Chickadee in Winter

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Colour Pencil
on
Colourfix Paper.

Baby Birds

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Mmmmm......I think these winter/berry/birds/pine branch ACEO's are turning into a series...

Christmas Junco

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Ditto to what I said about the "Christmas Chickadee", below!

Christmas Chickadee

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Just a little ACEO inspired by the joy of Christmas time! I doubt the berries would be this big in real life, but I just love drawing them, so I made them rather prominent. This is Colour Pencil on Colourix Paper.

Lilacs in December

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I've been working very hard this month, but haven't been able to post, since all my work involves upcoming Christmas gifts!
I managed to do this little ACEO as I took a short break from the commissioned work. Oil on Colourfix Paper.

And Another....

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Both this egg and the one below are currently available on Ebay...

Guess What? Another EGG!

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Yup, I just can't stay away from those lovely shapes, colours, and reflections. Every time I crack open an egg, I can't resist the urge to paint it! This is an ACEO; Oil on Colorfix.

I was thrilled to discover today that I am a Finalist in five categories of the Year's Best Aceo Awards! Pictured here is the logo for finalists in the Realism category. The other categories in which I qualified are Still Life, Landscape, Animals/Wildlife, and Floral/Botanical. The contest closes in about ten days.

Child with Goat

I'm so busy with my commissioned work that I don't have much time to create anything new; so I'm posting an older work today. This is a pastel portrait based on an image in a World Vision brochure. I used soft pastels, but if I were to do it today, I'd be using oil pastels. After Christmas I'll post some Oil Pastel portraits I'm working on right now......since they're a gift for someone, I'd better not take the risk of putting them on my blog before Christmas!

Lone Marble on White

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I love the way Oil Pastels offer the perfect blend of drawing and painting!

Nikki's Shoes

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Ever since I painted my granddaughter Morrigan's shoes about a year ago, I've been wanting to do another painting of little girls' shoes! My opportunity came when Nikki visited this past weekend and brought these adorable shoes with her!

Nikki's and Sarah's Drawings

The picture on the bottom was drawn by my granddaughter Nikki, age 7. She put her slippers down on the floor and, entirely on her own, drew them! The picture on the top was drawn by another granddaughter, Sarah, age 6, who loves drawing and definitely wants to be an artist when she grows up. I think they both did a great job!!

FIVE SMOOTH STONES

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I did another search in my cache of artwork for today's posting! Again, no time to create a new one today. I'm not even sure if I've posted this one before, and I'm a tad too lazy to go through all my posts to check. In any case, this one was done from life, in my studio several months ago. It was the start of getting me excited about colour pencil again!

After Fabretius: The Man with the Helmet

Since I'm very busy with commissions these days, I'm not producing much new stuff......so I thought I'd post something I did a loooooooong time ago! In keeping with my recent copies of Old Masters, I thought I'd post this one, a copy of Carel Fabretius' painting named (in Dutch) "De Man Met De Helm". Fabretius was a contemporary of Rembrandt.

Copy of Del Sarto's "Portrait of A Young Man"

I haven't copied Old Masters' paintings for a while, but decided to try this one in oil pastel. I was drawn by this young man's sensitive face and also by his clothes, which are typical of those worn in the early 1500's. I'm an avid fan of history, so it seems only right that I combine my love of art with my love of all things "bygone"!

Alabama Cow

Each week artist Karin Jurick posts a photo on her blog "Different Strokes for Different Folks" and invites artists to submit their version of that photo as a painting. I used Oil Pastels for this one. I'll add the link to her blog at the bottom left of this page so you can check out the large variety of work that results from this weekly challenge!

Country Christmas

This is a painting I did a few years ago; If you're at all interested in ordering Christmas cards from me (see column on the left) you can request this image on the card instead of the one with the piano and the old sheet music. The cards are the same size and price as those pictured.

Study of Matches

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This is a quick study of matches, done in Oil on Colourfix Paper. I retained the background without adding any paint to it...

The Old Paintbrush

I'm sure almost every artist has many of these paint-spattered, no-longer-useful brushes lying around the studio!

Scissors and Yarn

This composition didn't lend itself to the small square format, so I used a 5x7 piece of masonite for this one. I painted directly onto the masonite without the use of gesso, laying out the initial drawing with Walnut Hollow Oil Pencils, which work wonderfully on the wood!

