The Cycle of Life - Original Pastel

The Cycle of Life
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
Pastel on Fine Art Paper
$75 plus $10 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

When I went to Yellowstone last year I saw this little lodge pole pine growing out of a huge boulder surrounded other lodge pole pines that had fallen or would eventually fall to the ground. I think we have all seen weeds growing in the middle of asphalt but to grow out of the middle of solid rock is pretty impressive.

I also saw larger trees that had obviously grown out of boulders because their roots were above ground shaped as if they had grown around something very large but the boulder was long gone. The tree had used the minerals in the rock to grow and eventually the rock had broken down leaving the trees to look like they were using their roots to "walk" across the top of the ground.

Psalm 145:13

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

Sister Hallelujah - Angela's Pastel Portrait Finished

I think I have finished this portrait of Angela, Sister Hallelujah. I haven't delivered it yet but hope to soon. I'll let it sit for a couple of days to see if I see anything that needs to be tweaked but for all practical purposes I like how it came out - I hope she does too!

Psalm 63:5
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

A Special Thanks to Dean!

I was especially pleased to find I was awarded this "I Care" Keepsake by Dean Haven aka Deano's Den this week. This Keepsake was created by James Parker to show his appreciation of fellow bloggers. Here is the poem James wrote to accompany the Keepsake:

I had some folks come visit, my humble little blog
And leave a thoughtful comment, 'bout the painting I had
logged.
I don't know how to tell them, or even where to start,
Of the wondrous gift they gave me, bringing joy to my heart
Some days are dark and lonely...I feel that life's a bore
But those simple words of kindness, have brought sunshine
to my door.

As many of you know Dean is wonderful oil painter - I admire his work so much. Every day I have a new favorite. I also love the fact that at the end of every post Dean makes he includes a verse from the Bible - reading his blog is a true joy in more ways than one. Thank you Dean!

Now it is my honor to pass this Keepsake along to two deserving artists who make the blogosphere a brighter place. My choices are:

Deborah Secor

I admire Deborah not only because she creates the most beautiful pastels, and has written several how to books on pastels, and she now has her own workshop DVDs out, but because she declares her love of Jesus Christ right up front. I find that very beautiful and inspiring. Thank you Deborah!

Toni Kelly

Toni is another one of those multi-talented artists. She works mostly in watercolor and is an outstanding calligrapher, author, and she does some incredible mixed media pieces. She has a true love of nature, takes awesome photographs of butterflies and birds and then to see the pictures of the garden she keeps - WOW. I truly relish reading her blog and quite frankly I don't know where she finds the time to do all that she does. She is an inspiring artist to the "nth" degree and just a person that you really like knowing even via the blogosphere. Thank you Toni!

Zoe - a proper pastel painting

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted last! I'm not sure where the time has gone or exactly what I've been doing with my time - eek!

I finally sat down last night and started on a proper painting of Zoe. I finished it tonight.

Having a great photograph to work from has made all the difference. I'm really pleased with the way this one has turned out and Zoe's ears are in proportion to her head ;-) this time too.

I love painting eyes, I always start with the eyes because I feel like if I don't get the eyes right I won't capture what makes the cat, dog or person special and who they are.

I do wish you could see it in person - the scanner sometimes doesn't scan pastels well. I don't know if it is the reflective quality of pastels or what but it does give me fits sometimes to get a true color with a scan. This has a bit of a green cast to it and in real life it is much warmer with a nice soft quality about it. I'm taking it to Genevieve tomorrow so won't have a chance to take a photograph of it but maybe when she gets it framed and hung up she will take a picture of it that I can share with y'all.

This is 7" x 5" on velour paper. I've used soft Rembrandt pastels, Conte sticks and Carb Othello pastel pencils.