While she is sleeping...

I should have titled this blog "While the baby is sleeping," since that seems to be the only time I can work on it...

"Sleeping Baby," 8 1/2 x 11, China Pencil on Paper





After taking a bunch of pictures of completed artwork, I decided that this one is my favorite as of right now:



(Palm Springs Trees, 15 x 20 Mixed Media on Paper)


When I first started taking "real" art classes at UCR extension, I began with pastel. After a year or so, I took an illustration class. The instructor encouraged me to try mixing pastel with water or (gasp) paint, and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. In 2008, I took a more experimental art class, where we were encouraged to just play with different media. Now my kitchen is a mess of jars, sand, paint, pastels, tissue paper, and even some dried out cactus veins.

My most recent "comfort zone" in painting is to make a strong acrylic underpainting and top it off with pastel. The picture above is an example of the result. You can feel the acrylic ridges if you touch it, although you'll end up with a fingerful of pastel if you do.


Is fingerful a word?


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