dahalia 11

I'll bet you thought I wasn't working on this anymore! Well it HAS been somewhat intermittent lately but, still plugging along. Getting really close to finishing now. In the process of burnishing in some Tuscan Red, then to re-insert the darkest shadows, then done. I think. I'm never really sure until I let it stand in several different rooms for several days!

dahlia 10

back from the christmas hiatus. I'm begining to get excited now since the color is begining to pop. I have decided to go ahead with the colorless blender when all is pigmented. I will have to experiment some with the wax bloom issue but everything I've been reading lately makes it seem manageable, so we'll see. Some sections really will not take any more pigment on the left so I'm moving gradually into the right and center petals. I hope I'm going to like the overall color when it's done! It will look a lot sharper after I get it scanned into the computer at my framers.

dahlia 9

Beginning to bring up some of the dark reds even though the pencil color I REALLY want is currently out of stock. BUT... I discovered the prismacolor web site and have uploaded some art work there. Oh my gosh, I've already had some feed back from it, huh. It's coming along very well even thought it is going to be a very slow process.

dahlia 8

WELL! Just when things were starting to ZOOM along I've run out of the two pencils I need the most and EERRGGHH! They are out of stock! Forced vacation begins today!

dahlia 7

Whew, I totally miscalculated how many pencils I would go through to complete this painting! I'm already working down to the absolute nubs of the ones I have. I'll be making an order to Cheap Joes Art Stuff this week. If you've never tried Cheap Joe I heartily suggest you do. It would be nice if there was some place in driving distance that carried open stock Prismcolor of Faber Castell pencils. Actually, Michael's does but, only a very limited selection. Anyway, the painting is 22x30" and I'm going through a pencil about every 5 square inches. It will get better as the pigment layers up thicker but, right now that ole pencil sharpener just keeps grindin' away!

dahlia 6

ok, I'm reaching the "ugly" stage. I always feel like every painting goes through an "ugly" stage. Sometimes it lasts a long time! Still working my way around one petal at a time but, going back to add some colors before I move to the next. I started some indigo blue tonight. Can you tell where? I also met with DeeDee to do some up-dating on this web site today so there will be some additional images in the next month or so. Had a wonderful first class with a tutorial student today as well. She has some real talent and was great fun. Yup, things going ok.

dahlia 5

I'm really enjoying working on this piece even though it's really going to take a long time. So far: first wash, dark umber,

2nd black cherry. Now I'm breaking down into working on smaller sections so the upper left corner is all I'm working on right now. There I have used process red, dahlia purple, dark green, and crimson lake. I'm a little concerned about developing some wax bloom with so many layers and so many yet to come. Every piece is an experiment of some sorts so I'll be deciding if I want to go with a solvent or a fixative spray.