Quick Update: Christmas Bouquet

Christmas Bouquet - pan pastel & colored pencil - 10"x 17" un-matted - Pat Dolan

Meanwhile, I've gotten in the Christmas spirit and brought out a few holiday decorations. With Frank unable to help with a tree or decorating this year, we're just having a few of our traditional items out. Here's a peak at our home as we prepared for the holidays.

Can you tell I'm just a little bit German???! Lots of wood carved ornaments made in Germany.

May you and your loved one enjoy this wonderful season of peace and joy!

Experimentation with Pan Pastels!

My very first attempt at actually using the Pan Pastels to create a painting. Mind you, I've actually NEVER painted roses before in my life! They've always seems too complicated with all those interwoven petals winding about a tiny bud. But here I am, playing in the studio with Pan Pastels doing something I never, ever planned to do! And I'm having a ball!!!

I stopped at Trader Joe's yesterday to pick up a little holiday bouquet to practice on. For $6.00, I bought this little bunch of cheerful flowers to practice on.

As usual, here are a few "step-by-step" photos of the current process. I'm not done, of course, but you can watch how the painting progresses, going forward. Maybe tomorrow I'll have it completed. Meanwhile, here's a peak at how things are going so far.

Above, I added the evergreen twig...
Below, I removed it, deciding to add those details with colored pencils later in the process.

Filling in the white mums a bit, adding depth to the roses with colored pencils...

My pile of supplies - Prismacolor Pencils and Pan Pastels. I'm currently using , as I have them on hand.

I'm happily surprised at how little dust and mess these pastels make as I use them. The sponges are so easy to clean by wiping them on paper towels, too. Mixing colors on the sponge applicators is also easy. Everything about this process, so far, as been both fun and easy!

Time for a NEW Adventure! Pan Pastels!

Here we have the Pan Pastel Portrait set along with 3 other colors - plus what they look like on Canson MiTense drab gray paper. I've a portrait to complete within a month, and want to use pastels to capture the serenity as well as the lively spirited individual. This medium, combined with stick pastels and/or colored pencils, may be perfect for the task!

Of course, now I must learn how to handle a new medium... and figure out what kind of paper surface is best to work on to bring forth the portrait in the best possible way. Nothing like a challenge - especially at a busy time of year!!!

Meanwhile, I stopped by the Bellefonte Art Museum and photographed one of the several delightfully decorated trees gracing their exterior window display. I especially love the naturally decorated one - and would love to move it right into my living room for the foreseeable future! I do have lots of feathers, milk weed pods, etc., but not enough to decorate a large tree! So I'm enjoying this one and sharing it here for others to delight it!

May your holiday season be one of joy and appreciation of all that is.

Winter Has Arrived along with December!

Our December snowfall, before it melted away. As a Minnesota native, I LOVE the winter snows! Snow brightens all the dark days by laying a layer of white everywhere. Alas, here in central PA, the snow rarely lasts long, so it turns to slush and mud quickly. But while it is here, I'm always thrilled!

As you can see, it's not much, by Minnesota, Vermont, or Maine standards. But it sure is beautiful when it's new and fresh. Ever notice how quiet it is outside when it's snowing? All those snowflakes must also absorb sound, because it's always magically quiet in a soft snowfall. Now a windy, blustery, stormy snow - that's another animal altogether...

Meanwhile, I completed two autumnal collages for our Bellefonte Art Museum Annual Christmas Show & Sale.

The one on the left, entitled "The Lost Chord" from the sheet music in the background, has already sold. So it's been replace by the one on the right, entitled "Autumn in Pennsylvania." Had a lot of fun doing these. I've not done collages in the past, so it was a happy experiment that I enjoyed doing. I printed some of my photos on sheer organza prepared for inkjet printers. Then cut them apart and rearranged them with natural object, art, and papers. So much fun. A new medium to explore!!!

My other framed entry is a watercolor with graphite of one of the great-grands. I call this one "Stars & Stripes" - alternately, "Save the Children."

And I'm somehow revived during the cold, dark season....probably because I've just received my orders of another new medium: Pan Pastels!

Check out Pan Pastels on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pan+pastels+techniques

I'm participating in an upcoming exhibit honoring women in our community. Each woman is having her portrait done by one of our Bellefonte Art Museum member artists. I need to complete the portrait within the next month - for many reasons! Mostly so it can be framed for the special exhibit in March 2020 at the Museum. Also, because Frank will be having a total reverse shoulder replacement at the end of this month, so I'll be a tad busy after that!

So I'll be experimenting with pan pastels for the next week or so until I feel a tad confident that I can do a great portrait of a wonderful woman in our community, to be honored in March! Wish me luck!!!

As Autumn Departs, Celebrating It's Beauty

Autumn in central Pennsylvania is often colorful and exquisitely beautiful. This year, due to differing weather patterns, it was delayed, subdued, and only briefly very colorful. But I went out to enjoy it while it lasted! Hope you enjoyed it as well.

There's a lovely farm not far from our home where they raise Belgian horses. The farmhouse is a stone building and the barn is dated 1822. It's name: Oak Hall Farm, in the tiny town of Oak Hall.

Also in Oak Hall is a mini park entitled the Oak Hall Parklet. It's a wonderful little resting place between shopping for groceries and running other errands.

And it has a mini book exchange box, too!!!

Taking a small back road entitled Barn Road, I saw a newly mown corn field with a flock of wild turkeys dining on corn kernels.

Hope you enjoyed a brief respite from the days worries by reliving Autumn's Glory!