Carissa
 

I have been sooooo busy with art and non-art stuff lately, had to finish this while on vacation. It's difficult carrying around 750 pieces of pastel. Worked at night under one lamp light, it was terrible, had to go out in the morning to check for color discrepancies.

It's 24x36" on Wallis mounted on board. Thanks for looking.

Another great work Jimmie!

Thanks for sharing that. Beautiful and impressive.

Beautiful Jimmie! I especially like the mood you've created with her pose and expression.

Beautiful! :thumbsup:

Jimmie,

I especially like the asymmetry and diagonal of the figure with the symmetrical background. It really works!

WOW! You keep getting better! This is gorgeous.

WOW! You DO keep getting better! I agree with Alex about the composition.

Jimmie you must have attracted a flurry of campers like moths being attracted to a camp light! It's amazing you can get this accomplished on vacation.

Garth

That's superb, Jimmie! You make me wish I had a tan...and longer hair...and was thinner...and cute... :)

You could paint or draw in a cave with no light and it would come out beautifully.

SO nice! A new level of elegance.

This is really gorgeous, Jimmie! I love the background. So delicate. I can't even imagine painting it. The composition is brilliant!

Did you do the background from an actual wall, or is it your own invention?

I love this, Jimmie. The mood and the color harmony are terrific.

I just looked at the size, that is one big pastel painting! How did you like working this big? I would really like to see this in person.

Stunning as usual Jimmie!

Thanks very much everyone, I really enjoyed myself this time. The suffering through this was completely different. Mostly involving bad lighting and planning.

I started by taking pictures in the model's home which had some outside light even though we tried our best covering it with the curtains. I used one main source of light on a stand from the left. The drawing and basic colors were laid down on paper using the Lumichrome lighting which is in the attic.

She came over to my house for a two hour sitting, strictly to work on flesh. I couldn't get the same lighting as the photo shoot, may be the space in the room, but it was close enough. Over my easel was a "color-corrective" light on a lamp, much darker than I was used to. No lighting over the pastels. During breaks, I stepped outside to check on the colors. After our session, went back upstairs and realized I needed to adjust the colors, badly.

Pressed for time, I had to take the painting and pastels with me to Virginia during vacation. The room lighting was poor enough, but got worse when I had to paint next to a table lamp with a basic 40W bulb at 4am. At least the lighting in the hallway was brighter, so I could step out there once in a while to see how I was doing.

Oops, gotta go, will finsh my thoughts later. Thanks again.

Beautiful, Jimmie. It almost has a melodic feel to it, if that makes any sense. Can we see closeups when you have the time? I admire your tenacity. I get so frustrated in poor light...

Congratulations on another really beautifully rendered work of art.

Jimmie,

Another gorgeous one. Congratulations! It is both sensuous and elegant. Glad to hear you didn't suffer over the color this time!

Thanks and explanation continued......
 

Thank you, because as simple as it is, it took a lot of thinking, planning and several sketches. I've never been one for creating backgrounds, but I'm kinda pleased with this one.

I've never taken a vacation where I didn't work. I hate the feeling of thinking that I'm wasting time.

Maybe I'll try that next, :o

I actually found inspiration during vacation. The patterns were variations of fabrics that were in the room, I just knew I wanted to use those colors. Figuring out which direction the vines would come from took some trial and error. The faded vines behind the more prominent ones was a "last minute" decision after the painting had been signed and considered done.

Really?, I didn't think it was that big, it's the biggest one I've done, but I'd like to go bigger with the pastels, sorta "Sharonesque". I need to call her and get some advice. I enjoy working bigger, just takes so long to cover the area with small pieces of pastel.

I'm going to enter it in the Allied Artists show this year, so if it gets accepted and you're back in NYC? It was the same time you were in the area last year, which is why I bring it up. Or you could just buy it? I'll give you a great deal!!!

I'll try to do that within the next few days. I get frustrated with bad lighting, tight spaces, no heat in the winter, no money for models, but.....hmm, I forgot what my point was.

