"Grandson 2, The Younger" 9" X 12" pastel on Wallis paper

This is my youngest grandchild

soon to be 9 years old. 

He is the happiest , "smilingest" and most easy-going  

child I know. In fact, we say he was born smiling!

He is so excited about life, and

he makes all of us excited about life.

Here are both of them together.

We love them very much and are

excited to see what they do in this world.

"Beyond Eleven" 9" X 12" pastel on Wallis paper

Speaking as a grandmother I am constantly reminded how fast time passes

as a child grows up. Admittedly, I think it's a wee bit 

fast, but who am I to change the schedule of 

another's life?

This is my oldest grandchild who honestly was only a little guy

recently. Now, he is past eleven and it won't be long before

the "teen" years, then young adulthood and 

 beyond.

We have enjoyed watching him grow and change and

become his own personality. What a joyful treat 

it has been, and we feel so blessed to see his skills develop, his interactions

 with others become apparent and his interests take hold.

I have not done many portraits before this, but I have been motivated recently

by the work of some of my blogging friends who 

seem to have the skill of portraiture

 well in hand.

Their work certainly gives me motivation and encouragement.

 I think my next effort will be the younger 

brother of this boy. I'm looking 

forward to it.

"Long Shadows" 6" X 8" pastel on Wallis paper

Pears have always been such a pleasure to paint. I think I started

 with a pear composition many years ago,

and I still fall back on them as a

subject every now and then.

Photographing them is yet another story. 

Pastel is such a pleasant medium to paint with for many reasons.

But is has a granular tendency which makes it quite hard to

photograph. The result is sometimes "fuzzy" or unfocused. Even with 

the best lighting situation it often is a challenge to 

make it as exacting as possible. 

I very much enjoyed working on the shadows of this trio.

They each had a super dark portion and a softer 

section which allowed me to play

with the colors included on the pears.

Red Fox 8" X 8" Oil on Gessobord

RED FOX

Another painting based on a PMP photo by Steven J. Berkowitz.

I'm so grateful to all the photographers who generously post their 

works on PMP (Paint My Photo)

for artists like myself  who do not live in a region where animals

like the Red Fox and others live.

Blue Bonnets Growing Wild 6" X 8" oil on panel

I ran across this photo on a website where photographers post photos that 

artists may use copyright free. It is called PMP or Paint My Photo. 

HERE is a link to their website.

They have an abundance of photos from all over the world taken by people 

who have traveled or wish to share their photos 

with others. 

I have been very impressed with the quality of the photos.

Many of them pay close attention to lighting

conditions which are so important

for artists.

It was fun to work on a landscape for a change.

 It's not an area in which I am proficient.

I know it would help to do more of them so I would get better, right?

Yes.

"Abert's Squirrel" 5" X 7" pastel on pastelbord

Abert's Squirrel (pastel)

My husband and I were in northern Arizona several years ago
trying to escape the 110 degree heat that late June sometimes brings.

We stayed for sometime exploring and enjoying the cooler air.
There is a lot of forest land in that area
so we went on picnics and hikes whenever we could.

One place we visited was a Ranger's Center
where one can get all sorts of information on fishing, boating and
hiking. My husband regularly carries his camera, and was able to get
several shots of this little guy, an Abert's Squirrel.

The fact we were standing about three
feet from him didn't bother his lunch at all. He didn't want to
give up any of the sunflower seeds in the feeder.

Good Memories 8" X 8" oil on panel

I remember years ago my mother had a china pattern that

she dearly loved. She bought the plates, cups, saucers, bowls and platters

piece by piece over several years.

This pattern is called Desert Rose by Franciscan. These dishes would be used at 

family dinners or on special occasions.

I saw the photo for this on Morguefile or Paint My Photo

which are both websites that allow photos to be used copyright free.

I used to have the pitcher like this given to me

by my mom. Unfortunately, with all the moves we have

made over the years it was broken. But, because of a serendipitous posting

by a photographer I was treated to another 

wonderful memory of times gone by.

"Pretty in Pink" 10" X 20" X 3/4" oil on canvas

        

                                 I have wondered if anyone might still be following my blog

after such a long absence. It has been almost a year.

I put things "on hold" because I thought a break would bring

back motivation and renewed energy for creative endeavors.

Well, it did, but I think I broke the rule that says

"Keep painting at all costs."  Other things were involved, too,

of course, but I look forward to beginning again, and I hope there are still

those out there who will come by my blog and be interested in what

is happening art-wise in my world.

For some reason I latched on to CARNATIONS as a theme and

did some paintings with these as the subject.

This painting was the culmination of the topic. I tried several times to 

manipulate the background color in this so it showed accurately. This is the closest

I came in reflecting the "beige-y" color.

I look forward to painting again as well as enjoying the

blogging friendships that develop on Blogger.

