30″x22″ pastel on sanded paper
The looking is the hardest part of painting a portrait from life.
How rough and colorful this is might surprise you.
Here is a detail.
30″x22″ pastel on sanded paper
The looking is the hardest part of painting a portrait from life.
How rough and colorful this is might surprise you.
Here is a detail.
18″x12″ charcoal on chanson paper
Drawing from life. I started with a gesture, and then found smaller shapes, then shadow shapes…and along cane a face from all those shapes!
11″x9″ pastel on sanded paper
Watching through the windows at all the levels of classical ballet at my daughter’s studio delights me. Images at the bar are easiest to capture because they do the same things over and over again.
Pastel on sanded board 24″x18″
I jumped out of my seat the other day when I saw this beautiful, sprite of a woman charging across the alfalfa field. I loved the abstract shape that the sunlight was making connecting her hat and blouse and I knew it would make a beautiful painting. So…I ran and chased her down the road trying to snap a photo. Don’t let the walker fool you, she was trucking. I was inspired and touched. I loved that she returned to the ranch with a walker instead of staying home. I enjoyed watching several elders interact with their families last week. Three different families were here with someone who was in need of special care and it was a joy to watch them nurture and help. I hope that when someone in my family has a stroke, or goes blind in one eye, or whatever ailments age or life bring I will be there to help them continue to do what gives them life. I also hope that when my balance falters I will buy a walker, ask for the help I need, and keep on trucking!
I read an article last night in Smithsonian magazine about a neurosurgeon who teamed up with a neurologist. It seems like a logical team, but apparently it is unusual for those two disciplines to work together. These two Doctors figured out a way to insert a small electrical probe into people’s brains, and stop a tremor caused by a stroke or Parkinson’s Disease. The article went on to recount one particular patient and his journey towards elective surgery (it was affecting his golf swing) and play by play of his surgery (which he was awake for). To test if the probe was in the right place they had him draw spirals on a clip board during different stages of the surgery. The surgery was a success, his spirals went from shaky to smooth. As I fell asleep I wondered who would elect to have brain surgery.
Then today I got in the car to drive to NM with my dear husband. He likes to drive, so I had all day to sit. Why not paint? We weren’t in a car actually, we were in a SUV, and it was a fairly bumpy drive. I had time and desire to paint, but couldn’t get my hands to hold still. Then I remember the article, and thought how I just had to wait until a small town for a red light, or even a pit stop to regain the steadiness in my hands. I chose for this one small painting to paint with my hands shaking.