New Pastel Portrait from a Photo. Drawing my son!

I've been wanting to do some pastel portraits of my two children for a while now.  (Just in case you think the drawing part is hard...you should try to get a decent picture of a 5 year old who likes to growl every time the camera shows up :)  

After (seriously) hundreds of photos, I finally captured a great moment - outside, in the late day sun, so colors were not too washed out.  He was holding an umbrella, which also diffused the light.  He had on a great color shirt, and he had some terrific rosy cheeks from running around with his little sister.  He also gave me a great picture smile.  No teeth, a gentle smile that didn't squint his eyes.

So I printed out the photo and got started yesterday!  It's not finished yet, but I like showing work in progress.  You can see I haven't even been able to escape to my studio lately...with hubby out of town, Jack and I were working together at the kitchen table!

This is a half sheet of the large aubergine colorfix paper and Nupastel. 

I'm trying to take good photos as I work (in consistent lighting) so I can put another "how I built this pastel portrait" video toghether!   I'll let you know when it's all done.

I love our figure drawing group!

I am very lucky to be a part of a great network of Artists in and around Atlanta. Each artist has their own background, from very educated to novice. Some are bold and colorful, others more traditional. We work with some of the best models I have ever had the priviledge of drawing. And, when the situation arises, as it sometimes does, where a scheduled model does not show up as scheduled - we all pull together and make the evening work! We came to draw!

So last night when our model didn't show up, Beth and I took turns helping our fellow artists warm up! (we were clothed, of course!) And then our fab fellow artist called as she was in route to class, and we explained "there's no model!" So she grabbed a cute little white dress and some accessories...and hopped on the stand!

These are some shots of our fabulous night of drawing...many thanks to our good friend!

Help Support Autism Speaks.

My handsom nephew, Austin, has Autism.  He is an incredibly sweet and funny little man!  He has been chosed by a family friend as his "inspiration" as he strives to raise $1500 and participate in an Autism Speaks Marathon in Chicago in October of 2010.

This is the sponsor page for the event (with my handsom nephew!!!)

Help me support Randy!!! From now until the end of August, $5.00 from every print order in my Etsy shop will go towards helping Randy reach his goal for Autism Speaks.

One of my top 5 moments from 2009 mentioned a beautiful moment for me...Austin connecting with his cousin, my son Jack. 

Thank you for checking it out :)
  I will keep you posted on the progress in the Announcement section of my Etsy shop and on my Facebook Fan Page!

Avocado Ice Cream. It's a desert - it's a vegetable - it's a drink!

While glancing thru a cooking magazine one day I came across a simple yet incredible delicious sounding recipe for Avocado Ice Cream.  I'm always on the look out for yummy recipes that are healthy and don't call for any dairy. 

I love to try a new recipe when there's a party...so I made this for our neighborhood party on the dock (if weather co-operates!) that's scheduled for this evening.

A simple Avocado Ice Cream Recipe, from http://www.thekitchn.com/  (A new website to me - but looks totally amazing and has a ton of great recipes!)
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Rick Bayless' Dairy Free Avocado Ice Cream


2 cups avocado puree (I used 4 avocados - med. to large)
3/4 cups water (I used coconut water)
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/3 cups tequila  (which, as it happens, is the exact amount that was in the mini tequila bottle we got at Christmas from our neighbor!)

Simply combine in a food processor or blender (our favorite method, because there's no need to puree the avocados first) until smooth. Freeze in your home ice cream maker following the manufacturers instructions.

Rick's version doesn't involve any heat at all, simply mix the ingredients and freeze, but we combined the sugar and water first over the stovetop until all the sugar was dissolved before mixing. Either way is fine, the dissolved sugar has a slightly thinner consistency and smoother texture, but you'll only notice if you know what you're looking for while eating!

Don't have an ice cream maker? No worries, package it and freeze it without churning. It will be slightly heavier, but is still just as creamy and delicious!
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So how does it taste?!?! Well first of all...it smells dee-licious!  The lime and tequila give it a wonderful aroma.  When I prepped for that photo above, the ice cream had been in the ice cream maker for about 25 minutes and then in the freezer for almost 2 hours.  It was firm, but not frozen solid.  I tried a few bites after taking the photo - very, very good.  Super creamy, very fresh.   You can really taste the lime and tequila.  I don't imagine you would want a heaping bowl full - but it was good with a few pieces of strawberry, and I'm thinking of making some dark chocolate brownies and serving them together - a square of brownie with a little avocado ice cream on top!  It's like the perfect desert - alcohol, chocolate, and just in case you need to make yourself feel better about the chocolate and alcohol....vegetables :)

Sketching from the Male Nude Model

Such a great night of drawing from the live model on Wednesday!  We were very lucky to have one of the best male models around - awesome gesture poses, incredibly inventive.  And I wasn't even torturing him this time!  He chose the poses himself :)

After a few quick gestures, we had one ten minute pose, a very complex relationship between his twisted upper body, his outstretched arms that were supported by a pole, and the dynamic angles at which his knees came toward us - lots of challenges!  I wish I had drawn this slightly smaller (or used a bigger piece of paper!) so I could have included his foot and upper hand.  It was a lot of different relationships to get right.  I loved the dramatic light from the left.

This was an awesome 30 minute pose.  Not only for the great negative and positive shapes formed by his body, but the dramatic lighting and interesting cast shadow.   The shadow was very important in establishing his weight and the direction of the spotlight.  The only spot I don't like right now is the relationship between his chin and his shoulder - too close in value.

For the longest pose of the light, we moved the light to two different sources (both of wich blinded at least one artist who was trying to draw, but o well - the light looked good!) One was high and over his left shoulder, the other was on the floor, throwing light upwards onto his torso creating very complex patterns on his chest.

I was working with charcoal pencil on a tan piece of paper, adding light cream and a bit of white towards the end.  I like the change in height from the left shoulder to the right, and the way he is sitting into his left hip.  The sense of weight on the chair feels pretty good.  Again, I wish I had worked larger, but I'm glad I captured all of the back.

You can see more of my drawings of the male nude model in my Fine Art on Etsy shop.

A Colorful Pastel Portrait. How I built up layers of color.

I am working on a Pastel portrait on a large piece of Aubergine colorfix paper.

This a very amateur slide show of how I got to this point...but ignore the fact that each photo was taken in a different light setting and you'll be ok :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L-ZIedNAso

Thanks!

The Female Figure in Red

Well I'm finally back on schedule!  These are figure drawings from this weeks drawing session with the live model.  We started with a few gestures (grey and white pastel on a light tan paper)

She had wonderful shifts in her weight.  This is pastel with a little bit of black charcoal pencil.

A ten minute pose that allowed for a little more development in the shadows.

I switched to watercolors for the long pose, using a bright red watercolor pencil to sketch out the female figure on a piece of watercolor paper (about 16" x 24") mounted to foam core.  I kept thinking about grabbing another color...sap green or lilac or prussian blue...but instead stayed with the reds.  I think it's pretty sexy.

I kept adding more detail with the pencils and then softening areas, pulling color into the background, with a wet brush.  Occassionally I added a little wash of color from my palette.

I kept the facial features simple, and tried to create a strong sense of light.

Before I totally ran out of energy (it had been a LONG day!) I did a quick study in watercolor of her back.  I never really resolved her hand, but I think it's a fun little painting (9" x 12" on aquaboard)

You can see more of my watercolors of the female model in my Fine Art on Etsy shop.