New art update...

Some new artwork underway since the last time I posted!  Let me show you!!

This first one is called "Burning Bridges" and i finished it in the fall.  It's based on a picture I took of the sunset while going over a bridge near Newport, RI.  Don't worry...I wasn't driving! I love the vibrancy that came of the colors I used.  I always start very vibrant with my underpaintings.  I do have a step by step picture series to show how this painting came to life and will be posting that soon! It's NuPastel on 9x12 Colourfix paper.

This is my latest creation.  I'm not sure if it's completely done yet.  I love the color and the way the rocks came to life.  It's based on a picture from a couple summers ago of a beach in Clinton, CT.  I really liked the way the landscape framed the umbrella and decided to remove the inhabitants.  I'm not sure if I need to do anything to the far water underneath the trees... it looks a little pale to me, but I don't want to lose the depth of the painting. I don't have a name picked out for this one...but I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of "Summer Soldier".  Please tell me what you think...I'd appreciate any feedback! This is NuPastel on 9x12 Colourfix paper.

Long time no see...

So two years ago after I finished my stethoscope painting, I began nursing school.  This explains the extreme absence in paintings over the last couple years.  I do not have any that I am working on but over the summer of 2013 I did complete the one that I posted an underpainting for and I did two others.  It isn't enough, I have countless pictures that I cannot wait to turn into paintings but I need to finish school and get a job before I really dive into it again.  So as an explanation and brief update I'm putting this post up...
Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Step by Step Pastel Painting

Here is the step by step painting of a stethoscope I have worked on between work and school :)  Enjoy and as always, let me know what you think!

First I added all of the colors I saw in the photo in an underpainting.  I love beginning bright and vibrantly, and I think that when the painting is finished, those colors really help the painting pop!

Then I began adding some lighter colors that reflect closer to the colors of the skin and shirt in the reference photo I was using.

 Then I began blending and working on the shadows in the skin cast by the shirt and by the anatomy.  I also was trying to set the stage for the stethoscope to be added by putting in the shadow of it before I added it.

I was also working on the colors in the shirt and trying to get the light to cast correctly while keeping some of the vibrant colors.

 Now the moment of truth! Adding in the stethoscope.  I was nervous about this part because if I didn't do it right, correcting the underpating would be hard and it would lose the fluidity.

 I decided the stethoscope needed to be bigger that I had made it base on the rest of the scale.  But I was able to do it without muddying up the background.  I enjoyed adding lots of color to the head of the stethoscope to reflect its shape.

 Finally I added shading on the shirt and in the stethoscope to make it more rounded. And it is done :) I thoroughly enjoyed completing it!  Also below is my new piece that I have just started on!! The underpainting is in progress!

It's been a while...

It has been a while.  The school semesters and this summer have been gruelingly busy.  However I have been working here and there on a couple pieces.  Here they are :)

The picture above is a sunset over Lake Travis in Austin, TX  I really had fun with this one because it is on a new surface.  Colourfix paint (black) on gatorboard foam.  An artist friend gave it so me to try.  It has a lot of tooth and I really enjoyed using it.  Here is a picture when I had just started layering colors...

I am going to put the step-by-step pictures of the other painting I've worked on in another post :)

Shows!

I'm sorry I have been MIA lately.  I'm here but the school semester has started and life is getting busy.  I have also started a second blog to document my experiences applying to and being in Nursing School.  You can find this by finding it in my profile.  On the news front, I have 5 pieces of artwork being included in the Art League of New Britain Working from the Figure Exhibition.  The opening reception for that is this Friday.  I also have the following piece included in the Connecticut Pastel Society Member Exhibition!! The opening reception for that show is March 3rd.  So I have been a busy busy girl with shows, still working on my yoga series (#5), attending class (exam next week), applying to nursing, and still trying to have some "me time" between everything.  I have also been a lot less active on my Etsy shop.  But nothing is selling right now and I have to make school a higher priority at the moment.  I'm still around but just not pushing and promoting it as much during the semester.  So that is my update and hopefully I will be able to show you some works in progress and/or finished paintings :)

"Wind of Youth" 9x12 NuPastel on Colourfix.  Copyright MSSArtwork.

The Yoga Series Continues...

