Sketching with pastels

So I decided to combine sketching and pastel.  I went to the local wild life refuge and sketched goats and an alpaca.  I didn’t have any plan in mind except to just try using the pastel sticks to actually draw with them.  I liked how these turned out and I think I will go there more often to try other media and do the same exercises.

PS, the goats were more active and it was like trying to sketch a school of fish.

The Artful Flea

Once a month, on second Saturdays, Chincoteague has an arts “flea” market.  I wanted to do one more painting before this evening’s wet paint sale so I tackled painting the market.  This was a ton of fun!  I usually sketch big markets and crowds of people with ink & watercolor, but this time I used pastel.  I loved doing this painting and plan to do more of these in pastel!

Irma

Well Paint the Great South Bay is a wrap.  It went very well and I even made it on the cover of our local newspaper.  We sold paintings, we got tacos and ice cream for sketches, whose better than us?   Now I am on my way to Chincoteague to participate in their plein air event. (John is driving and I have two dog children on my lap.)

So, round 2 with hurricanes to hit the US.  Irma is splashing at Florida’s shores…. But there’s no climate change, what?

My daughter is a resident of Florida now.  We moved her down there in June.  She took Cleo with her which was a little sad because Cleo was raised by Chloe and Mack (our Chihuahuas) and she doesn’t know she’s a cat.  We are a little concerned about Irma, but since my daughter works for Disney, she’ll be on property when the storm hits, she’ll be safe, but Cleo will be at the apartment, just outside of Orlando.

She might put Cleo in the Disney pet lodging….but in the meantime, this little cartoon is my way of dealing with the anxiety of my daughter and Cleo in Florida during this storm.

Paint the Great South Bay Quick Draw 

Today was quick draw day.   I checked the artists in and stamped their canvases/paper in front of the Patchogue Theater.  It was a good morning for painting!  The artists were given a timed painting session from 9 am and had to be back by 12 pm to be judged.

 Because I was doing administrative work, I decided to paint in front of the theater with a cleaner medium, casein.   So my view across the street was Kilwin’s, a much welcome addition to Patchogue.  And easy on the eyes, if you like ice cream and chocolate…

Once everyone checked in, I set to work sketching out my underpainting, then proceeded to lay in the paint.  Cars kept switching spots so I waited for a car that would be there a while.  

Finally, one lady parked in front and put money in meter.  Ha! Jackpot!  I asked her if she was going to be there long, and, seeing me with an easel, her cranky pants response was “At least 2 hours!” 

“Perfect!” I said, “I’ll paint your car!”  So I added her car to the painting.

I finished the painting at 11:58, lol.

I used a plastic palette today for the casein,  freaking awesome idea, wish Inhad thought of it sooner….here are photos of the painting and the tubes of casein..thank you Richeson company!  Love casein!

Catch

This took me two sessions to paint because when you paint outside, the light is always changing.  Plus painting with oils is not like painting with pastels, pastels are more forgiving.  So I went back two days later when the light was the same and finished it.  I don’t normally work in oils but I like to challenge myself.  Here is the painting I did of “Catch,” a restaurant in our Village.

Fire Island Lighthouse

A bunch of us went out this evening to paint on Fire Island.  We dragged our gear down toward the lighthouse.   It was a beautiful evening.  It was supposed to rain but the clouds blew away and left us with a juicy golden lit lighthouse.  A lot of us painted the lighthouse and it was amazing how everyone all had a different approach which resulted in many different ways to paint a lighthouse, lol.

So here is my painting of the Fire Island Lighthouse….

 

Sketching at Swell Taco

Well I realized that I had only 3 stamped pastel panels so I started an 8×10 oil today…..it’s still in progress so I won’t be showing that one yet.  Instead, here is the sketch I did at Swell Taco PGSB night in Patchogue.  We sketched the hostess, Britt, in a taco costume and we got a taco when we handed the sketch to our waitress….

Here is my sketch…