Last post of 2010

To all my followers and visitors I thank you for joining me this past year on my blog and I wish you all the health, prosperity and creativity for 2011! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! And to my artist friends, I'm looking forward to seeing your new works so keep on painting and drawing!!


Before I leave to celebrate the New Year's with my family, I'd like to share one more update on the progress of the bird in pastel. He will be my first priority of 2011 and I'm looking forward to revealing the finished product upon my return to the "studio".

Have a safe celebration everyone!

Cheers,
Colette

Last update of the night

I decided to work a bit more on this bird painting later tonight since it is going pretty well for me. My last bird composition (spoonbills) caused me much frustration, in part due to the not-so-good reference image and also due to lack of experience drawing detailed feathers using pastel on sandpaper.

...so fingers crossed for this one!

Bird painting update...

Here's my bird slowly coming to life! I just love backlit subjects...I find they make such wonderful compositions. I guess I lucked out on taking a good photo of this bird so that helps!
Thanks for watching/following...

Bird painting on the easel

Started this piece using pastels on sandpaper. I have been working on the background tonight trying to get a blurry effect from the reflection on the leaves. I will most likely go back and add some black in the areas that I "dirtied" too much. Live and learn!
Been fighting a slow, progressing upper respiratory infection that started with a scratchy, swollen throat which is now itchy and driving me nuts with dry coughing! And today, the dreaded runny nose has started. Hugh...just have to tough it out and take some pain/symptom relief meds when I can't bear it no more....and to make-sure-I-can-rest-medicine, a good glass of hot lemon gin to knock me out for bed!

Framed portrait of "Captivation"

She's now hanging on my wall in a gorgeous solid wood frame that my husband built from scratch for me! For those who are into woodworking and would like to view our step by step article on how to make your own custom wood frame, please visit my website at http://www.colettetheriault.com/descriptions/Articles/Buildownframes.php

Black Labrador Painting in Pastel

Here's my girl Shayli in all her splendor!! On this pose she is intensely fixated on her archenemy: a lucky red squirrel that had climbed to the safety of his perch.
Title: "Captivation"
Medium: pastel
Support: sandpaper
Size: 8"x10"

Very pink tongue!

In this step I've added the base color for the tongue which still needs to be toned down. I'll be using some blue and violet pastels for this. While there's still much detailing left on the dog's mouth, I do hope to complete this portrait within the next few days. I'd love to have her hanging on my wall in time for Christmas!

A new look with a background!

I must admit I almost always struggle with backgrounds and this one was no exception. It seems the less detailed it is, the more difficulty I have! It probably has to be all in the technique...something I should spend more time experimenting with. Note to self: put finger cots next time to prevent blister from sandpaper! OUCH!!

The more I look at it, the more I prefer the portrait with a background as opposed to the plain paper. I think the next challenge will be to find the correct pencil colors to accurately depict her nice long tongue!

I might regret....

In haste of starting this portrait, I blissful painted the dog without putting any much thought to the background! Something I am bound to regret sooner or later. I don't dislike the plain background however...but I feel that her lively face deserves a good backdrop to make the portrait appear even more realistic.

Back to work on my girl!

That's my girl!!
I'm so happy to be able to work on Shayli's portrait again. It was put on hold due to the Fall/Christmas workload being heavy but I've found the inspiration to resume working on this painting. Now that I finished her eye, she seems to be coming to life right on the paper!

New! Prints now available

I finally decided to launch a series of prints for some of my artwork. I'll be adding more prints as well as cards in the future. Please feel free to visit my website to view the prints available for purchase by following this link:
http://www.colettetheriault.com/prints.php

Summer Fun pastel painting

Here is the final scan of the kids' having fun swinging from the old tree.
Medium: pastel
Support: suede
Size: 11.5" x 15.5"

The final stretch...

Well, I guess the figures are as good as they are going to be so I'm not retouching them anymore. Besides, the paper is being worn down in that area...I wonder why?? Ha ha ha.
Not much left to do to finish this scene now...I can't give up now; it would be a shame after all this work and detail. One more push to the finish line...

Painting tiny figures!

Before continuing this painting, I felt I had to start adding the human figures standing on the rocks and swinging from the rope. Since each figure measures only about 1.5 to 2 inches, I knew it would be challenging to paint using pastels!! And so I started with the boy swinging from the rope...he seemed the easiest subject to paint given the fact his face is hidden behind his arm. There's something about drawing small faces that I dislike...probably because I can't add much detail and because the scale is so small, that one can easily mess it up. But then it is probably more likely because of my lack of experience and enthusiasm!!

Once I had completed the boy on the rope to my satisfaction, hence build my confidence a little, I moved to the girl on the rock...I worked a good half hour on that small figure until I decide it was best to step back and leave it for a bit. I'm unsure if I will be touching it up or not. Before calling it quits for the night though, I painted more rocks and water to encourage me to continue!

Pastel painting progress

After working on the rocks for a while, I lost interest and decided to "play" with the water. I guess I was getting bored with this piece! I think in the next sitting I'll tackle the task I dread the most...the 2 figures standing on the rock and the one swinging mid-air, hanging on the rope. I think the fear comes from the figures being so small, only about 1.5 inches tall and getting the detail in such a small space won't be easy. I will need to sharpen those pastel pencils extra well!

Something very different...

While waiting for client photos to finish the last of my commissions, I've decided to tackle different subjects for my next painting...the human figure and landscape! For me at least, this is not something I am comfortable with, but felt I needed to take the plunge and step out of the box for at moment and force my creative side to work harder. I've included the reference photograph along with a few works in progress:

The reference was taken a few years back during a stay at camp. The weather was very warm and the kids were enjoying swinging from a rope tied to this old reliable pine tree and jumping in the lake from a rock formation. That image brought back many memories of my own childhood when I enjoyed the same pleasure as my children did that summer day not long ago. And that is my inspiration for this painting!