                                            

The Traveling Companion pastel 8" X 8"

A teaching friend of mine visited us recently from 

California, and she brought along her traveling buddy, her little dog, Oreo.

He's a cutie...well-behaved and friendly with a
pronounced overbite.

 I decided I would forego working on portraits for a brief time

in order

to do a painting for her of him in pastel.

It dawned on me only afterwards that this counts as a

portrait after all! I had to 

consider some of the same elements as in painting a 

person portrait, but obviously there were some different

considerations as well.

Anticipation 12" X 12" oil on canvasboard

Continuing to explore the human face, I did 

some research on skin tones when working on this painting . 

There is so much excellent information

and many demos on the internet concerning this topic much of it by known artists

who specialize in portraits and/or figures. You Tube, Artists Network, Pinterest and several helpful articles and books provided very relevant advice.

There is so much to learn in painting portraits/figures. I am awestruck

by the works I see by so many artists, older and contemporary. 

I will never accomplish anything close to their mastery,

but I'm learning more every day about what to appreciate in

these artists' works.

 

Study of Woman's Face 6" X 6" Pastel

I had fun with this first effort of a portrait
of a young woman. There were moments of doubt as well
as I tried to work with values in the skin tones
trying to get the correct value for a particular area. There was a LOT of comparing values of one area against another.

I found it's difficult for me to go deep with values in the shady parts of the face.
When you lay out a swipe of brownish pastel stick
which according to the gray scale is the right value,
and see how DARK it looks, you begin
to wonder.

Nevertheless, for a beginning effort, I was pleased with some aspects and realized it'll
be a long road to success. That's okay. I know  that
however much or little I learn it will be certainly more than I know now.

I found a good resource for guidance in the book, "Capturing Personality in Pastel,"
by Dennis Frost.

             

Mr. Frost was an English artist who lived from 1925–1982.
He was a professional portrait painter who painted many commissioned pieces,
but loved to select his own, what he called his "character" pieces -
those displaying an intriguing personality. Emotions, features, expressions and
posture traits all helped him decide who showed a unique individuality he wished to express in pastel.

Curtain Call 9" X 9" Pastel

It is so good to be back posting once again. As planned, I used my time recovering

 to read, to research and to plan some projects  and

themes I'd like to try. There are so many good articles and visual examples of

art techniques on the internet now, and

 I was fortunate to see many demos that stroked that 

excitement and curiosity button in my head.

I certainly want to thank you all

for your prayers, thoughts and kind, kind words

during that time. I'm doing well, and look forward to reading 

your blogs and seeing the new ideas and works that you post.

Our weather here is sunny and warm and the flowers are beginning to

blossom. "Love is in the air" as you can see in these photos my husband recently took.

 

A Good-Bye (for now) Message

Dear Blogging Friends,

Very early in the morning on January 3rd

I suffered as many have before me a familiar home accident.

Funny how fast something can happen.

I fell and broke a hip and damaged some ribs which all left me with 

many harmonious color patterns over my body.

Our new local hospital took wonderful care and

put me back together with a partial hip replacement.

Lots of helpful meds, physical therapy and stellar nursing are easing my way back to walking and all the little things that we take for granted until they are not

there.

I won't be posting for some time, and

will probably not be able to comment

on your beautiful, inspiring artworks as often as I would like. But, from my  

new comfortable, designated daytime "sitting" chair I can see my

tubes of paint, boxes of colorful pastels and brushes

and books for inspiration.

So, I'm sure, with time I will not be able to resist the pulls and tugs

of the opportunity to make art.

I will sincerely, desperately miss you

and thank you once again for all you have given me: 

ideas, feedback, encouragement and company along this

thrilling road of art discovery.

Take care, my friends.💙

Tiny Beauty 5" X 7" Pastel on Wallis paper

                                                              

  

Wishing all of you

an amazing and peace-filled holiday season.

Each of you 

has been an amazing source of 

encouragement and friendship to me,

and I am so grateful.

Bless you all and may

2017

bring you happiness and success 

in all that you try to do.

Carol Flatt

Side By Side 12" X 12" Oil on cradled panel

        

     The goal for this piece was to incorporate soft or

disappearing edges as much as I could. 

I found that using a fan brush really helped with this.

At one point I thought I might

be finished, yet I "felt" it needed something more.

An artist friend agreed with me, and she suggested darkening 

the values of the shadows from the plums,

from the jar and in the foreground. 

She said so often if something doesn't feel "right"

the problem often lies with the values.

She was correct because when I lowered the values

of each of the above areas it made a huge

difference.  

This painting is done on a wooden cradled panel and I painted 

the sides the same soft blue used in the painting. 

It may be hung then with no framing if you choose.

Click here to see purchase details.

Ready For Their Close-ups 8" X 8" Oil on board

                                                                

Many, many years later I still smile when I remember Garrison Keillor's

monologue about growing up in his small town 

where EVERYBODY grew tomatoes in the summertime.

