Pastel portrait of Little Girl

I am trying to be good and stay up to date! Hard to do when so much is going on but this is part of running a business!
This session will be brief. I have a son going off to Marine Boot camp tomorrow and spending time with him has been on my list of priorities!

This pastel portrait of a young girl was created for clients of mine and is the second I have done for them. Many families have me create a portrait of each child as they reach a certain age. Others have a portrait created of all of them at the same time with their varying ages. It just depends on the client. There is no "right" way!

As usual, I apologize for the bluish tint in the photos that I put up! My husband edits the ones for the website but frankly, I am thrilled just to get them up :-).

Remember to keep our troops in your prayers. I do not care what your political convictions are, we have men and women serving this country and they deserve our respect and admiration. Don't let politics leave you kicking the dog!

Visit me at www.MTheresaBrown.com

Beginnings of Christmas

We stay busy year round! But admit it, there is something about Christmas that makes all of us think that NOW is the time to pick up that present or item we have been thinking about all year long! And my clients are no exception :-). NO problem! When they call me with the nudge of "OK, I need to call her this week!" I am perfectly happy with that! I work great with deadlines. I LOVE deadlines. I work

great in public, late into the night, first thing in the morning and everything in between. To be successful at art in any form, you HAVE to value your clients' needs and expectations. The funny thing is most clients will preface a deadline request with "I don't want to rush you" and rest assured, they do NOT! My normal reply is to laugh and assure them that deadlines work for me :-).

The pencil collage above (sorry for the blue cast) is the second one that I have completed for a client with her horses. I leave space around the images and add the names onto some area of the halters and as she adds more horses, she brings the portrait back and I add the new horse. I have done the same with people's dogs and it is a loving tribute to the many animals wh share or have shared one's life! People? Of course! A collage is a grouping of subjects that are relative to the message an artist is sending. Many chidren create them at school using magazine tear outs and they are a telling visual image of what that individual is thinking of him or herself :-). A collage may have a set of grandparents in the center and around them are their lives condensed into a number of visual images (a garden , the beach, a family tree, a job, travel, a funny episode, a hobby, etc.) TIme consuming for me BUT an heirloom that is enjoyed by the family for many years.

The pastel of the horse is a good example of taking a busy photograph and reducing the subject to it's important essentials. The background is muted and soft, the subject is crisp and focused.....the perfect ingredients for a successful portrait of any subject!

I have just completed 3 weeks of straight shows so within a few days I will post additional images of completed portraits. A few of them are horses and their owners of course but several are clients returning to have a portrait created of that second or third child!

And maybe I'll post that 40 x 80 oil of the family which is very near completion. A long time in the "doing" but the end will be worth it...not quite there but there enough to see what I will be altering and changing!

Until next time!

Theresa

www.MTheresaBrown.com

Fall is "sort of" here!

A recent commisssion of a proud mom and daughter! Dad is a smart man as this will be a Christmas present! This pastel is approximately 18 x 24.









Recent fun! (see below)
Custom painting the Trail of Painted Ponies! As a woodworker (I have carved large Victorian rocking horses)
I have been selling these on Ebay since I actually do not have room for them in my booth at shows. So they have been a nice creative outlet for my art. I'll post a few more finished examples later.
This one is part of my "Wild Ponies of the Outer Banks " series. Check out the web site for the prints-very popular!













OK. We still have drought and heat BUT the good news is that the heat is staying below 90 degrees and the nights are now down in the 40-50 range, Do-able!







Working diligenty while also at the NC State Fair with a portrait booth. Steve and I alternate up to a point. This year he is spending more time there :-)




So what is happening in my art world? Commissions of course!

Work and more work!

Dummy me misplaced my password (almost a first) , obviously found it and despite the fact that my blog is in sore need of an update, it does not mean I have been idle!

Now I will need to come back and post new images but in the meantime I can tell you that it is lucky that man invented air conditioning! Record heat here in NC and it was with blessed relief that we headed up for 2 weeks of shows in the beautiful mountain town of Blowing Rock, NC. The old grounds are located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway and the scenery is spectacular!

Actually Steve went first with the camper and I followed later. But I am working diligently on a large oil in the studio that cannot be easily transported and could not stay too long. Besides, at this particular show, it was Steve's beautiful plein air paintings that they lined up to purchase. No matter. We have the same checking account :-)

Now I have mentioned the Corgi, Rosie. She is easy to travel with and taking her away from home lets the other 4 dogs (non-Corgies) get a break from her. So she gamely hiked with us on a non show day through well maintained horse trails. I will include some links later as anyone or group can go to the grounds and keep their horses there and use the trails all through the mountains.

I returned to 104 degrees and it was hard not to turn around and head back! Images will follow!

Returning to the rest of the story

I have artist friends who create wonderful art and write enchanting blogs. Even after a show or an event, they continue in creative mode as if no event had taken place.

I think I am jealous!

I returned home late on the 11th after leaving a week of shows behind and after meeting a client outside of Clifton, VA. And although I would love to just walk into my studio the following day and begin to create, an actual ART business just isn't run that way (alas!)

Tuesday morning comes early and with it a sorting through the piles of mail. Bills here, Taxes there, checks over here, online bills, phone calls to return, the list to go over. Appointments, who to arrange a meeting? Who to send an image to, sorting through who handles the camping at the next show and what prints to ship to clients.....and that is before lunch! Physically there are drives to the bank, the Post Office, the grocery store, unloading the car...Steve is at the Keswick shows with the van and camper.

It is good to know that nothing extreme happened while I was gone :-) so one must always, while noting what did not get done, note what DID get done and balance it out.
My point being, when I paint, I paint! When I work, I work. Dispersed between painting sessions is the constant marketing, the constant emails and phone calls, the whole panorama of running a business....and I would not have it any other way!

Yes, I am still, at times, jealous of those artists who seem to have not a financial care in the world, whose only thoughts lie far removed from business.....but then I remember my art history and easily relate to those artists through the centuries, who, like me, needed to make a living and were fortunate enough to be able to blend and train their skills and talents into a profession that has endured for centuries!

OK. Adding to my blog can be crossed off my list!

A morning snack

A client asked me to post this image of a pastel that I created because she "liked the mood." She said that it reminded her of her own daughter. That's what is nice about creating an image that causes a response in a person. I think that many times, despite what art critics think, the average person wants something on the wall they CAN relate to. Something that stirs a response, a memory, a feeling.

A statement? If a memory or a scene "speaks" to you, it IS making a statement :-).

I'm in Upperville, VA at the moment, listening to much needed rain on the roof of the camper. It took us two hours to set up yesterday evening and we watched the clouds roll in from tropical storm Barry. I understand that further east it is really coming down.

No one wants a hurricane but it IS and always has been, Nature's way of replenishing the water supply!

OK. I will be working on a client's oil tomorrow (if it is not raining) and will try to take some photos of a work in progress!

Pencil Portrait of Baby

Well, less you think I have been idle.......the past couple of days I have completed 4 commissions: 3 pencils and a small pastel. I will post the other 2 pencils after figuring out how to alter the white balance. As you see, the pencil is dark and was obviously worked on white paper..... !

The pencils are very popular and in an investment range that everyone can afford. This client (as the others) emailed their images to me.

Originally, in the client's photo, this little guy was in a hammock on his side, so as an artist I just altered a few things, adjusted his position and wallah! A beautiful heirloom from a candid photograph