward to a wonderful New Year!

Frustration.......Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks

10 x 10, pastel
Click to buy

So why would I title this frustration? This is an excellent example of a great subject matter, but a painting that is just so-so because of the lack (I feel) of dynamic lighting. These hollyhocks were beautiful, but the late evening lighting added no 'pop'. I added flowers to create an interesting painting, even tried to recreate the brick wall they were in front of, but.........

So I will continue to search for hollyhocks with dramatic lighting. I have seen beautiful paintings of hollyhocks and anxious to give it a try.