Pyrography

I've been experimenting with woodburning for awhile and feel I am really getting the hang of it now.  These are the latest two .  I don't know how well respected pyrography is in the art world, but I guess I really don't care.

Pastel Rejuvenated

I painted this scene as a watercolor many years ago and it was kind of a dud.  I kept it anyway, most likely thinking I would use the other side of the paper.  Yesterday I saw it crumpled in a corner and decided to put pastel on it.  Of course the whole thing is different, but who is to know?  The house was torn down, as well as the dead trees.  I was free to invent the landscape...I did what I do best with pastel....fields and rocks.  I also cut the thing down to about a third its size.  Originally I was so impressed by the size of the dead trees that they took up more than half the painting.  This time composition overwhelmed that desire.  I like the resulting work.

Pyrography

Talking with my old friend Elizabeth inspired me to use wildlife as subject matter.  Since paper is hard to come by I decided to return to my pyrography.  After exploring the medium on the internet, I felt inspired to really work hard to improve my work.  I am very happy with these two.  I have learned that the quality of the wood makes a very big difference and plan to buy some birch plywood from the art supply catalog.  I'm not sure how this medium is thought of in the art world, but certainly that makes little difference to me.  Since I like to draw, this is a good medium for me.  There are many examples of beautiful work on the computer.

Version 2

I couldn't stop working on the pastel, and now I'm happy with it.  I tlooks like Michelle.

Pastel

I got out my pastels this morning.......I had the urge to draw.  This is a portrait of my cousin, Michelle (with her violin in case you can't tell what that is).  I think it is a fine portrait of someone, perhaps a combination of Michelle and me.  We do have half our genes in common.  I must have unknowingly seen those St. Germain genes elbowing out the Nosco genes.  I'll try again with paint.  It is much more forgiving and I can work until it's right.

Here's boB

This is one of the shelter horses, boB.  I can't keep from laughing at his name, designed by the shelter manager to hide his whereabouts by writing it backwards.  I painted it to sell at the 4th of July benefit yard sale and left it at the shelter yesterday when no one was there.  I hope somebody found it.

Three Watercolors

I've posted these paintings on my other blog, but I want to put them here, too.  I'm hoping to get a good representation of my work in one place.  These three are scenes here in Eastport.  The top is the back of my house as seen from Diana's deck.  The middle is Wilson St., where I lived in the first house on the left for a couple of years.  The bottom is looking down a dead end street near Wilson St. where I used to walk the dogs.  I've painted it looking in the other direction, too.  I will try to find it.  One thing about selling so few paintings is that I have a huge collection of my own work. It seems almost ridiculous to hoard all that stuff. But I feel better about it knowing that my beloved teacher Betty Lou Schlemm has amassed somewhere around 500 paintings which she is exhibiting in Rockport (Massachusetts) right now.  The proceeds from the show will benefit the local animal shelter and a cancer treatment facility where she has done several free demonstrations.  Mine will not have such a noble end.