2010 Pastel Retrospective - Page 2

Tracy Lang · #16 01-03-2011, 10:05 PM

What a fun thread...it's wonderful to revisit some of the great work that has been posted in 2010!

Deconstructing Charley: Starting to head in a direction that fascinates me. A spontaneous, happy painting...exploring shapes and colors.

Gaucho Girl: This poor girl almost didn't make it off the easel at one point...really a disaster

but, I worked through the awfulness and she ended up winning an award.

Tracy

Deborah Secor · #17 01-03-2011, 11:49 PM

Strong, diverse, fascinating paintings showing in here already! Frogs and dogs and flowers and kids and faces and places, dancers and eyes and dog-tags and cats... Oh my!

8x8", Wallis, 'Complexity'.

I'm pleased with the simplicity of the stroke that I think conveys the complexity of the image.

6x12", Wallis, 'Cedars'.

Mmm, I guess I like the color contrasts in this one. Fun!

Kathryn Wilson · #18 01-04-2011, 07:43 AM

This is always a fun thread and this one is proving that statement ... I love seeing all your hard work. Here are my two:

This one has a personal meaning for me and my thoughts are being directed towards other similar paintings for a series:

I chose this next one because it was a fun painting to do and it did well in shows:

RainySea · #19 01-04-2011, 09:09 AM

Wow, so many beautiful and diverse paintings. . . this was such a fun thread to look though. . . BRAVO to everyone on your 2010 pastel efforts. They are gorgeous.

And this thread made me realize just how FEW pastels I have done this year. My favorite that I have done remains the chihuahua from last year and have not done any dogs since that in softies. Asking myself now, why not!? Only answer I have is that I did do quite a few oil pastels of dogs and even a few watercolors this year so at least I did SOMETHING

Sooo basically I have only done/completed FOUR soft pastel paintings this whole year and two of them were begun in workshops, so that means there are ONLY two soft pastels that I actually did all from scratch this year and so those are the ones I will share here I reckon. And this coming year I will definitely bring out the softies more.

robertsloan2 · #20 01-04-2011, 10:00 AM

Wow! So many different styles and subjects, all of them gorgeous! Don, thank you for correcting my credit to the photographer of Flower Meadow.

Deborah, Complexity just shimmers. It's wonderful.

Rainy, your fruits are great. I didn't see that one and like it a lot. Hope you do come back to softies more in 2011! Good portrait too, just like the fruits so much. Nice shine on those strawberries!

Merethe T · #21 01-04-2011, 12:44 PM

I always look forward to this thread, so much fun to see everybody's favorites! Such gorgeous work presented already - wonderful work from all!
(I'd like to comment on each one, but I'll restrain myself for now...

)

Here's my personal favorites from 2010, for different reasons. Looking through my work I realized I didn't paint much last year, guess a
New Years resolution is in order...

Became a favorite as I used a different technique than I'm used to, and it made me experiment more on other paintings. It also made it to the
Best of Wet Canvas 2010 competition - which was nice.

I have never spent that much time on any painting before - and enjoyed it every step of the way...it's just one of those who seemed to flow,
a lot of work and a lot of fun!

winecountry · #22 01-04-2011, 01:52 PM

a good year for pastels looking at the thread....I worked a lot in oils this year on landscape, but I did a few pastels...this one was accepted into the International Association of Pastel Societies show, a very big surprise to me. It's my favorite pastel from this year.

Coming Home : Portrait of Tuddy 11x24

Second is a more experimental work that won best of media in a local show
his name is Arnold and he truly is a beautiful turkey vulture who cannot fly and lives at The Bird Rescue center here in Santa Rosa, I had no idea they were so iridescent up close. I felt a kinship with the ancient artists of Lascaux painting this and wanted to show how beautiful this sometimes trashed bird is.

Ancient One.....12x18

**allydoodle** · #23 01-04-2011, 04:49 PM

It is such a treat to see everyone's favorites for the year. I remember most of them from the Pastel Gallery, and it's easy to see why they are ending up in this thread - this is all very beautiful work!