Spent Matches

I'm still loving the little square paintings, but am now trying some in oil pastel. I do like the directness of this medium and the fact that there's no waiting for anything to dry!

Eggs Uncooked #2

Definitely loving this 4" by 4" size...

Raspberry Danish

Another little 4" by 4" painting...

In The Skillet

This one was done on a Masonite board, coated with a thin layer of Gesso first. I love working on these boards! My larger paintings are slowly beginning to get some attention on Ebay; I think it will definitely be more profitable if I can begin selling these instead of the ACEO's and I like working in this bigger format.

A Plum and A Half

This might be the last one I do on canvas for a while: today my shipment of panel boards came in and I can't wait to begin using them as the surfaces for my daily paintings! I think they'll be much easier for working "wet-in-wet"!

Canteloupe

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Painted from life in my studio. This painting, along with some of the others on this blog, can be found on Ebay; simply type "joyart" into the search bar to find my listings.

Marble in Water

Still trying to let loose and achieve a more
painterly effect...

Cracked Eggs in Dish

It's been fun doing some bigger paintings; maybe I'll do more of these and fewer ACEO's for a while...

Egg on a Plate

This one was done in Oils......I seem to vacillate between mediums in a rather unpredictable way; having participated in Karin Jurick's challenge (see post of Man on Bench) has gotten me interested in doing some more work in oils again, always still striving for a more painterly effect!

Chickadee

Started this one in colour pencil and wasn't happy with it; I painted over it with oils. Colourfix Paper makes a great surface for oils, so I'm sure I'll be doing that more often. It's a great way to "rescue" drawings that haven't quite succeeded.

Different Strokes Challenge: Man on Bench

An artist named Karin Jurick (love her work!!) has a blog called "Different Strokes for Different Folks"; every Wednesday she posts one of her paintings, along with the photograph she used for reference. Artists are invited to submit their own version of the photo. This is my stab at it for this week.

Mmmm.....it seems every time I crack some eggs open for breakfast, I think "I want to DRAW these things!".....so that's what I did again today!

Stone on Wet Surface

I'm enjoying my colour pencils more and more; a much more versatile medium than I first thought...I didn't do anything different with this ACEO, but in my portrait work I'm experimenting with using mineral spirits to blend the first layer of pencil work, and then continuing with the pencil over top of that...

Country Lane

Country roads and dappled sunlight are recurring themes in my ACEO's. Both are things which bring me great delight and I just love trying to capture that in my art!

Winter Approaches

I used the colour of the paper as a strong element in this drawing.....I'm trying to hold back and not fill in more than is necessary when I work with this wonderful Colourfix Paper.

Herring Gull on the Beach

This drawing measures 5" by 7". I've allowed the background to a lot of the "work" in this one......something I definitely love doing and want to do more of. With the Colourfix Paper, the job becomes much easier!

Sunny, Windy Wash Day

I've always loved the sight of laundry hanging outside on a sunny day!

Sunny Side Up!

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More eggs! These are ones I was cooking for breakfast a few days ago. I ran to get my camera to get a shot of them and based my drawing on the photo.

My Oldest Son

Shhhh........don't tell Luke! This is for his 35th birthday tomorrow!

Lone Marble on Brown

Another study of a marble...

Mama Marble and Her Babies

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I don't think I'll ever get tired of drawing marbles! They are just so lovely! This one is done with Premier Prismacolor Pencils on Colourfix Paper.

A fun little one to do...

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Since I really enjoyed drawing that polar bear a few days ago, I decided to do this one as well; this is based on a photograph taken by my daughter in law Phyllis, during a trip to a zoo in Quebec.

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Next time I have a hot flash, I'll just look at this ACEO! It just might help!

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Something a little different.....

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My granddaughter Leah was in my studio yesterday and I photographed her "studying" a paper with some letters written on it. Her curly hair was pulled up into an adorable pony tail. This drawing was done with Colour Pencils on that wonderful surface: Colourfix Paper.

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I'm not usually too crazy about drawing birds, but using coloured pencil on Colorfix paper does make the idea much more appealing than usual...

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Another one using the Colorfix Paper...

This was done with colour pencils on Colorfix paper.......a toned, roughly textured surface which I'm begining to like more and more. Now to find a good supplier...