South Africa Faces the Future

Last year we were visiting my brother and his wife and they gave me some pictures from their travels in the last few years. One trip was to South Africa and their photos of the children were amazing. I got written permission to paint this recently. I've wanted to do some portraits in pastels and started with this one. I would love to have someone sit for me, but I'm slow and unsure of myself when it comes to portraits, so I think I'll rely on photos for awhile. I enjoyed doing this - but the background always gets to me - I changed it over and over - I didn't want it to detract from the faces. That's always been a problem for me when it comes to portraits. The light, it's always about the light.... Oh, this was painted on 18x24 watercolor paper. I started with painting the background in watercolor and built up the pastels over it. I liked the texture of the pastel on this paper and will probably try it again.

Adirondack Road

12x18 

The weather has been very cool and so I've been relegated to painting on my patio, and running in to warm my hands every now and then! Needless to say, I've been painting from my photos and this is one done from a photo taken this January in Indian Lake, New York. This road is Route 28, going into Indian Lake, past the barn that I painted plein air last summer. It's a tranquil and beautiful spot, for a main road!

Christy in Daisies

This is a pastel of my younger daughter, Christy, when she was about eight years old. We were on vacation in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and I took a picture of her in this field of daisies. My strawberry blond, freckled face cutie has grown up to be a beautiful woman! I found this picture and just knew I wanted to paint it.

Bird Refuge with Lillies- SOLD

This one was done a few years ago, but I thought I'd show it here anyway. It was one of the first really big pieces I tried. We were living in South Florida and took a trip to the panhandle of Florida and I took this picture. A number of years later, a friend wanted a painting of water and lillies and I remembered this picture. It's about 20x30 and I added the birds at the last minute. It's hanging in her living room in Orange County, California and I love seeing it there.

Before the Storm- Sold

This one was a plein air painting, done at Dana Point. We had walked the dogs across the bridge and I lugged all my pastels in a backpack so I could paint. The dogs were restless, but I got to do this small painting. It was done rather quickly because it did look like it would rain at some time that day and we didn't want to get caught with two dogs and a backpack. My husband is so patient with sitting and waiting for me to finish! This sold at The Cottage Gallery recently.