"BABY BLUES"

I was on a roll last night and couldn't go to sleep until the siamese cat was done. As mentioned in my last post, I used Crescent Suede Matboard for this painting and it was quite an interesting experience. At first I thought there was no way I could use this surface again, but the more I layered colors the more I came to like it. It's peculiar in the way it grabs the pigments and it's very easy to blend the colors with either a fritch scrubber or a bright bristle brush. The background was a breeze to paint, I didn't even have to worry about the pencil point being sharp, I just applied color with the side of the pencil, blended, applied more color, blended again and the whole thing was done very quickly. The final effect looks more like pastel than colored pencil and now I'm sure I really love this surface and will use it again and again. BTW, even though I'm totally in love with Faber-Castell Polychromos, in this particular support I felt that the Prismas worked way better than the Polys. Oh, well, that's the good thing about having choices. Next I want to try Derwent Coloursofts and see how well they go on the suede board.

Here's the siamese kittie, another demo from Anne DeMille Flood's book. Her book is fabulous, I'm learning so much from it and I can see myself getting better and better with each exercise. Next on the menu, a West Highland White Terrier followed by a Golden Retriever. I'm doing the Westie on Strathmore 4 Ply Vellum Board and the Retriever on a taupe colored suede board. I'll be working on ACEO size for these two paintings but I want to start my orange tabby kit from Ann Kullberg and that's 7"X9", so I guess I'll just work on all of them simulteneously. Oh, yeah, that will be lots of fun! I plan to finish all the demos in the book as well as the two Ann Kullberg's kits by the end of next week. I'm counting on having improved enough by then to finally tackle a painting of my own. I already have a pic of my chihuahua that is perfect for my first solo pet portrait. YAY, can't wait for that!!!

Many hugs and have a colorful and creative Wednesday!

Jade