Farmer's Market Bouquet with Panpastel

 I bought these lovely flowers at a farmer's market and was amazed how fresh they stayed as I was painting them with my new set of Panpastels.

I worked on a pale blue sanded pastel paper and loved the way the pastel looked on it.

Watch the video to see how I worked this.  This is my first video, so please bear with me on this.  I hope to get better doing this technical stuff.  

First stages of working this painting.

Adding the background,
but I did not like the color and changed it later.

Final finished piece.  12" x 9" framed with mat under glass. 

I will be bringing this new piece framed to the Stanislaus County Artists Open Studio Tour, April 6/7th, 2019 in Modesto, CA.  We are at #23 on the map.  

$350 framed  Message me if you wish to add this pastel painting to your collection of fine art. 

PASTEL: Calla Lilies in Pacific Grove

Calla Lilies in Pacific Grove  pastels  22" x 26

Calla Lilies on the Coast  8" x 10"  oil 

My friend and I decided to paint along the coast in Pacific Grove, CA in Monterey County.  It was such a beautiful day and we were delighted to find a big stand of calla lilies which someone had planted near the water.  We set up our easels and painted. 

< Here is my plein air painting / study from that day.  The calla lilies were thick and in full bloom as was the purple Pride of Maderia.  The sea was brilliant blue and there were large black cormants sunning themselves on the rocks.

It was a lovely day and I never forgot those pretty white calla lilies on the coast.

So when a pastel show was announced at our Carnegie Arts Center, I thought I might try working from my plein air study and create a new painting from that day.  The finished painting is above and below you can see a few shots I took in progress as I worked on this pastel painting.

Study for the final painting

 

< Here is a small study I worked up to get ready for the larger pastel painting.   Now for sale on Daily Paintworks.  

 9" x 10"   Callas and Butterflies in Pacific Grove

Pacific Grove is famous for its Monarch Butterflies so I added butterfly stamps around the border and colored them with the Pan Pastels.  

I have been wanting to try out my new Pan Pastels so here was my chance!  I bought a large sheet of Uart sanded pastel paper and cut it to fit a frame I already
 had.  

My idea was to have a painting within a painting.  Like you might look out a window to the scene.  I wanted to try some mixed media techniques as well  using stamps and a Versa stamp pad with the pan pastels.  

I wanted the area around the central square to be soft and dreamy, mystical and magical surrounding the more in-focus center.  So I began by taping around the central square to form a frame.

<  This photo shows the beginning stages of working the outer frame with the soft pan pastels and the sofft sponges.  Sofft sponges are specially designed to use with the pan pastels.  They are in the shape of standard artist's paint brushes so are so nice to work with. 

< Here I am starting to work the central section.  I wanted some of the leaves and lilies to overlap into the border for added interest, so I needed to plan it out a bit.

Close up.  Working with large sofft sponges

Let me know how you like my pastel painting and wish me luck getting into the pastel show!

My painting was accepted to this National Juried Competition along with a 2nd pastel painting.

On display at the 
THE FINE ART OF PASTELS
March 28 - May 26, 2019
Carnegie Arts Center
250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA  95380

Also accepted is my pastel
"Carmel Mission Sanctuary"
Which won an award in another
show (shown in photo)

Angel Trumpets Painting

My painting "Angle Trumpets" is now up for auction on Daily Paintworks.
You can bid on it here:
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/753140

Angel Trumpets   oil   12" x 9"

These are the most beautiful flowers!  I love the way the light hits and shines through the flowers!

Day 1 Painting on the Commission Painting

FIRST STAGES OF UNDER PAINTING

First Day's Work

Well today was the first day in awhile that it was cool enough to get into my studio comfortably.  So I headed out there to get started on my large commission painting.  Many artists layout the design using black charcoal, but I have found that to be a mess.  The black blends in with the paint and sometimes changes the color, so I decided to try my new white charcoal pencil.  I was very pleased with the results.  After grafting off the canvas into rectangles, I was able to draw out the design composition.  

Drawing the Composition in
White Charcoal Pencil

My client said she likes grain towers, so I decided it would be fun to add two to the painting and make some compositional changes to lead the eye into the background better.  