The first one I'm posting is called "Vineyard Glow". I guess the reason it is one of my favorites is because it was one of those rare ocassions when it felt like it painted itself. I had no plan, yet I guess the painting did, and when it thought I was done, I stopped. I cannot explain how that happened, it just did, and it doesn't happen very often (unfortuneately

).

The second one is a commission I recently finished of a little girl. Her name is Chloe, and the reason I picked this one is because I hadn't done a full-fledged pastel portrait in some time (meaning, one not done in a workshop in an hour), and I was pleased with the result. The client was also, so that's even more reason to put it in with my favorites.

Orchidacea · #24 01-04-2011, 06:18 PM

Absolutely amazing work in this thread! I'm seeing most of it for the first time, as I hadn't visited WC in 2010 until December. I want to comment on each image individually, because I am blown away! But I'll restrain myself.

This is my favorite of 2010. My boyfriend spied these bottles on a high shelf at a flea market/ antiques mall this summer and boosted me up so I could take a couple of quick shots with my cell phone. It's a favorite because of the serendipitous way I discovered the subject and because it got me started on a whole new obsession with "found" still life. I went back and bought that rgeen bottle and I'll be painting it again, I'm sure.

This one was probably the most fun to paint. It took me about 2 hours and I think I smiled the whole time!

Paula Ford · #25 01-04-2011, 08:57 PM

OMGosh, such beautiful work everybody!! WOW!!

robertsloan2 · #26 01-05-2011, 05:55 AM

Merethe, you did the Forks? I love it! I loved it when I looked at the competition. I voted for you! That was just awesome! Wonderful accuracy, complexity and shine. That's not just playing with showoffy silver, that's going nuts with tines and reflections. Cool other still life too but those pears and forks made me grin.

Colleen, Tuddy is amazing. I love the way you have him approaching on the hunt, a serious cat in action. He looks powerful and beautiful, a reminder these are the tigers you can caress. Gorgeous ancient one too, don't know the species of vulture but I'm sure a birder would recognize it.

Chris, great vineyard! It's a rush when a painting does that, just paints itself. I love it when that happens. Great portrait of the child too.

Kim, your teacup is just fun - what a natural point of view to look at it! I love the green bottle in the stained glass window, the light in that one's glorious.

Everyone's doing such amazing paintings I'm starting to feel embarrassed about posting mine into this thread. But that's all right. I'll look back in 2012 and have better pastel paintings then!

**allydoodle** · #27 01-05-2011, 09:12 AM

Oh Robert, your work is wonderful! I love your painterly quality, and your drawing skills are superb! I hope you post here, I'm sure everyone will enjoy seeing them! Even your fantastic sketches are finished pieces, your drawing skills are just so excellent!

bnoonan · #28 01-05-2011, 11:35 AM

Oh my. I'm going to eat some humble pie right now! This is the most amazing collection of art I have seen on our threads in a very long time.

How did I miss so many gems throughout the year and yet some are like visiting old friends.

I'm honored to be in this group and look forward to posting up a few of my own pieces.

I can't even pick my favorites - but I'm sure going to be back to look at this frequently to see what has been posted and see what I need to learn from all of you.

WOW BArb

Lisa M · #29 01-05-2011, 12:19 PM

What a testament to the virtues of pastels--and to creativity!! Wow!!

Ruthie, your husband is sooo handsome!

Who wouldn't want to wake up to that smile every day? You make a gorgeous couple.

Paula, the dandelions might be one of my faves of yours; I love how you did them, so soft and carefully rendered.

The loosely styled puppy, the still lifes, wow!! I'll be looking at all of these many times over.

I'll share a couple of pastels for the year--I only did about 5 or 6 of them! I have another fave that I forgot to photograph before giving it away.

These are "Bull Britches" from a monthly challenge in the Southwest forum, and "Kitty" from my holiday break painting. Both are new subjects for me. I didn't have a lot of growth in my pastel work this year, but I have developed a much more careful and attentive eye overall.

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

Donna T · #30 01-05-2011, 04:40 PM

What a great thread; thanks Paula. It is wonderful to see some of these beautiful paintings again and to see new ones that I missed! The only painting in my immediate future will be with interior latex enamel: flat for walls and semi-gloss for trim.

Keep up the inspiring work everyone!

This is the one that means the most to me from last year. "Far from Home" 14x17

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