Ringing in the New Year by cleaning the studio!

Wow 2012 is less than 24 hours away and what am I doing? Well I had to go to a nearby farm this morning and load hay bales into the trailer for the ponies. Returned to discover a client is coming by tomorrow. Oh no! ......an art studio, is , at best, the place for sublime creating and soft music, introspective thoughts and .......yeah, right! In the working world of art, it is a frenzy of activity in the weeks leading up to the holiday deadlines...shipping, wrapping, packing, touching up paintings, emails, phone calls, deliveries, last minute orders, art supplies scattered everywhere....and I love every minute of it.
Point is, we run on adrenaline I think, so the week AFTER Christmas, when the big day has passed, the relatives are still in and out.... it is obvious that the studio is in serious need of a re-organization. Or at least a clean up!  So I stopped long enough to update this blog and now heading back to the studio, coffee in hand, to continue the clean up.

Front of art studio

Inside our studio

Unusually mild weather is making this a pleasure. Warm sunshine, dogs lounging on the porch. But in a few days we will pay for this mild month of December with highs of, get this, 37 degrees rather than the almost 67 degrees of today!

Hmmm, just why AM I inside cleaning up?

Ah well-Happy New Year!

December rush!

Oh my, December is in full swing and I have to be so careful not to post painting and portraits that may be gifts! The large 30 x 40 oil from the last post is completed and on the gallery slideshow.

I have just completed another dog portrait-this time of a red Border Collie using PanPastels. The image is also on my Facebook page :-) 
Off to the studio...still trying to get a tree up!

The beginning of a large pastel portrait!

A work in progress: 30 x 40 Pastel Portrait

Here is a sanded 30 x 40 pastel that I have begun of a whole family-the two daughters, along with their horses or first to be seen......mom and dad, along with the two Golden retrievers and a former horse,  are still way-y-y-y in the background waiting to emerge from their anonymity :-).

Keep an eye out for the completed version!

"I met a man Bo Jangles and he'd dance for you...."

When my client brought me an old, out of focus photo for this little pastel commission, all I could think of was that line from the "Mr Bo Jangles" song that said something like "his dog up and died....after twenty years he still grieves..."

It simply goes to prove that there is no time limit on the loss of a beloved pet.

I am honored to have been the artist to bring this little guy back into focus for his owner!

LOL but now I cannot get that song out of my head!

The timeless appeal of babies

Molly giving hugs. Pastel: 10 x 12

In the long world of art there has never been a subject more appealing than babies unless it was mother and baby images (think Bible)
So when the opportunity comes to create a pastel portrait from an adorable photo, what artist can resist?


1 year old Baby Molly had just given her mother the "Barney hug" when her mom snapped this charming image with her cell phone (who would have thought) and I created a 10 x 12 pastel portrait of the image to capture that moment in a timeless manner!


Now who wouldn't love Barney as well?

Putting Art to use on a Quilt Trail

Steve and Theresa with the first Quilt Block east of the NC mountains

Art takes on many forms and our most recent project is celebrating the art and history of quilting. What better way to combine art  for the masses than by establishing a Quilt Trail. Popular in over 30 states and several Canadian Provinces they offer numerous entrepreneurial opportunities for artists and businesses! And in a country that has become way too dependent on government handouts, we're all about promoting self sufficiency. :-)
It's a huge amount of work but as we're proponents of  the "roll up your shirtsleeves and start" school of thinking, we simply.....started. :-) So here is the first Quilt block-a 4'x 4' block constructed of MDO sign board and framed in 2 x 4's by a volunteer and hand painted by Steve. A substantial of our research comes from the best (and we don't see a need to re-invent the wheel!) Barbara Webster-founder and director of the western NC Quilt Trail.

This pattern is called "Card Trick" and the building it is now attached to (the Franklin Country Arts Council building) was originally home to a group of bridge players! Plans are to have approximately 200 throughout the county.
A fun change from structured painting!

The beauty of GREY

Waiting for the Class

I love to create portraits for my clients and this gorgeous Grey is no exception!


I photographed him, per her request, at one of the shows and later created this 18 x 24 pastel based on a selection from the group.


You simply have to know horses to know what photos are the best to work from and which are not :-)


The tiny roan flecks are difficult to see in the image but are more obvious in the actual piece!