Sunday, June 22, 2014

Bad Blogger

I admit, I've not kept up my end of this.   In good weather, I can barely stay away from horses.  I love horses. I love their smell, their soft coats, their spirit.   I love the new saddle I bought, and aim to wear it out in record time!   

I went to my first Est Fest.  An all women trail ride weekend.  I was lucky enough to get my good friend to come along.   We ate out of coolers and slept in my gooseneck trailer.  Our horses each had a stall to relax in, under the trees. All the comforts of home!    This one was held at Turkey Creek Ranch in Newcastle NE.  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it!  
 Taking a break at a little cabin.
 Copper (r) and Nibbs (left) having their hay after a day of riding
 Copper doing a great job of the  obstacle course.  Love that guy!
Just one of the many views we all stopped and took in.  

But, its time to get back into the studio.    I am starting a small piece of one of my trips to the Black Hills.  I love it there, especially all those fall colors.    I decided to use Uart paper, 500 grit, and mount it to 8ply board (acid free of course!!)   I used spray and a rolling pin to make a nice board to work on.   That was my mom's rolling pin, so I like using it, but had one for the kitchen already.  Works great for smoothing papers!
 Next in my process is a thumbnail.  I use the grey markers to make light, mid, and dark zones in the sketch, to be sure my value pattern is working.   Instead of printing out large photos, I keep myself from being a copy machine by printing them small.  My program does 9 on a sheet, and I use good paper, so I keep these printed sheets for later use.   Easy to store tons of images in folders, easier to thumb thru rather than on a computer file or disk.    My printer does a nice job with color, too.
 Alrighty, here we go....I used a warm purple Nupastel to block in my darks.  I really can't tell you why, I just did it.   I used alcohol to wash it.  then started in with whatever color I wanted.  Skies are one of the few places I might use a bit of blending by fingers, but not much.  Today I used a piece of pipe foam insulation as I want this sky a bit smooth, but not too much.  I love the strokes of pastel to show here and there.  I am not making a photo, I want it to look like a painting, like art!  
What I am doing here, is I love the basic idea in the top, larger image/photo.  but, it has this paved road, which I do not like.  I am replacing it with the creek in the lower small photo.  Lucky me, it has the light coming from the same direction, making my job tons easier!   Even the shape is very similar!   I may add some rocks from another of those small photos, I'll figure that out later.   This painting is 10x16-ish.   

I am getting geared up for my workshop, and hope you won't miss it!   There's only a few places left, the location is so pretty and class is small, so lots of individual help at your easel is planned.   Join me, you won't be sorry! 

4 comments:

~Connie~ said...

Love all the photos of est ride! Looks like such fun! Wish i could have joined the fun. Here's hope for Next year!
Paint on young lady.... paint on!

Marlajean Waters said...

Looks like you had fun at est fest.Wish I could have gone. Haven't been on a trail ride yet-but our 4H club one is this Sunday at Carter. Come join us!

pastelchris said...

that sounds like a great time, but we have plans already!

pastelchris said...

i love it when you call me names--young lady! hehe! you woulda had a great time, but now with your new horse, you can make plans!