Broody

12x15.5
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: Contact the artist.
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist.
I used to keep chickens, and this is a painting of my Black Australorps hen, Serena, after she had gone broody for the first time. When you approach a hen that is sitting on eggs, she will ruffle her feathers to make herself look big and fierce. Serena, true to her name, never went beyond the ruffling pictured here. She would not even peck at your hand like many other grouchy broodies might. Black Aussies have a wonderful iridescence to their plumage, which came out nicely with Sennelier and Schmincke pastels.

Montana Sunset

4x6
Soft Pastel on Canson Mi Teintes Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: A photo found on the Internet.
No copyright info available.
This was my second experiment painting on a very small scale. I used the reverse of the Canson Mi Teintes paper. For smaller works, I would recommend using a fine grade sandpaper instead.

Scottish Pastures

4x6
Soft Pastel on Canson Mi Teintes Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: My imagination.
I had read somewhere that pastel paintings are usually meant to be larger works, generally to be seen at a distance. I thought I’d try for myself whether or not pastels could work on a very small scale, and was quite happy to find that this tiny 4x6 postcard size allowed me to create a very nice impressionistic feel in the final painting. I intentionally used the reverse side of Canson Mi Teintes because it has less tooth than a sanded paper, which forced me to keep my strokes simpler.

Gone Ahead

12x18.5
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist.
This is my Hovawart, Cody, painted just days before he died from cancer. I had taken many photos to study his magnificent tail in the weeks preceding his death until I found the perfect one. Even when he was very ill, he carried this great plume jauntily, until the very last day when he could no longer walk.

Andy

12x18
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist.
Andy was a very camera-shy dog, so I have few pictures of him. He would look alarmed as soon as he spotted a camera, and if he saw a flash he would run and hide. I used to take Andy to work with me. The photo that became the model for this painting was taken from about twenty feet distance, while Andy was waiting for me to come open the office door. He was still ‘smiling’ happily because he had not noticed the camera, and being well into his teens his eyesight wasn’t the best at a distance. He had been quite ill and had recently recovered from surgery to remove a large tumor on his right flank, which is why there is no fur in that area. To me, this painting captured his happy nature and it still makes me smile today, even though Andy has been gone many years now.

Cody

18x24
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist.
This is a portrait of my Hovawart and faithful guard dog, Cody. I had been in the process of building a chicken coop, and he was lying on a mound of dirt surveying (supervising) the proceedings. This painting was a deliberate attempt to use more natural hues than the usual ‘wild’ and brighter colors I gravitate toward in my art.

Pain Relief

9x11
Soft Pastel on GatorGrit 350-b Waterproof Sandpaper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2005
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: A German magazine.
Copyright information not available.
This is my rendition of a color-enhanced photograph of acetaminophen crystals (I think that's what it was! I know it's not aspirin.) The colors quite captivated me, which is why I had saved the page from a long-forgotten magazine for many years. It never occurred to me to paint it until I accidentally stumbled across the picture again, and thought I'd try to recreate the glowing colors. And I also liked that the crystals were in the shape of a cross. :)

SRV

12x18.5
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Photo found on the Internet.
No copyright info available.
I had worked on black canvases with oils and acrylics, and wanted to explore darker papers for pastel painting as well. I used charcoal colored La Carte paper for this painting because I wanted the colors to "pop" (and I couldn’t afford to buy other brands of sanded pastel paper that come in black). The original image from the Internet had a low resolution and was rather blurry, which allowed me some freedom of color interpretation.

Big Wave

9x12
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: A photo found on the Internet.
No copyright info available.
This was a gift for a friend’s teenage daughter who was very much ‘into’ the surf thing. The challenge was learning how to create depth and luminescence in water.

Iron Creek Falls

9x12
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: A photo found on the Internet.
No copyright info available.
Iron Creek Falls in Lewis County, Washington. This is one of my favorite paintings, which was a gift for my father on his 70th birthday. It was the first time I had attempted to paint water with pastels; quite a different process from working with oils or acrylics. Schmincke pastels helped create the sparkling highlights that made the waves come alive.

Stonehenge

12x18.5
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: Picture from a German magazine.
No copyright info available.
A failed attempt to paint a sunset sky; but I was very happy with how the rocks turned out.

Cheek to Cheek

12x18.5
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist’s sister.
Used by permission.
My sister supplied the adorable but tiny 2.5x3.5” photo of my nephew for this painting, which was unfortunately very underexposed and nearly colorless. This was before I had access to digital imaging and photo editing programs, so after completing the initial sketch, I just let my imagination run wild and had fun with the colors. A baby’s happy smile is one of the nicest things to paint.

Birgit with Braid

9x12
Soft Pastel on Canson Mi Teintes Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist’s sister.
Used by permission.
My sister likes to take pictures of herself with her digital camera. I enjoyed learning how to create the textures and colors of her hair from this sketch. I painted on the reverse of the Canson Mi Teintes paper to avoid the holey texture, which also gave me less "tooth" to work with, however. The challenge in pastel painting is to not overwork the paper, i.e., to not fill it with so much pigment that it can't take/accept any more. Yes, even paper can reject you. :)

Rose

9x12
Soft Pastel on Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper,
textured with Art Spectrum Colourfix Primer.
Price: NFS.
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist’s sister.
Used by permission.
This was my first experiment with underpainting and creating my own textured surface. I also used this piece to learn how to paint water droplets.

Cross Jelly

9x11
Soft Pastel on GatorGrit 400-b Waterproof Sandpaper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Multiple photographs found on the Internet.
This was the third in an ongoing series of works studying jellyfish. I especially enjoyed the process of learning how to create the luminous quality of their transparent bodies. I discovered that this fine grade of sandpaper works very well for blending colors and thus create the soft glow jellies have when they are lit within the confines of an aquarium.

Jellyfish

9x11
Soft Pastel on GatorGrit 400-b Waterproof Sandpaper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Multiple photographs found on the Internet.
This was the second attempt to paint jellyfish. (The first one on Canson Mi-Teintes paper, was "tossable.") Colors, colors, colors!

Bobby

12x15
Soft Pastel on Canson Mi Teintes Watercolor Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Sennelier, Schmincke
Source: Photo taken by the artist.
This was part of a lesson by my artist friend and teacher Nanette H. The object was to paint loosely, not be a slave to the source photo, and not overwork it. It only took me about an hour. I added a more colorful background, changed the carpet color, and rearranged the placement of the toilet paper rolls Bobby was playing with. Though there are some things wrong with this piece, the expression on the dog's face is perfect, 100% Bobby. After this lesson I decided I really don’t like the textured watercolor papers for pastel painting.

Sammy

12x17
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Photo taken by the artist.
My cat Sammy in her favorite cozy. The purpose of this painting was to learn how to paint fur.