Blog Award!

I was catching up on my blog reading with all of the blogs I follow and discovered that I had received a blog award from Who is Arthur Simo the Ousider Artist? This is a wonderful blog and Arthur has a great sense of color in his artwork. If you haven't seen it please check it out at:
http://simoartcorner.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much! I am supposed to pass it on to seven more blogs but there are so many wonderful blogs out there it is hard to choose. So...... the first seven people that comment here I pass the award on to you. Please leave your blog address in your comments so others can see your wonderful blogs and collect your award!

Work in Progress

Reference Photo

Old Millboro Post Office / General Store

Well I was not able to complete my entry for the juried art show of a Randolph County subject in time for submision deadline. I do appreciate all of the encouragement I received from everyone to try. The reference picture is above. I have thought about this building for many years and when I heard about the show I drove out to Millboro to take some photos. I should have taken some when I was thinking about doing a drawing years ago as it is much more overgrown now.

I am going to continue to work on this and hopefully complete it. Buildings are not that hard as they are mostly straight lines, getting your perspective correct and shading. I believe the surrounding foliage will make or break this drawing. I want to include the broom sage growing in the foreground as I believe the successful rendition of this will give the drawing depth. I am not that great on foliage and have been studying some books. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

There is another juried art show coming up in a little over a month where three works can be entered by each artist and can be any medium or subject as long as they have been completed within the last two years. Hopefully I will be able to enter some work in that show.

More On Pastel Pencils

I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday! The weather is still a little cool here for this time of year. I hope soon it will be warm enough where the heat doesn't run at night.

In my last post I had a piece where I had tried pastel pencils. My set was only 12 so I was lacking many colors that I usually use. I have purchased a set of 48 pastel pencils from Ebay and received them Friday. Hope to put them to use soon and have something to post.

I heard yesterday about a juried art show for Randolph County artists at an Asheboro Gallery. The work can be any medium but must reflect a Randolph County subject. Unfortunately, works have to be submitted beginning April 16th and I don't have anything ready with a Randolph County subject that I can submit. I am debating on whether to give it a try to have something worthwhile ready. I am trying to come up with a good subject. There is a very well-known covered bridge here in Randolph County but many artists have used that in their work and there will probably be a few in this show. Oh well, wish I had heard about the show earlier!

Pastel Pencils

Acorn

By: Lori Talbert

3/31/09

I have heard a lot about pastel pencils from others and decided I would give them a try. I have several pastel sticks or chalks and while I like the way they blend and the ease of application, I didn't feel I had the control for finer details as I did in graphite or colored pencils.

So, I purchased a small set of pastel pencils at Hobby Lobby and looked through my reference pictures to see what I had. This picture is from a drawing challenge on a forum I belong to. The challenge is long over and I cannot remember at this time who posted the pic. But I pulled it out and sketched it on a piece of 4x6 bristol board and gave the pastel pencils a try.

As with the chalks I liked the ease of application and blending, (colored pencils take a lot of work) but I was frustrated by the lack of colors in my set of 12. In colored pencil work I use the white pencil frequently to blend and to change the colors to what I want. I had no white in my set of 12 so I resorted to pulling out the chalks to finish the piece.

I enjoyed the experiment and was surprised by the ease and quickness of completion in comparison to my colored pencils. Colored pencil work for me takes a lot of blending. I generally use a colorless pencil for this frequently going over the entire piece with it and once I'm through my hand and arm are tired as it takes some effort.

I would like to try more with the pastel pencils but I think I need to purchase a larger set with more colors. So I will shop around for the best price. Do they make a white pastel pencil I wonder? Also any pastel pencil tips would be greatly appreciated.