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.

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.

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.

Frog

9x11
Soft Pastel on Sennelier La Carte Paper
Price: NFS
Year Painted: 2004
Pastels Used: Nupastel, Rembrandt
Source: A calendar photo. No copyright info available.
Just a fun exercise. I liked the light in the original photo, and I like frogs. So.

Woodstock

12x16
Watercolor on Paper
Late 1990s
Source: One of my cats.
One of my few attempts (or maybe the only one) at watercolor painting since high school. I actually didn’t work from a photograph, but rather had done a quick preparatory pencil sketch as Woodstock was napping on a pillow. I wish he’d positioned his tail and face a little more decoratively; they really looked as wishy-washy as they appear here.

Dung Beetle

11x15
Soft Pastel on Sketch Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 1980
Pastels Used: Grumbacher
Source: A German bug and beetle guidebook that was later chewed up by one of my dogs.
No copyright info available.
This was my first foray into pastels. Someone gave me a box of 100 Grumbacher pastel sticks; they were quite hard, but I didn’t know anything about pastels then so that didn't discourage me. I loved the vibrancy of the color, which has not diminished in nearly 30 years.