Cat on a Hot Color Palette

                                                  
"Cat Pose 1"
5 x 8 in
Chalk pastel and watercolor on paper
Click here to view Etsy listing
"Cat Pose 2"
5 x 8 in
Chalk and watercolor on paper
Click here to view Etsy listing

Another heat wave in San Diego county... at this point, I've accepted the fact that I'm going to be hot and miserable until my second child arrives.  So, in between painting sessions on a bigger acrylic piece, I took the time to play with some hot colors and loose cat figures.  We have a couple of cats who are quite, ahem, large, and when they pose I like to take pictures of their forms for later exercises.
 
 


I don't use this color scheme often, but I always like it in other artists' works.  There were originally four pieces, but two were duds so I decided to toss them.  It was just a play session, so having a couple of decent mini-paintings come out was nice.  Actually, to have anything artistic to show after these last eight months or so is a pleasant surprise, since in addition to physical discomfort I've had a lot of trouble tapping into right brain mode.  I'm sure it has to do with all the hormone changes, and hope that annoying symptom will go away too in the next few months. 



Knowing when to toss a painting is hard, because as an artist, it's always tempting to find something to change in order to save it.  One clear sign I need to put something into the fail pile is when the materials no longer support the intention of the piece.  In this case, I wanted to have a bright background with soft, smeared pastel on the watercolor.  In the two failures (which were of the same pose), I had done too much blending and covering, and it was starting to look like mud.  Strathmore watercolor paper isn't the toughest when it comes to chalk pastel, so I knew I had to let those attempts go.

I put most of my bright-colored animal art on Etsy, so if you like these, please check out my Etsy store:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/nikihilsabeck

For more bright colors, stop by my new "Pitchers and Pots" gallery on my fine art website:
http://www.nikihilsabeck.com/art-gallery/pitchers-and-pots/
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Painting Cats

Image
"The Bookeeper" Click here to view auction After many years of painting cats, I've learned a few things.  Every time I start a new cat painting, it follows its own unique path, bringing challenges that I don't seem to face when I paint my more traditional material (landscapes, birds, floral and botanical pieces, etc.) For example, cats don't stay put for too long (unless they're asleep, and even then they'll often stretch and change positions when you're least expecting it).  To combat this challenge, I end up working mostly from photographs.  That means adjusting the proportions, since the camera angle causes some distortion depending on the position and location of the cat. "Eye Contact" Oil Pastel Not for Sale "Side Glance" Oil Pastel Available on Etsy  One of the reasons cats are enjoyable to paint is that they have strong facial expressions.  When I'm painting a cat, I get so focused on rendering the cat
Read more

A Hot Mess of Water Lilies!

Image
"Balboa Water Lilies" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to view large or purchase So, every time I take great photos to paint later it turns into a learning experience for me. We took a little day trip in September down to Balboa Park in San Diego, California.  There wasn't much left of the water lilies after some recent vandalism (a bunch of geniuses decided to have a water gun fight and ended up destroying the lilypond).  It was a strangely hot day for downtown San Diego-- part of a series of heat waves that dogged me throughout the last months of my pregnancy.  I was thrilled to get some pretty photos while down there, particularly of the lilypads and turtles. I love to paint water, but I forget how time consuming it can be.  There are lots of layers involved, and I ended up using fixative as I layered in the lights and darks in this piece.  I also didn't anticipate how difficult it is to depict those peaceful, floating lilypads.  After a couple of
Read more

Inspired by Light (Pastels on Canvas)

Image
"Morning Glow" 12 x 16 Chalk Pastel on Flat Canvas Email nicolehilsabeck@yahoo.com if interested in purchasing Been trying to get back into the daily painting routine, which for me either means a small painting a day, or a larger painting spread over two days.  It's a bit of a challenge with the growing belly and a very inquisitive firstborn, but I was lucky enough to get a little extra inspiration from an odd source: Sunday's eclipse. We have beautiful views of the canyon and hills behind us, and I watched the light change on this hill as the sunlight waned throughout the course of the eclipse.  I noted how the normally stunning lights and shadows on this hill were blunted by the general darkening (as opposed to the usual sunrise or sunset glow).  I thought I would be a little more appreciative of those lights and darks and try a painting of the trees and hills the next morning. I completed this painting in several steps, having struggled a little recentl
Read more