New Studio Shelves - Hoorah!

Yay! I am celebrating my new shelves with some more grape paintings

The bottom shelves can move up and down, so that I can easily set up a still life at different levels. They are also large enough to accommodate more than one arrangement, so I can work on multiple paintings or drawings at a time. The top shelves will be for storage and I can never have too much of that!

I am very pleased with myself for putting these up, partly because I did it all myself, and with only one emergency call to my DIY guru (thanks Dad!) Partly because I re-used parts salvaged from an old closet, so the total cost was only $13 But mostly because it is one more thing off my Grand Idea List

As a wise man once said "I love it when a plan comes together"

Pastel Palette - choose your combo

OK, as requested, here are the Pan Pastel colors I currently have, although you don't have to limit yourself to this small selection

TIP : click on the image to enlarge it and read the color names.

As a guide, for the first embellished woodland print, I used Magenta, Turqouise and Green Oxide Tint.

So which colors would you choose?

Seafoam Pastel Ripples Through the Enchanted Forest

Hoorah! I am very pleased with my first embellished giclee print

Back in May, I was pondering whether to add color to the charcoal drawing of a forest. I was yearning to add magical color, but reluctant to give up the elegant black and white drawing... when it occurred to me that I could have both.

After scanning the original drawing at a high resolution (600dpi), I ordered large prints from Imagekind. Two types of paper looked like they might have enough texture to take the Pan Pastels I wanted to use. This one is my favorite, Somerset Velvet, with enough tooth to hold the pastel, with the luxurious feeling of working with a quality watercolor paper - yummy

(I am still working on the second print: too much texture for my taste, and less fun to work with)

Both the paper and ink are archival quality, and these guys could get really big! Up to 58 x 44 inches, although I'm not sure my easel would manage that, I'd have to work on the floor. That's it, Lulu is banished from the studio - doggie paws were not the kind of embellished prints I had in mind

I have a notion to do a set of 4 prints to represent the seasons at some point, but I am also taking requests. So please help me out and leave a comment with your favorite color scheme to inspire a creation - one dark color, one mid range and one highlight should be all I need

Description: Burgundy red and seafoam green pastel ripple through the woodland, adding enchanting mystery to forest shadows.

Black and White Charcoal forest art print from Imagekind

Burgundy and Seafoam Pastel Forest art print from Imagekind

pssst - I'm Hiding in the Basement

framed artwork lines my hallway - want to buy some?

What a blistering week here in the scorched Northeast. The basement is now the coolest spot in the house, so what better way to escape the heat, than to catch up with all my framing.

Those pictures that I was smart enough to make in a "standard size" have been matted; backed with acid free foam core and wrapped in protective glassine paper. They are ready at a moment's notice to pop into my stash of standard frames for a future show. These chaps, however, were all a slightly awkward size and needed custom frames of their very own.

Will I ever learn? - I sincerely doubt it

And yes, that is Lulu's Christmas stocking still hanging on the fireplace - ever hopeful, that dog.

Schwag!

oh boy that was fun!

Pan Pastels have a new range of really dark, muted colors that I think will work well with the charcoal - kerching! And they have these fabby lidded palettes for holding the containers whilst you're working - included with the set

Scrumptious Art Bins with lift out trays and a deep well for storage...and at that price I'll have two - kerching!

canvas canvas canvas, so I can get started painting again - kerching!

some lovely smooth sanded paper from UArt for pastel, charcoal and also color pencil it turns out (I know, I tried it) - kerching!

some new envelopes and mat cards designed specifically for my mini-drawings. Look out for a new note card series this summer - kerching!

samples of ampersand pastel board and clay board - FREE

sample of Canson Edition Print Paper, with my image printed on it - FREE Whitest white mat finish with no optical brightners for all you Printheads and Paperphiles out there

Faber-Castell pencil sample and juicy glossy catalogue for enthusing with the rep about how good their pencils are. FREE

A chance to put in my request for Faber Castell to make the block bars of color pencil pigment, like Prismacolor ArtStix.

Learned that Faber Castell pencils have bonded pigment throughout, which is why they rarely shatter when Lulu nudges them off the table and why you can get a nice sharp point on them.

News of an 8-ply mat cutter coming out this month from Logan (silent joyful jigging ensued)

And best of all - I got outta there for less than $100...just

MARRRRRRRVELOOOOOUS afternoon - Thank you Jerry's

NJ Arts Expo this Saturday

I am looking forward to all the demonstrations, but particularly the luscious Pan Pastels and the Strathmore papers...keeping my fingers crossed for some free samples!

see you there!

Saturday March 27 10am - 6pm Hosted by Jerrys at NJCVA 68 Elm Street Summit NJ

www.njcva.org

Glorious Color in the Mail : Pan Pastels

Is there anything more splendid than receiving a box full of art supplies in the mail?

The joy of discovering blobs of pure color amongst the peanuts completely banishes the nagging guilt of overspending.

Yes, I would have got a better deal buying a pre-packaged set of colors - the landscape set, or the portrait set or just the general "artist colors" set. But each one only had a few colors that really sang to me, so I decided to buy just those colors instead.

And look! they each come with their own little sponge. I think I am going to need a mini laundry for all my sponges soon.

And here are my new Prismacolor Art Stix, along with some regular pencils to give you an idea of their size. They are very good for some loose scribbling and for covering a lot of paper in a short amount of time and for not getting bogged down by the details too quickly.

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