Rescued Pig in Haybed

9 x 12 pastel on paper, matted  $59 incl. S/H
More playing around with pastels.  I saw an image on the internet of a very contented-looking rescued pig at an animal sanctuary and was very taken with her sweet face. The thought of a rescued animal helps me focus on the "glass half full" aspects of it all.  Pigs are really intelligent and sweet (if treated well), and that's part of what helped me give up bacon and ham, which I loved to eat as much as anyone.

Snow Morning on Davis Hill

25 x 19 pastel on paper, $95 + S/H
Still working on getting more accustomed to pastels. I thought as long as I was still out of my comfort zone in the medium I might as well work on my area of least experience which would be landscapes.  I found this photo of the morning it snowed here last year (of course in central Texas we can only count on it every few years at most, even once).  Artists who live near snow are so lucky because it reduces the scene into big shapes and values, which we artists are always seeking anyway.  There's such a purity about those big forms and the rhythmic negative spaces they can generate.  I may... maybe... might also paint this same scene and compare the two pieces, the pastel and the oil version.  Same size. No promises but I like that idea.  Ideally the oil version would be done en plein air.  Next snow morning (several years from now most likely) I will try to plan on that.

First Pastel Figure Work

19 x 25 pastel on paper
The Art Show/Model Show group had a drawing session yesterday. This piece was done from a one-hour pose. Starting from square one again I decided to extend my recent media switch from oil to pastel -- not a permanent change but am just branching out -- to figure work and on a larger scale of paper. (the pastel still lifes I've done have all been in the vicinity of 8 x 11)  And this is where, in my little blurb here it's tempting to start listing all the new challenges presented when a change is made in one's approach. The result is that you just sound like you're justifying whatever mediocrity/stinkage. I'll just leave all that out and say, look, I'm still trying. :0) But I *will* say this, to quote Ringo Starr: "it don't come easy..."