Copper pot

I miss doing my little teeny paintings, so today set one up. This is not actually a copper pot; it is a copper colander. But in such a little painting, the legs and holes were too fussy, so I took them out. These little paintings are not only fun to do, I get to play with trying things out that I can then use in my larger paintings.

Soft pastels on Tiziano cream, 75x75 mm (3x3 in.)

Tea mug

What did I do yesterday? It appears, nothing. Well, I did, actually-- I organized storage for my paintings so they are not taped all over my walls, and figured out how to keep my paper and other oddments safe from my four-footed paper shredders. And swept up masses of Beagle hair. But no painting. Very strange.

Today I took care of some of life's details and worked on a couple of larger paintings. What to do for my daily painting? Aha, my ever-handy tea mug. I started out to make a simple sketch, but I found myself putting in the pears painted on the mug. This is my favorite mug, so of course the pears had to be there!

Pastel and pastel pencil on Tiziano cream, 8x8 cm (3x3 in)

Little copper vase

It's a simple handmade copper vase 6 inches high, made by a village artisan in Mexico. My daughter gave it to me years ago, and I keep it on my bedside table. This afternoon I was looking at it, and saw all the different patinas that have developed. In spots, it is starting to develop a beautiful copper turquoise the exact shade as one of my pastels. Those tiny spots are like a peephole into some other world.

Pastels on Tiziano cream, 120x130 mm (about 4.75x5 inches)

Mad Sam

Mad Sam, soft pastel on Tiziano cream, 180x230mm (7x9 in.)

You know how restless you can be when you are waiting for an important phone call and have to hang around waiting for the phone to ring? I've been a bit under the weather the last week, and was only managing some ink sketches. But this afternoon I HAD to do pastels, waiting for this phone call. Making art keeps me sane. Found a picture of one of my grandsons when he was a toddler, with an expression that mirrored the frustration I was feeling. Got his head done (that face took time), and then I added some surround to frame him. Not sure I'm finished with this one yet.

Still haven't got that phone call. But I have started another painting!

Delicata

I am having fun playing with color. For my daily painting today, I decided to do something with extreme color contrasts, and it was time to do another of those teeny challenging paintings that are so much fun to do. This is what emerged. Tomorrow this delicata squash will become soup.

Pastels on Tiziano cream, 75x75 mm (3x3 in.)

Old comfy chair

Pastel on Tiziano cream, 240x320mm (approx 9.4x12.5 in.)

I started a new artists journal this afternoon, and to break it in, I did a quick ink sketch of the old comfy chair in my living room. I rather liked the composition implied by the foreshortening in the sketch, and decided to do it in pastel, once again playing with colors and watching the play of light. There was a cat in the basket, but she left. They do that.