bodner015

I have just recently begun to reuse pastels and oil pastels at that.  I like the way they blend and the vibrancy of their colours.  The immediacy of the blending is both exciting and a challenge.  Now, while out looking for illustration board with a rough surface, I found a store with some Sennelier oil pastels.  I had been working with another artist's set but not a professional one like Sennelier.  There is a difference. With the artist's set I can lay down colour -even under colour- and blend easily.  They seem more waxy when I handle them. Here are the 24 Sennelier oil pastels I bought,  I put them into my own wooden box for easier transport. "In 1949, Parisian painter Henri GOETZ approached Henri SENNELIER the famous artist materials manufacturer, about creating a wax colour stick for his friend Pablo PICASSO. Picasso, a long-time Sennelier customer and a frequent visitor to their store across the street from the Louvre museum, was looking for a m...

Mannie had been off to a workshop  on "Quilted Manhole Covers."  She trucked fabric, materials and her Brother sewing machine to the workshop to set up, receive instruction and sew. So far, so good.  But, she has not made a decision about how to finish it. the fish were stamped onto fabric and cut out to be applied.

With each new small oil pastel, I am learning a lot about the medium and techniques .

Mannie added a deer horn to one of her coil baskets.  The white on white is quite something.  The deer in our area have full run of the roads, lawns and woods.  I remember when we first moved here that a deer ran into our van and totalled it out. The deer had crumbled the entire driver's side of the van.  We are very aware of the deer in the area -and the coyotes and wolves and foxes and... Regardless of my meandering, Mannie had found deer antlers and added one to this coiled basket. Don't ask me why the colour in these photos is so different -this is what I got.  The flash seems to have altered things.

I had found these trees on highway 109 when we first moved to this area.  Because these trees look like they're dancing I have labelled them conga trees (conga line dancing).  I painted them and the painting had been used in art show ads.  (I still have the painting.)  I keep going back to them -they seem to be an anthem for me. And so I have used oil pastels to make this 5" x 7" painting.  The size of the work continues to be difficult when using the broad tipped pastel sticks.  I also used my new Sennelier oil pastels that are more creamy and more difficult to blend.  But, the colours are richer.

Mannie has been creating fabric art objects everyday for the longest time in order to fulfil her obligations for the shows she has committed to this fall and winter (6, I think, September to December.) While I worked away at another oil pastel, Mannie catalogued, sorted by show, and made sales tags for each item. I happened to walk through the studio with a camera and voila, snapshots of Mannie at work.  And, photos of some of the work she has prepared to send out. Good grief!! Coil basquets filling one table. Books and boxes filling another table. Mannie at work in her work area. (Note the well organized shelves.)

Yesterday I completed a small 5" x 7"oil pastel of nearby canola fields.  These small landscapes are giving me fits as I try to paint with large tipped oil pastels.  And, I find it hard to determine the nature of the scene -what I am trying to say.  I need to work on that.

An Oil Pastel landscape done today.  I found some time amongst the inventory compilations for upcoming shows to complete another 5" x7" landscape in my new oil pastels.  The sun had been shining on the nearby wheat fields  and with the purple clouds floating above, the scene was begging to be painted.

Mannie and I were juried into the Wellington Artists Gallery and Art Centre.  For the first time 4 fabric artists made the show.  This show has been going for 3 years and Mannie and I have been juried in each year.  The first year I got a 2nd place in the painting category and this year I received the 1st place prize for my "Copse Cathedral" -truly a surprise. This weekend has been busy setting up for the OAG Show, then off to the reception at the Wellington, and then back to the OAG for the rest of the weekend.

Over the past few days, Mannie and I have been putting the finishing touches on our art work to prepare for setting up for today's and tomorrow's Orangeville Art Group's Annual 45th Art Show and Sale at the Tony Rose Arena in Orangeville, Ontario. Much of what has been posted here is displayed at the show.