The Harpist- sold

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"
I've been spending a lot of time in the hospital lately as my husband recovers from surgery. It has occasional bright moments, such as this harpist sitting in a shaft of sunlight by the escalator.

Black and white

Another portrait done with Panpastel and Sofft knife, charcoal pencil and white pencil on gray paper.

A few portraits

 I'm going to be painting a portrait demo at the Westport Art Group this Tuesday night. Open to the public- suggested donation $10.00.

 So nice to get back to my portrait painting group at the Portsmouth Arts Guild! The lovely Lauren modeled for this 20 minute demo I did for the class, using the Zorn palette.

I've been going to figure drawing more often lately and trying to do at least one portrait drawing while I'm there. This was done with a Sofft knife and Panpastel on gray paper, highlighted with white.

Oil on canvas paper.
Monday night's model. There's still room in my Portsmouth Arts Guild portrait painting class on Wednesday mornings starting March 30.

Panpastel on gray Canford paper with white highlights.
My portrait drawing class at the Portsmouth Arts Guild starts Wednesday morning, 3/16. Two weeks of drawing before the painting class starts, all levels.

The Sofft knife

I found out about the Sofft knife last year when I was watching a David Jon Kassan video. It's a plastic palette knife with a small triangular blade, over which you slip a foam covering. You swipe it across a Pan Pastel and draw with it. I've fallen in love with it- the color is rich, the marks are soft and wide if you use the flat part of the blade, but then you can draw with the edge of the blade. You can also use black charcoal and white pencil to accent/highlight. They don't seem to be sold in any of the local art stores; I ordered mine from Amazon.

Painting Faces...

Carlos was our model last night.
 On March 7 at 7PM I'll be doing a portrait painting demonstration at the East Providence library. It's free, stop by if you're interested.

Classes I'll be teaching this spring- I'm going to be pretty busy for a month or two:
The Portsmouth Arts Guild-
Portrait drawing and painting,  on Wednesday mornings starting March 16.

The Westport Art Group- A first for me, a portrait WORKSHOP!
 Two days, Friday and Saturday, tentative dates are May 13 and 14.
Portrait demo open to the public on Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30.

And, South County Art Association, Portrait Drawing and painting, Thursday mornings at 10AM, starting March 31, 10AM.

Hangin' with mom- sold

Oil on panel, 6" x 6"
Horses and chickens roam freely on Vieques Island. These two were on the side of the road when we stopped to look at the 300 year old Ceiba Tree. I painted this from a photo after I got home.

You can read more about our trip to Puerto Rico at my blog RideWalkHikeBike. http://ridewalkhikebike.blogspot.com

A few more sketches from Vieques

I really don't want to let go of the time spent there! The weather was so great, and I had a sketching partner, Ed Huff- you can see his work here- we spent some lovely mornings in Isabel Segunda with our sketchbooks and watercolors.

 One of the potted plants on the deck...

 Cantina La Reina, downtown Isabel Segunda.

There was a little park in the center of town where we could find shade and sketch the surroundings, like this church tower.

 This was a coffee and breakfast kiosk in the park. The smells of the cooking were wonderful.

Playa Grande was a beach like no other I've ever been on- miles of sandy beach that we had all to ourselves.

Watercoloring on Vieques Island

I did a number of little watercolors while I was on Vieques last week. Most are done on a 6"x 6" block of Fluid watercolor paper. The horizontals are half sheets, about 6" x 3".

These were done at Playa Media Luna (Half Moon Beach), a lovely protected cove (although there should be more space between the two paintings than there is.) My advice, if you're going to paint on a tropical island- bring turquoise!

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Watercolor, 8" x 5"

Puerto Rico was warm and sunny last week, unlike Rhode Island... boy, did we pick the right week to be away. This is the view from the deck of the house that we rented with friends on the island of Vieques, just off the southeast coast of the main island of Puerto Rico. Painting palm trees is a challenge, and the absolute BEST time to attempt it is in the middle of the winter.

Oil on canvas paper, 12" x 16"

A (disappointed) Patriots fan was our model last night...

Classes I'll be teaching this spring- I'm going to be pretty busy for a month or two:
The Portsmouth Arts Guild- Portrait drawing and painting,  on Wednesday mornings starting March 16.
The Westport Art Group- A first for me, a portrait WORKSHOP! The information is not on their website yet. Two days, Friday and Saturday, tentative dates are May 13 and 14.
Portrait demo open to the public on Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30.
And, South County Art Association, Portrait Drawing and painting, Thursday mornings at 10AM, starting March 31, 10AM.