Making the Effort.

Cheyene 20 minute sketch

I'm not giving up on this art blog yet. I'd rather be painting or out taking pictures but it's a good way to keep a record of one's artistic efforts. It's so easy to give up when no one seems to appreciate one's efforts.

This blog takes more effort because I want to say something meaningful. Words don't come as easy as making art and they're not as fun to put together. It would be easier to just post my various creative endeavors sans words but I always appreciate when others talk about their art. It's just try to say something more than, " I like to make da pretty picture." But sometimes that's all I can think to say.

Today I'm going to talk about the inspirations of other artists and how they influence my creative endeavors. I have many art blogs I follow.  One artist I really enjoy for his portraits and rendering techniques is Scottish artist Derek Jones.

The pastel above was made under the influence of Derek's style. It was portrait day with the YWA artists and our model was one of my favorites. I love the way he captures feminine beauty  Unlike Derek I was only using pastels that day. He uses a lot of mixed media where I'm guessing he must let the watercolor washes dry before adding pastel or pencil on top.

I'm using a cheap Canson paper pad and pastels. I also have a short attention span which causes me to get bored easy. This is something I have to constantly fight and can make it very difficult when working on a piece that takes very long to create. When I work on a painting for over two or three days it becomes extremely tedious and it becomes work instead of something I enjoy doing.

One of the things I love about pastels is how quick you can move with them. Any pigment mixing is all done on the paper. The problem I have is finding the right colors among my box of dusty grey covered chalks. I bought a some new pastels that were all separated in their nice hand compartments but one day I left them on the top of my car after leaving the portrait session. I went back to see where they might have colored the road but they were long gone. Big bummer! Being strapped for cash I couldn't afford to replace them. So I'm stuck with the few small pieces I have left all jumbled together.

I'd use my acrylics but I'm working on a series of small 11x14 landscape paintings at home and don't want the hassle breaking down and resetting up my studio. Pastels a great for traveling.