Thanks again everyone.

Jimmie, I was wondering where you have been hiding.

I especially love how successfully you rendered (lack of a better word) this dark fabric, I can feel the texture!

Get a metal brief case for your pastels, it works great, especially if you save the foam inserts that come with the sticks and put those inside.

I'll be in your neck of the woods Saturday on my way to Ireland, it would be great to see you!

:) Beth

Jimmie,

Man! I hardly ever get a chance to get online over here anymore and when I do.....BAM! there you are with another superb rendering. How on earth do you get such lushish tones. Absolutely stunning! :o

~Geary

Thanks for the new replies. Kim, I'm sorry, I missed you. I had the reply page open for a few hours and you snuck in there.

I'm surprised it came as easy as it did. Even when I had to recolor because of the poor lighting, it was'nt so bad.

Is there a particular case you recommend that will hold a ton-o-color. I'm ok with the Giraults as I keep them in a nice wooden box, but the Unisons are in six separate boxes. I keep my Rembrandts in a cheap three drawer box. I did'nt take the Nupastels or Polychromos with me, and I still have some 75-80 Doaks laying around.

I'm still trying to figure that out myself. :oops:

Thanks again.

Jimmie here are a few shots of my case. I honestly can't remember what it would have been called, either an attache or lap top case. But it is a metal which is sturdy and not too heavy. It is also nicely padded.

Mercedes and Moe wanted to say hello too!

;)

Jimmie -

How do you come up with these wonderfully original compositions?
Nice work!

Compelling work, Jimmie. Good to see something new.

Thanks Beth for the pics. The box looks very small, how many pieces will that hold and what brand of pastels do you stick in there? When i stack my boxes together, it's about 2 feet tall, and that's not all of them. :o

Thanks Julie, but I really don't know. It usually just hits me after staring at for a while. I usually stay pretty simple. Design, background, and color are weak points for me.

Thanks Gary, very appreciated.

Jimmie I have never counted but I use various brands, the largest being Unison. It doesn't hold as many as you mention, but that's way too many to be traveling with anyway. I always pick a palette of what I am working on and through them in tupperware lined with a 1/2" of corn meal.

Less is more... :)

I've heard that statement plenty of times, but with my sense of color, I need as many as possible. I don't want to settle on a color becuase I don't have the right one with me.

Working on this one, I had a color in mind to use in the background, but wasn't happy with the choices I had. I waited until I got home to finish it, because I knew I had the color I wanted in the set of Doaks that I did'nt take with me, and it worked perfect (or close to perfect).

The more the merrier... :) (not people, just pastels)

Thanks again Beth!

WOW :exclamati


Jimmie, Once again, I'm speechless....

Man, You're Too good at this. I tried Pastel, didn't work out for me. I attempted a 30"X60 painting, run out of pastels half way through. Had to abandon the project because of that. LOL.That stuff is Too expensive for me at this stage. Guess I'd stick with my good old graphite for a while.

But then, your work is SOOOOOOO inspiring, perhaps I'll try again when I get a part time job.

:D

Thanks Isabel,

Too bad about the pastels, that was a pretty big project your first time out. I have'nt checked your page to see if you've posted progress there, if you haven't, I wouldn't mind seeing it, that is if you don't mind. You can e-mail me the pic, only if you want.

Thanks again.

haha.... I'm so embarrassed.

To tell you the truth, I chucked the whole piece already. I know I won't be able to complete the painting anytime soon. It'd be a pain to see such a horrible unfinished painting sitting on my easle. I can't stand it.

I'm in deep financial trouble right now due to the delay of my graduation (I failed 2 accounting subjects last samester). Have to start selling stuff on ebay. The bad news is I sold my remaining pastels last week.

Isabel, sorry about the news but keep your head up (because it just gets worse) :o

I forgot all about the closeups, so here are a few. Thanks.

......couple more.