I have been motivated and productive lately, making yet more progress on my yoga series and then some :) I have completed two more yoga poses and started working on some new content on a new surface last night.  I have a little more work to do on the beach scene which is on Pastelmat.  This was a fun toothy surface to work on.  Luckily, completely the yoga backgrounds on my other paintings prepared me for bulking on enough pastel to be able to blend on this surface.  Here is the beach painting:

My most recent yoga painting "Fierce" is featured below.  Entitled "Fierce" because of the warrior pose she is in, I wanted her to pop and appear to take charge of the page while also complimenting her surroundings.  I loved the pop of orange/red encircling her while the background is meant to capture the colors of the beach, sand, and surf.  Any comments appreciated!

The third yoga painting in my series, isn't the best picture.  I took it with my camera and will change it as soon as I get some natural light for a photo :)  This is "Rooted" and attributes her balance and harmony as she is in tree pose.  I incorporated very earthy colors to simulate her sturdiness as a tree would be.  Enjoy!

The bottom two paintings are on 9x12 Colourfix paper while the top beach scene as I said is pastelmat. All are created with NuPastels.  Have a great day.

Featured in an Art Blog!

An exciting new adventure for me has recently occurred and I am so pleased to let everyone know that I was featured in an art blog today! A young woman who features new artists every Monday has interviewed me and posted that as well as pictures of my art, and links to my shop and blog.  You never know who you're going to meet or how networking will turn out in the end.  It didn't cross my mind that I would meet someone who would feature me as an artist on her blog on Etsy!  Please check out her blog and check back for new artist interviews! Just click here!

I am also happy that I got more prints of my art and posted some new pictures of them on my Etsy Shop.  The pictures aren't as zoomed in as the others so that you can get a better idea of what the prints look like.  I am working on getting  an 8.5x11 frame to post a picture of them framed as well. :)

Yoga Series #2 Done!!

Finished my second painting in my Yoga series.  This one is called "Strength" and the pose is the Reverse Warrior.  I didn't mention in my post that my previous Yoga painting, with the orange, yellow, and purple has been named "Tranquility" and a print is now available in my Etsy Shop.

My "Strength" Yoga Painting is a compilation of blues, yellows, and greens in many shades and tones.  I worked on the background first with energy and a combination of strokes.  Then I sketched out a rough drawing of the figure in light blue and added lights and darks in blue and green until the shape took a little more form.  I really like the combination of thin and thick lines helping the figure to take up space in the painting.  I'm posting three pictures in this pose, two are of "Strength" one a progress picture after I first started it (it is a little saturated because it's from my cell phone camera), and the other (top) the finished product.  Last, I'm also listing a picture of "Tranquility" taken in indirect sunlight which shows the vibrancy of color in it.  Enjoy!!!

Yoga Series

Well, I am very excited to share the first finished piece of my yoga series!  As you saw from my last post, I layered on oranges, yellows and reds at first, then outlined the figure in a beautiful burgundy.  This elegant pose called for a swirl of energy where I added purple first, complimenting all of the orange.  Deciding to fill the figure more than just outlining it, I added pink, purple, burgundy, yellow, gold, violet, and more oranges.  I am super happy with how it came out and love the flow of enerby through the piece.  It is 9x12 and Nupastel on Colourfix paper.  I'm also sharing with you the second yoga pose in my series called "reverse warrior".  For this I'm layering blues, greens, and yellows.  I just began working on the figure and will keep you posted :)

Yoga Abstract Figure WIP

Working on a series of abstract figures in various yoga poses.  This is the first of about 8 and I definitely like where it's going.  I'm thinking about adding some lights and darks into the background but not sure if I should change anything about the figure.  Comments and suggestions would be much appreciated!  I will post more as I work on it!  The first picture is how it looked originally and the second is after adding some lilac purple into the background.  I love the oranges, reds, and yellows in the picture and have added the lilac, a dark purple, and dark burgundy to try and balance all of the hot colors.
Of course this is on a 9x12 piece of Colourfix paper and is made with NuPastels.

Antigua Sunset Painting

Hey! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I did a lot of good eating myself and have plenty of leftovers.  While I was trying to find time the past couple days to finish my most recent sunset painting.  I decided to focus on spending time with family and friends.  Today I spent some time to work on it and am really pleased with the result! I don't think there is too much more I want to do on this one but as always let me know what you think! This is NuPastel on 9x12 Colourfix paper.  I'll also be offering this on my Etsy Shop as a print soon so keep posted.  I'm also offering a special to anyone who'd like to order from my Etsy shop, a refer-a-friend discount on any purchase after someone orders and mentions they were referred providing name and email address.  This is a great way to save on holiday gifts!

