My Last Studio Piece for 2014 "Backlit Watermelons"

             Backlit Watermelons - 10" X 20" Colored Pencil On Ampersand Pastelboard

My last studio piece for 2014, is finally photographed and on my website.  The only thing that says December about it is the red and green subject matter.  This is the seventh piece in my Backlit Series and is currently waiting for my show in April "Artful Healing"  a fundraiser that benefits the World Pediatric Project.  The funny thing is I was temped to make holiday cards out of it! LOL  

Instead I photographed my new puppy "Bacio" in his holiday get up.  He's sort of become my new studio pal.  As he learns his studio manners I'm learning to lighten up a little and have a bit more fun.  Who can resist that face!

As 2014 sinks into the sunset I have a few other plein air pieces yet to scan or photo so a few more pieces are yet to come from 2014.  And while I'm anxious to start my new studio piece there is always so much art business to catch up on.  Do you get bogged down with the business side of art?  An artist is just like many sole proprietors, there is always so much marketing and office stuff to do than the creation side of the business we all love.  

Before the year ended I made my LIST OF GOALS FOR 2015, and try as I might to keep it concise, it's a long list.  I think setting goals for your art business is the best way to stay on track as the year progresses.  Although my tendency when I review my list from the previous year, if for my eye to go straight to the things I didn't get done,  I'm always pleased when I get to check off the items I did get done.  I do this the old fashioned way, writing it down in a notebook/journal.  I know it is the visual side of me that likes keeping the lists manually instead of digitally.  How about you?

Top on the Goals List is to say "no" to some of the art volunteer work I do.  And I am ahead of that item.  This leads straight to the the top line item on my list which is to complete more work in 2015, monthly.  My goal in 2014 was to work out a system and increase my speed in plein air work with colored pencil.  And this was the main reason I completed a higher number of works last year.  

While smaller than my studio work, the plein air pieces have helped my work in so many ways.  Observation and actually seeing is so much more hightened when working en plein air.  And this comes into play even when I am photographing a still life for a studio piece.  As time frees up this year I plan on completing more sketches of my setup for each new still life work while things are still fresh.   

Colored pencil painting's slow process of many, many layers hinders the ability to keep things fresh long enough to complete a larger studio piece entirely.  But color studies and sketches can help your minds eye remember, as it sort of writes itself into ones memory as you sketch.  

Of course my blog entries were on my list of Goals for 2015, I have hopes to create a video and some demos for the blog this year as well as post more frequently.  So please if your reading my blog leave a comment, ask a question, or just plain let me know what you want to see.  I'd like to make this a meatier place to find colored pencil information.  

What are your goals for 2015?

Gloria  Callahan         

Colored Pencil - Plein Air Summer

                                                     Sunday Park Plein Air  6" X 12"
                                           Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard

Summer 2014 started with working "En Plein Air" (in the open air) with colored pencil and it's still going strong.  So while my posts have been a little farther apart I have been working on getting my speed up and working in new and various sizes.  2013 and prior I mostly worked in 5 X 7 sized pieces and one 8 X 10 but I had vowed to work a little bigger in plein air this year.  Many other media painters work their plein air just as small but they may get 2 pieces done in the time I work on one.  No matter, it's all in the doing as far as I'm concerned.  The above piece was at a local park here in July  at Brandermill's Sunday Park.  A small park in Chesterfield County, VA.  Quiet during the week and just a perfect spot for working on my speed.  I liked the long format of this board and had previously only worked on my backlit fruit series on it.  See here or here for a sampling of that series.  One of which I don't think I ever placed on the blog is:

                  Backlit Citrus 2  6" X 12"  Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard  SOLD

While I liked the long format for the still lives mentioned, I'm finding I also really like this long format for a larger vista.  So I will be sure to do more plein air pieces on these boards.

The largest piece plein air I have tried was 9" X 12" on a 5 hour session plein air and a few hours at home.  Virginia is blessed with at least one lavender farm in the Blue ridge mountains east of Harrisonburg.  My favorite plein air pal and side kick, Kathy and I ventured out for an overnight in the area on the hunt for plein air sites.  White Oak Lavender Farm was our first stop, day one of the trip.  As a gardener, woman and foodie it's a little distracting at a place like this because you just want to buy up their plants, scented lotions, lavender balsamic vinegar and lavender blueberry jam.  Yes, you heard right lavender balsamic vinegar!  But I digress.....

Although it's a great place in a quaint Shenandoah setting, it's not the quantity of lavender you see in Provence.  But since I was bummed my friends were in France and I was not this would do nicely.  Our hard winter was hard on the lavender and so a little imaginary enhancements were added in the following piece to even out the farm's replacement plantings in some areas.

                                                          Lavender Fields 9" X 12"
                                           Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard

While I think capturing the distant Blue Ridge mountains and more distant rolling fields of the farm went well, most of the work on the foreground field of lavender was completed at home.  Lavender is very hard to capture well, but I did my best.

Did I tell you that working outdoors in a field of lavender is dreamy!  No other word for it d-r-e-a-m-y!   As the breeze on this overcast day blew by, the scent was ethereal, not over powering just light on the wind.  Kind of like the approaching rain heading our way.  It held off until just the end of our session when we could not wait any longer to make our purchases in the farm's gift shop.

I'll add some more plein air work in another post but for now you can see some of what I've been up to.

Continuing the Backlit Series

                                                               Backlit Kiwi  6 X 12

Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard again, this is the same size as my Backlit Citrus piece and will be framed the same. (A black 2.5" frame with gold band on the inside)    The series will have one more this size in it, stay tuned for # 4 and one more in the 6 X 18 size #5.  The series will make their debut just in time for the fall art show season.   Although I have just finished 2 other works not in the series, and will post them soon, the sequels may get put on the back burner until I can get a few of my France trip pieces done in time for the group show.

So I'm off to finish spraying this with UV Varnish and then to frame.   
Enjoy your colorful day!

Backlit Berries 6 X 18 Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard

OK everyone you get 2 entries on the blog today due to my lack of getting anything posted in a while.

Second in my Backlit series to be completed, although this one took me a while since I've had 2 classes running for the last 6 weeks.  Amidst many family obligations this was a fun one to work on.  I again like the size of this piece as it looks great on a small easel on my kitchen counter while I wait for the frame to be delivered.  A more stretched out version of this one at 6 X 18 versus the 6 X 12 of the citrus piece a few months ago was also intriguing.  The glow of the light through these strawberries and the juice droplets on the surface plane convey everything I love about strawberries.

I hope you like them!  Have a colorful day!

Gloria

Backlit Citrus

                                            6  X 12 Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard

Here's a new piece I finished right before we took a short trip to Florida and my spring classes started.  A small one, that really looked good in the black frame with gold inside trim, I placed it in.  And especially on an easel on my kitchen counter top.  I left it there for a few weeks, one because the under counter lighting made it look so luminescent and two because I've been very busy working on teaching my current two classes of new colored pencil students.   And I have some great students!  Who are 2 classes in and doing so well.

I'm currently working on a slightly longer new piece with the same theme of back lighting.  One that I've worked on setups for during the last 4 months.  The thin format should make these great pieces for kitchens, under cabinets or in a grouping.  But really I'm playing with this layout and lighting,  planning for a larger work yet to come.  No drama here, I'm just working things out in my head and in photos first.  Testing palette colors and playing with my cp's. 

I hope you enjoy this piece and I hope to be posting the new one soon.  Oh, and have a colorful day!