Lucy

My cousin Ann Marie has always been a creative, unique person.  Her daughter, Lucy, seems to have the same attributes as her mom - plus a flair for drama and art!  This pastel was done for Ann, based on a photo she allowed me to use.  I hadn't done a portrait in quite awhile and I hope I captured Lucy's unique, sweet character.

16x20 on Wallis pastel paper

Hydrangea Blooms

I'm so sick of winter - we've had weeks of minus 10 degrees, where walking is a literal pain.  I have to cover my face from the ice, and then my glasses fog up and I have to take them off and walk in blur.....not fun......This autumn we took a trip up to Lake Placid and I took lots of photos of this hydrangea bush.  They looked so lush and spoke to me this week of the summer and warmth to come.  We hope - snow predicted tonight - up to 8 inches......

12x18 on Wallis Belgium Mist pastel paper

Willow, The Adirondack Coon Hound

Willow, our wonderful, sweet, big, loud barker of a Coon hound.  We took her when our daughter found she couldn't walk her the way she needed to be walked.  Newborn babies will do that to owners and their dogs.  We live in a rural area and walking is a way of life up here, so it was not problem taking Willow and walking miles with her.  I took this reference photo a couple of years ago, while Wilow was sitting by the fire on her favorite blanket.  Her liquid, brown eyes seem to be saying, do you have any food on you?

11x14 on Richeson hard board

Ice Dreams

Before going to Florida for the holidays to visit family, I started this pastel.  We were getting ice and cold, but nothing like is depicted in this pastel.  The photo came from a friend who does get this kind of ice and snow in Syracuse, NY.  The original photo has a large tree branch filled with snow in the leff hand corner.  In order to show the shadows I wanted to show, I eliminated that tree and the branches.  It is a beautiful photo, but I think, as a painting, I needed to put that large block of shadow in, falling off the page.  I hope it shows the movement I felt in those tree shadows.

pastel 11x14 on board