I really enjoyed layering this one.  In my previous post, you can see that I started the clouds with burgundy and bright pink. The water has blue, purple, burgundy, grey and black in it.  The sky was the most fun because in order to get the fading of greyish blue from the outside borders, I had to put in purple, orange, blue, grey and gold-yellow.  I'm so happy with how it came out, and that I was able to get the textured effect in the hills that I was aiming for. :)

It's Official: I'm on Etsy!!!

Well I have decided to open up an Etsy shop and attempt to share my work with a wider range of people. Hopefully something comed out of it.  I hope that you check it out and over the next couple months, I hope to get to work making more pieces to sell.  While the Etsy experience is fabulous, I had a lot of questions that weren't addressed as clearly as I would have liked on the FAQ sheet.  For example, I've never had a paypal or learned how it worked on the buyer end.  So now I had no clue as a seller if I needed to accept paypal by having one or how to hook it up.  Or, if I have a paypal that is connected to a credit card, would the money go to that? What if I wanted to use a credit card for purchases with paypal but wanted the money from selling art to go to my bank? So confusing... But I've figured out enough to get started and posted a few pieces.  What I'm looking into now is to have affordable prints of my work to sell, so that I have original work for any exhibitions that may pop up.  And that is a whole can-o-worms in itself.  Anyone who has any experience with any of this, please help.  In the meantime take a look at my Etsy Shop and let me know what you think or what you'd like to see!

I did start working on a new sunset piece yesterday and wanted to post my progress.  It is based on a picture I took in Antigua on vacation in 2009.  The sunset was beautiful, but painting it was surprisingly hard because of all the darkness.  I need to make the clouds a little darker and put some texture in the hills and water.  But this is what I have so far.

 This is the end piece, which I wanted to put first so that it was the picture for the post and so that you could see what I got before looking at all of the under layers.  This is on 9x12 Colourfix paper, which I really enjoy working on.  You can see the color is like this beige/grey that I thought would work well with the clouds and foreground.  Let me know what you think and any suggestions!!

Step by Step Sunset Painting

Now that I've given my very good friend Erica her wedding presents, I can announce it on here and post the second painting in her sunset series.  I never remember to take pictures as I progress through a painting but remembered to take a few on this one. Here are the two finished paintings which I gave her this past Saturday!

Sorry about the glare.  Because the paintings are 9x12 I decided to use floating frames and am very happy with how they came out.  Here is my step by step process of the one on the right.

And one more with a close up of the other sunset painting.  Please let me know what you think.  And check out my facebook fan page!!

Sunset Painting

Finished my sunset painting.  I really like it and have started another one to accompany it.  I am taking pictures of this second one as I do it (when I remember) so that you can see how I layer and when I blend.  I'm very happy with that one too.  Please let me know what you think, and please check out more work on this site as well as my Facebook Fanpage!

Progress on the Bike Picture

I think I'm just about done with this one.  I really like where it's at and the composition.  I feel the movement and am happy with all of the colors, especially those in the bike.  Please let me know what you think.  I plan on doing more of the bubble pictures because I really enjoy making them and think it's a great theme.  Hopefully I can get more with a variation of background and angles.  I can't wait.  I'd also like to do more figures and portraits, but with the start of school time is limited and I'll just have to take my time.  I'll get there.

This is Nupastel on a 9x12 Colourfix Paper, I believe it was a greyish purple color.

Also I just bought some amazing prints from a fantastic artist.  She does a lot of work with figures in pastel which grabbed my initial interest, but she also does great watercolor pictures.  The prints I bought were three from a citrus series.  Click here to check out her blog!!  I've also liked her on facebook, so if you check out my facebook page, you'll see her in the pages I've liked.

And Life Gets Busy...

Sorry for the delay in posting.  It has been a very busy week with school starting and working a lot of extra hours.  Here is my piece that I started last week and will be working on more today.  Please let me know what you think!!

This is another piece in my motion series.  NuPastel on 9x12 colourfix paper.

Update On My Work In Progress

Here is the update of my second bubbles picture, last posted as my work in progress.  I think its done, if I do much more I may end up pushing it to the dark side (not color wise).  Hope you enjoy it and I cannot wait to share more with you soon.  With school starting next week I'm hoping to still dedicate some "me time" to painting at least once a week.

This is 9x12 on Colourfix paper using NuPastel.  I have named it "Wind of Youth".

Current Work in Progress

Started working on another picture in my motion series.  Its another bubble picture and I like where it's going.  This was done in a couple hours, working on and off.  Total work time was probably about an hour.  It is Nupastel on Colourfix paper.  Hopefully I'll finish it soon. :)