Chalk and More Chalk

Newest piece from the studio

Wasn't it just Wednesday? I really haven't been able to keep up here on the blog as I'd like to. I'm totally blaming it on the weather. It's been so gorgeous out here in NYC. I just can't stay away from the outdoors which makes all my housework and studio work suffer. Thankfully, I am nearing completion on the last two commissions in the studio and have just finished this big boy, a Tennessee Walker by Sarah Rose.

I am loving this piece and the color. This horse honestly should have been done about 5 months ago, but I couldn't pull myself to the table on this one and kept putting him off. I just felt I needed more time to think about color application. I find the lighter colors to be so difficult to produce and when those lighter colors are placed on a really great resin the pressure to produce is even greater. I hate feeling pressure like that, most espeically when I'm being creative. So, I gave the horse some time to sit on my shelf and in my mind. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about him or how I was going to tackle this color. In the end, I believe waiting was the best decision.

Here are some more shots of him:

Full shot of the TWH

Head shot

Pretty blue braids on his right side

I mentioned in my last blog post that I wanted to show off his neck repair after that bug spattered itself into that area. It's all clean now. I also want to show off how smooth pastel application can be when it's done properly. I get rather down to see artists rushing this medium and many have rushed so badly that they have started creating a bit of a bad name for the medium. You must go slow! That is the first rule. The second rule is to never skip steps. Too many skip using the gloss fixatives and just go straight to using mattes in order to finish quicker. Time and again I have found that the glossy fixatives do something special to the pastels when they are sprayed. In my experience, just using the mattes have never rendered the same results.

My personal theory behind pastels is that they are "the poor man's airbrush" and when viewed should look like lightly sprayed layers of acrylic. They should never be rushed. Rushing any part of the process can create pieces that look grainy and that is always disheartening to see. But enough of me yappin' about the process. Here is the TWH after his neck repair:

Pastels SHOULD be smooth



Other Inspirations
I've enjoyed watching my good friend Heather explore her new found love of photography. Every day she sends the most inspiring emails filled with beautiful photos of horses or people. I have to say it has been fantastic getting her emails and today when our family went to a cousin's party the first thing I packed was my camera. Not my new slim Casio, but the Olympus big boy. My goal? To get a week's worth of being inspired out and into my own camera. Most of the photos were duds, but this one...

Two Fishes & A Boy

.....of my son enjoying the dark pavement and chalk all by himself was by far the very best photo of the day. He just couldn't resist that chalk and when he popped his arm down and the muscles in his back stretched I just couldn't resist taking the photo. I was so happy I had brought the good camera and had been so inspired this past week.