Drawing in the house

Adding some of the dark values

When I was satisfied with the composition, I began by painting in the darkest values with ultramarine blue, sap green and a tad alizarin red.  To balance the darks I added some of the lightest lights in the buildings. 

Adding some light values

I wasn't sure how to capture those tall, deep purple weeds and what colors to mix to get that color, but I discovered in my stash of paint a tube of Madder Brown.  It is perfect!  Wish I knew what those weeds are called.  I love seeing them in the landscape.  If you know what they are called, let me know, OK? 








Well I got carried away painting and forgot to take more photos as I was working.  The sky and rolling hills captured my attention for a long time.  So here is my 1st day on the job and getting the under-painting worked out.  That foreground is going to be a challenge, but fun to tackle in the coming days.  Come back often and see the progress.... !

Close up of the house & trees

ALL WORK ON THIS WEBSITE IS COPYRIGHTED.

NO COPYING IS ALLOWED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST. 

THANK YOU.

Every monitor is different according to your settings.
The actual painting may look different from your computer monitor.  

New Flower Paintings on Daily Paintworks

Mums   8" x 10"  oil

Birdbath   12" x 12"  on gallery wrapped canvas

Added today to my 
Daily Paintworks Gallery 
are these two floral paintings.

"Mums" was painted from my mums which decided to bloom.  They were very pretty white until the frost hit them and the tips of each petal turned pale purple.  They were a challenge to paint, but I enjoyed painting them very much.








This painting was painted at my local nursery.  What a fun place to paint!  So many nooks and crannies filled with interesting things to look at.  This birdbath was tucked into one corner and so I set up my easel and painted away.  I really liked the clay bird perched on the edge of the birdbath.


Check out both of these paintings on my Daily Paintworks Gallery 
and on my website at

www.RhettsStudio.com  

Still Exploring the Color ORANGE

SPRING POPPIES  6x6  oils

APRIL 11th  Monday
Last week we took a 3 day trip to Monterey, CA and the coast.  I was amazed to see all the California poppies in bloom on the hill sides and even in downtown Carmel and Monterey!  Well naturally, I had to take photos! After all, they are ORANGE!  I was so surprised how difficult poppies are to paint and they are made up of such a variation of oranges and yellows.  Capturing the various shadows and changes in color was a challenge.  

< Here is my first effort.  I worked in water mixable oils on an ampersand gesso panel.  DAILY PAINTING # 29

SPREAD A LITTLE SUNSHINE

< Here is my 2nd effort.   I am worried that my paintings will not be dry in time for my Open Studio April 23 & 24th, so I thought I would try acrylics this time.  Wow!  What a difference!  I have not worked in acrylics in a number of years and found it quite a challenge.  The colors change as they dry, blending is more difficult and making puddles of color doesn't work because they dry so quickly.  But I worked on.
DAILY PAINTING #30    6x6 acrylics on ampersand gesso panel

CALIFORNIA GOLD   6x6 acrylics

< Second try at acrylics. I am slowly learning to manage acrylics and remembering from my work with them years ago.  I realize that I could use some new brushes,  I don't want to use my oil brushes and the ones I have are just too soft.  And I am struggling with the transparency of acrylics too.  But I do think this one is a little better.  
DAILY PAINTING #31

CARMEL POPPIES  4X6 acrylics

< So now I am getting a little more confident in acrylics.... well just a little.  This time I tried a smaller painting... just 4" x 6" on gessoed watercolor paper.  I found these poppies growing near the Carmel River in front of a house.  So cheerful to see them!
DAILY PAINTING #32





I can't believe I have painted 32 paintings now!  Great practice!
These little guys will be available for sale at my Open Studio.  
6x6s are $100 without a frame / $125 with a floater frame.  
4x6s are matted to fit an 8" x 10" frame and are $45 each.  
Believe me, they look better in person!  Come on by and check them out!

I am often asked "How long did it take you to paint that?"
My answer is simple: 
"After 50 years of practice, it took me 3 hours to paint this small painting."