Caran D'Ache Neopastel & Neocolor II

Caran D'Ache Neopastel (oil pastel) set of 12 colors on Bristol Vellum rough paper

Caran D'Ache watersoluble wax oil pastel on Bristol Vellum rough paper 
These are the four colors I used on "Caran D'Ache Neocolor II" and "Four Corners" posted in June.

Color Charts

Color charts are very helpful.  I used to do charts for each set of paints - acrylic, oil, watercolor, etc.   Then I would protect them with archival jackets and hang them up for reference.  whenever I get a new set I start a new chart.  Here is an example of an acrylic on canva chart I put together some years ago.

 

Artists on color

"I fell in love with black; it contained all color. It wasn't a negation of color... Black is the most aristocratic color of all... You can be quiet, and it contains the whole thing."   
Louise Nevelson

“Indigo with terra sienna, Prussian blue with burnt sienna, really give much deeper tones than pure black itself. When I hear people say ‘there is no black in nature’, I sometimes think, ‘There is no real black in colors either’. However, you must beware of falling into the error of thinking that the colorists do not use black, for of course as soon as an element of blue, red, or yellow is mixed with black, it becomes a gray, namely, a dark, reddish, yellowish, or bluish gray.”
Vincent van Gogh 

"Seek the strongest color effect possible... the content is of no importance."
Henri Matisse

New Blooms

Just as I thought the blooming season for this Gardenia is over, a few new blooms came.  A light fragrance fill the entry way again, what a nice surprise!

More colors

"Suspended II"  Acrylic on canvas

Colors

Finished "Butterfly Ring".  Soft colored pencils on paper.  9" x 9".   It was a fun project and very relaxing. I like that inner negative shape created by the colorful butterflies.

Butterfly Designs

Butterfly pattern 0819 (colored pencil on paper, computer graphic)

Hidden Path II

Acrylic on paper

Morning Exercise

Another day without morning exercises.  Felt like just working on another couple of oil pastels on canvas.  This time I am working on a composition with mostly white.  Getting quite interesting.  Will probably take another couple of sessions before they are completed.

Another Day

Today I return to two oil pastels started a couple of months ago, one of them is almost finished and the other one is half way.  Since they are of the same subject, I am using the same set of colors and work on both at the same time.  Hoping to finish them this weekend.

Morning exercises

..... to start the day

Gladiolus

This is pastel pencil on gessoed matboard.  I used a medium textured roller to apply the gesso.  The texture was a little rougher than the Ampersand Pastelbord, therefore the result is not as smooth and fine, but it handled multiple layers well.

Reminiscence

Detail of an old etching

Brings back good memory of when my first etching was created.  Enjoyed the feel of moving the needle over the hard etching ground on the plate and the various drawing/etching states to build the composition.  It was exciting to see the etched images on paper from each state of the process. 

Retreat

Took a few days off from the blog.  Working on some larger scale colored pencil pieces and got caught up in them, hoping to finish them soon.

Power of Observation

"Cultivate an ever-continuous power of observation. Wherever you are, be always ready to make slight notes of postures, groups and incidents."
John Singer Sargent

From the Master

"You can't do sketches enough.  Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh."  
John Singer Sargent

After The Rain