You can only give away so many tomatoes so many times, so the

locals resorted to sneaking around at night and placing them in one anothers' cars!

I laughed because in the small town in which I grew up

they really did that! There was kind of a unwritten summer competition the

neighbors had. Everyone had grown so many beautiful, juicy tomatoes

which they gladly shared with neighbors. At times, we wondered what we were going to do with all of them! There were some very creative solutions as I remember.

I always enjoy painting tomatoes. Each has their own personality as pears do.

Getting a deep, dark  red is a challenge for me, so this time I

added a little black to my cadmium reds or vermilion, and it seemed to work alright. 

Black is powerful so you have to add it in small amounts until it is the shade you need.

Have a great week, everybody! Fall is beginning to show itself here

in Arizona with crisper temps in the a.m. and evenings. Yaay!

Goodbye 105 to 110 degree temperatures!!

Tropical Vibe 18" X 18" Pastel and ink crystals

                                                              

I continue to work in an abstract direction 

along with the more representational style that seems to surface in all that I do.

This piece is mostly about color and shapes

presented in a "grid" format composition.

I've used this exact color combination before in another "abstract" work

described in an earlier post. I've always been a blue/green kind of girl

for whatever reason. 

The process was lots of fun as much of the background is 

spontaneous and does it's magic mostly out of my control. I used UArt 400 paper

for pastel which allows for a wet wash.

With a large brush I wet the surface and sprinkled three different 

colors of "Brusho" ink crystals over the wet surface. 

The crystals react to water in exciting ways similar to what watercolor

 does when you drop alcohol on top. Here's a photo of my UArt paper 

after it dried.

You can see how the wet crystals (powder) spreads, merges and blends.

The only control I have is the amount put on, the direction it flows

(you can tilt the paper as it reacts,) and blotting it if you wish to modify

the depth of color or rework that area.

As I said above I used a grid composition and marked the spaces 

where the pastel circle (positive and negative) could go if I decided to place one there. I do think this method has many possibilities for different kinds of backgrounds or texture patterns.

I placed a mat over the painting just to see what it would look like

if it were to be framed. Please forgive the darkness of this photo. I took it

 in less than ideal light.

Click HERE to see on my DailyPaintworks page.

Ripe and Ready 12" X 24" oil on panel

                                                                       

As a child we used to travel in the summertime from Washington State 

to the Midwest to visit relatives. It seemed like a

long, long, long trip for my brother and me so my

mother would stop as often as possible to allow us to stretch and let off a little 

some of our pent-up energy.

No matter how often we found ourselves in

a rural area (it seemed like most of it was rural) we would find ourselves ready to stop at each and every fruit stand between Washington and Missouri!

Farmers would take their produce to a

stand or a pull out by the side of the road and sell it.  

They usually had everything from fresh corn to 

cherries, from apples and honey to peaches.

They were always perfectly ripe

and as juicy as could be.

We would get some

items for immediate consumption and save the rest for breakfast.

There still are a few stands left today if you travel the back-roads, but not nearly as many. 

I do miss that opportunity to get some fresh produce and

chat a bit with the local people. 

Hope you have a great week, and may the weather be pleasant wherever you are!

It's supposed to be 115 degrees here in Tucson today!

I told my husband this morning we need to go to Dubai to cool down.

 It's only going to be 105 there!

Click here to go to auction page.
 

Promenade Oil on board 9" X 12"

                                                                      

                                                                         

I love this time of year and through

the Fall as produce begins to ripen and is showcased so beautifully in 

grocery stores and produce stands. 

One of my favorites is the little cherry tomatoes

that you can easily down in one or two bites. They are vividly 

colorful, and they provide the artist an opportunity to 

blend analogous colors ( reds, oranges, and yellows) and

complementary colors (reds and greens.)

For more fun

the green tops which can go in sometimes comedic directions

offer another opportunity to be creative.

I find at times that reds are difficult to photograph.

The camera wants to merge the different values of reds into

a single value. So sometimes  it's hard to pick up the subtleties

of each hue. With a little photo editing I think the true colors came through in the

tomatoes, the vine and other greenery. 

Although the background appears white it is actually a

very soft, pale, warm yellow which I worked and worked over again to try to match and couldn't quite get it.

Just think white corn or platinum blonde and you have the background color!

I hope your week is wonderful and you'll see all the beauty around you!!

For purchase information please visit DailyPaintworks .

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee 6" X 6" oil on panel

                                                                        

                                                                 Another bird!

I have really enjoyed painting these small critters.

I can see how bird-watchers can be

so adamant about what they do. It sort of "catches" you after awhile.

I'd love to have some feeders and watch them as they do their thing, but feeders bring Pack Rats who then bring snakes, and since we have a generous share of 

Rattlesnakes in this area I'll forego the observations

that concern feeding the birds.

Hope your week has started well, and you'll enjoy the rest of it.

Happy Painting!