"Come on Over" or "Green with Envy"

I received a phone call and was told to bring fruits or veggies to class for a still life painting. I had been at the grocery store the previous day and had spotted some beautiful peppers. I picked out three - a yellow, an orange and a green.

Others had brought a pomegranate and a pineapple. Each of us brought what we wanted to paint, so instead of combining everything for a joint still life, we just individually arranged what we had.

My idea had been to paint the orange and yellow peppers on one side of the paper and the green one by itself.  I was thinking "Come on Over" or "Green with Envy."

The first day I completed the sketch. The following week, it was time to paint. I really wanted to paint loosely, so I purposely held the paint brush a different way and voila, I had the peppers done in no time.

The class loved it and asked, "What else are you going to do?" There were suggestions of adding a dishtowel, or some sort of tiles. That didn't seem quite right. Maybe a window...

I sketched in a window and then worked hard at getting the panes the same size. I used blue painter's tape - which comes off easily ...and arranged and rearranged the panes. My eye gets fooled so easily - they still don't look even, but they are!

Then I pulled off the tape so I could see how it might look.

Last step was painting in the window panes. In keeping with the looseness of the peppers I purposely did not do lots of detail in the window frames. I like the simple look in this one.

So, what you do you think - "Come on Over" or "Green with Envy"...or something else?

BFFs

The process - part 2...the October exhibit at the St Michaels Library was hung last week. I need to get by there and see what the other artists did in describing their processes. Creative people = imaginative ways of doing this 'assignment.'

Today's post is about the pastel that I painted for this exhibit. I haven't done a portrait for awhile so I started looking through old photos. I came across a picture of one of my grandchildren hugging her dog.  She was about 2 at the time. (She's now 16 - don't know how that happened!)

Here's the pencil sketch on 500 grit sanded paper. (FYI - this really is just like sandpaper, but it's archival - not the stuff from my woodworking days)

I love the look of watercolor washes before I begin using my pastels. I try to add just enough color to describe the painting. It helps me find the darks and lights.

After it dried, I began with my soft pastels. Again, I was working on darks and lights and beginning to work on some expression in her face - because I couldn't wait. Normally, that would come later. but i was anxious to try.

I started experimenting with background color. In the photo, they were in the grass.

I finished up the background and kept doodling with her mouth - she has a funny little expression that is peculiar to small children. I think it has something to do with 'baby' cheeks...

The title of this painting is "BFFs" - it seems they were Best Friends Forever.