Monument Valley, Utah

Monument Valley is about 3 1/2 hours away from Zion National Park and such an awesome place to visit.  The colors in the sky reflected on the mountains and I really enjoyed painting this with pastels.
This will be my last painting for 2015!  It's so hard to believe that 2016 is around the corner...
such a busy time in the year for all of us.  I'm working on a pastel portrait for January!   Until then,
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR to all of my friends here on blog land! 

106 years young

I went to New Jersey today to visit with my Aunt and we celebrated her 106th birthday!  She is such an amazing, and beautiful Lady who now is looking forward to her 107th birthday!   This Friday the Mayor of her town will be visiting her and  I understand the media will be there as well!  She is a Phillies fan and always wanted to meet one of the players...  Hey!  you never know... lol   I love you Esperanza!!!

A proud Marine

Joey is  a proud Marine and here he stands in his dress uniform.  As Veterans Day approaches, it seemed like an excellent time to honor those who have served.  I painted this portrait of Joey in pastel wearing full uniform awhile ago but never posted it..I'm so proud of my cousin's son!  I have quite a few family members who have served our Country and this is the perfect time to  thank them for their dedication and service.   I would also like to thank all the other service men and women...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

Cades Cove, Tennessee

There is so many things to see in the Smokey's... Cades Cove is a place where everyone should visit.  It's an 11 mile one way loop road that circles around the Cove.  I saw a black bear and some turkeys.. sometimes you can view coyotes and other wildlife.  The bears are very active in the park right now, so I'm very happy to be home!!!  But there's so many horses and I was able to get many great reference photos.  This horse is a work horse...so beautiful and very big.  I did a monochromatic painting and I'd like to paint a series of my horses this way from reference photos all over the country.
I haven't been painting for a few weeks because I had an annoying floater in my eye that looked like a spider in front of my vision!  First my hand now my eye !!??  It seemed to have gone away and I'm hoping it doesn't come back again... although I understand that it never really goes away!!!

Early morning cruising

I was on my way to Fire Island and took the reference photo of this sailboat for this pastel painting.   You can see the background clearly but I chose to blur it out.  I loved the light hitting the boat and how it reflected in the water. 

Still Life - Hydrangeas

I don't paint flowers but I had so much fun painting these Hydrangeas.   I picked a few from my garden and put it in this old vase that I found many years back and made a bouquet for this painting.  I used Rembrandt pastels and used Unisom pastels as well since they are so vibrant in color.  Unfortunately you really can't see it in this photo.  I think I got carried away and added too many flowers for the size of the vase!!!   What was I thinking?   I couldn't even put water in the vase.. lol   

JACK

Jack is an Artist from my Friday art group who was nice enough to pose for this reference picture.  I haven't worked in pastels for many weeks because of my hand but I'm feeling so much better since I've been resting it.  My Orthopedist feels that it is nerves coming from my neck or shoulders that is creating the problem.  Thank you all for your comments!
But more important!!! www.wallpart.com is stealing our work off the internet and selling them as posters!   This really needs to go viral so we can stop them.  I know, because I found my work there when I typed my name.
Some of the Artists in the Pastel Society believe that they want you to order a poster of your work.  Once you put the order through, they can get into your computer.  Very scary people out there.  So sign the petition....I already did!
The link is
http://www.change.org/p/remove-wallpart-com-stealing-people-s-work-without-permission
and feel free to share the link with other artists....   I will be visiting all of you soon!!  I look forward to catching up!!

AMY

Amy just passed away a few days ago at the age of 4 and my daughter wanted me to paint a portrait of her so she can present it to her friend who is mourning this beautiful golden retriever.
I will be taking a break from painting, and blogging for a month or so because I have a bad case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which is so incredibly painful and it gets worse when I type or even paint!   It's very upsetting because we don't realize how much we use our hands until the moment we "can't".  Wearing a brace helps a little bit...any input is appreciated.  I'm typing with my left hand right now..(not easy)  Thank you so much for your comments.
I'll be back soon.

Rembrandt Study

This is my first portrait in oils.  And what a challenge it was!
I don't know how you all paint with oils! lol...I had so many problems mixing colors.  I decided to paint a self-portrait of one of my favorite Artist - Rembrandt.  As you know, he painted so many self-portraits and since I love his style I used this as a study for my next oil portrait.   The title is "Self portrait with a Gorget".   I was curious to know what a Gorget was....it's the Armor that protects the throat and shoulders.   I learn something every day!

In Thought

When I went to Manhattan a few months back, this man was sitting on a bench enjoying the weather.  I always wonder what they're thinking about ...so I just took his photo because he had "that face" that needed to be painted.  Lately I haven't been in the mood to paint but once I put those pastels in my hands...the desire to paint takes over!!... I hope you like it.
Now I'm on the watch for my next subject.

ABANDONED

I'm working on a pastel portrait but in between I painted this barn from West Virginia.  I have so many reference photos of barns across this beautiful Country of ours that I can probably publish a book..  I used a palette knife for this painting except for the sky.  I still need to work on that... Barns was always a favorite subject for me and using the palette knife was a wonderful practice.

Papi

This is a portrait of my Papi.  I painted a portrait of him before but I loved the reference photo that I found when cleaning up.  He was ready to go out to a dinner when  I took this photo.  I thought it was the perfect time to post it since he was born in March.   When my daughter saw this portrait she wanted it...so I knew she must have loved it...
I miss this man everyday that passes!!

LISA

Lisa was a model in one of my classes... I don't like to paint portraits in class so I took the reference picture of  Lisa and worked on her at home.  In class I just paint the model for practice since I have problems working on live models.  She was the perfect model with beautiful features.  I finished this portrait a few weeks ago but I've been so busy visiting everyone who was doing the challenge that I didn't get a chance to post it!   Everyone did so well and it amazes me when someone does a painting a day!!! Congratulations to all!

Sounds of Nature

I'm not a landscape Artist but I sure had fun painting this pastel.  The reference picture was taken in W.Virginia..
Unfortunately I don't remember exactly where but I do remember how beautiful it was..  The perfect place to be when you wanted to sit and enjoy God's Country.. listening to the sounds of the birds and waterfalls.  I loved seeing the moss all over the rocks.  Wonderful colors everywhere you look.   Right now I'm working on a portrait but I thought I would post this painting.  Since I wanted to achieve texture on the rocks, I painted this on sanded paper.   I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday.