Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Sophia in Summer


Feeling the need for some warmth, I looked through some photos I took last summer, and found the inspiration for this little portrait. The day was not warm... it was HOT. Over 100 degrees. In the shade. My niece, Sophia, my two sisters and I spent a wonderful, yet sweltering, day together at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania in mid-July. Just thinking about it makes me feel all happy and toasty!

5"x7", Prismacolor and Coloursoft pencils, on Ampersand Pastelbord

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sophia & Josh


After finishing a half dozen pieces with Prismacolor pencils on the Ampersand Pastelbord, I was still undecided about continuing to use the boards. The process of matting these pieces for framing makes me a bit nervous, because of their weight and thickness. I haven't been able to find any guidelines for the best way of doing this, so I've resorted to what I would have to call a "Mickey Mouse" method, which involves lots of framer's tape and odd bits of matboard for support... an untidy mess hidden on the back side of the artwork and mat. If anyone has a good system for securely matting these boards, I would love to learn about it!

Anyway, I wanted to do this portrait of my niece and nephew together, but did not have a Pastelbord large enough on hand. I used a toned sheet of Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper instead, and, while I'm pleased with the result, I really missed the toothy surface and the sturdiness of the board.

Materials aside, with this wonderful pair as my subjects, I have no complaints!


9"x12", Prismacolor pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes pastel paper