My Sketchbook- ideas for my next piece

I sketch in pen and watercolors...I've been thinking about my next pastel piece for a month now...now I'm anxious to get to it <;0)

One of my fav. artist- Hung Liu

Artist Hung Liu's website.

I have attended her lecture in San Jose years back, when I was finishing a series of collage work in acrylic using digitized photographs. And it so happens that I saw many of my directions in her body of work.
I still feel inspired by her paintings and pieces of it will flow over into my pastel work.
She works primarily in large scale oil painting. She has a permanent piece hanging currently at the San Jose Museum of Art.
If you have a moment, you should read about her background and how she create art in China, during the lates 1940's under the Maoist regime. It's quite interesting and fascinating.

"Goldfish Luck" March 2012

Just finished this piece this week. It is mixed media with acrylic paints and some photo collage.

I'm finding that I'm getting inspired by combining nature with my new surroundings and mixing it with my cultural background.

My first pastel piece: Pelican

I had taken my camera, not my phone camera, outside and saw some pelican's flying by and quickly took this shot.
I really like how the moon is shown above, and just the simple composition of this piece.

Quick sketch in charcoal

and a little bit of pastel on newsprint paper.
Composition study for my next piece <;0) White egret with "Moss Landing" in the background. This isn't a depiction of reality, just a combination of visual things that I gravitate towards.

My Pastel Class (fyi)

The Santa Cruz Art League
This is where I started learning about Pastel.
The Art League also have wonderful art classes there ranging from watercolor, acrylics to mixed media. Check out their class list.
Also friend, past co-worker, and instructor, Wayne Jiang teaches the weekend acrylic class,"Paint like the old Dutch Masters with Acrylic", check that out as well.
My instructor (sensei) Joan Hellenthal artist and awesome teacher. Will teach you everything you ever need to know about pastels. I go there to get inspired and to learn from her students who are talented artists in their own right <;0).

Halloween characters in Oil pastels

I made them into Halloween greeting cards for friends/family.

My new Mixed media with Pastels

My theme on Koi fish and their quiet yet strong spirit.
According to Japanese legend it is associated with perseverance in adversity and strength of purpose.
Because of it's strength and determination to overcome obstacles, it stand for courage and the ability to attain high goals.

I'm starting to tap into my Japanese influences into my new set of work.
I'm trying to add acrylic paints into my drawings, because in the past I had worked in acrylic and I just miss it...so why not try to incorporate it with pastel.

Pokemon characters in Oil Pastels

My son's favorite "Pokemon" characters on brown paper bags using oil pastels.

Quick charcoal and pastel sketch

Wild Poppies that I saw on the cliff overlooking

the ocean...

Three Palm Trees

I drew this because these three trees will be removed, due to the California Coastal Commission to remove any vegetation that isn't indigenous to the coast lines. I think it's rather stupid. It looks so good there and because due to some stupid person's ruling, we have to use our tax paying money to remove these!
Anyways, that's another topic...drawing is done on newsprint.
Hmpf>;0(

Study in still life- Pomegranate

Drawing is done on all black paper. I don't remember the name, but it was a kind offering from a classmate <;0)

Still life- fruit studies

Persimmons and Pears.

Large Jellyfish

This drawing is from a photo I took while visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Two Pears and a Red Maple Leaf

This drawing is from a still life while in Pastel Class.

Pelican head.

This is a close up shot of a pelican bird while in flight.

Holbein and Sennelier Half Stick sets

I like the smooth feeling of the Holbein, but I think one large drawing will eat up the pastel set.

*Correction: after drawing with the Holbein set, it isn't as smooth as originally thought. Bummers. I think it applies a bit harder...oh well will still use it.

Links to Pastels materials

Here's what I've discovered so far for obtaining some pastels:

Utretch Art Supplies

Bought my Sennelier 80 half stick set at Cheap Joe's

Other site to check out:
Blick Art
Dakota Pastels
Jerry's Artarama

Here's where I shop...they don't really have an online shopping cart service setup on their site.
They are more like a hands-on and walk in store. Like the ol'days before online.
Staff is really helpful and they have the best selection and stock for serious artist.
I mean, you gotta know what you want and doing when you step in. The best drawing supplies I came across.
Lentz Art Store

My Little Pastel Collection...so far

Like I said, I just started into Pastels, and so far I'm hooked.
(For the record: I am not an expert in Pastels in anyway shape or form!!! I am a total beginner, and the pics I am posting are things that I am learning while in Class and as I going through the process.)

However, I don't like to initially spend money on materials I don't quite understand yet. Well actually, I wanted to be very conservative with spending money on materials, just in case it turns out something that I didn't want to pursue.
A set of pastels, depending on brand and quantity in color range can cost anywhere from $7.00 to $1,850.00...and that's on sale!
I had kept my very old pastel set from high school and they still work. Pastel (good pastels) are pure pigments, so it will last as long as any oil or acrylic painting. NO, I don't have one of those nice wooden palette set...just yet. Maybe if I sell a few of my drawings I can use that for a set. Anyways, here's a breakdown of what I have been using...see photo and note below <;0)

a) Rembrandt 30 half pastels. The box says "soft" they are not soft..at least when you compare to high end brands
b) Creatacolor 12 pencil set- use for details or small drawings, sharpen with a manual pencil sharpener, don't use an electric one!
c) Reeves 32 half sticks set-really yields tons of powder...(cough, cough) because it's cheap pastel sticks
d) Sennelier Fixative for Pastel and Oil Pastels- Ugh, luckily I've tested a swatch. It makes the beauty and raw strokes of pastel drip and combine together. Changes the look of your drawing. Unless you want a certain effect, and it does work, your pastels won't blow or smudge away...BUT takes away that freshness that I love about this medium
e) Weber Costello 12 Square Pastels- I think this is over 30-45 years old! But still holds up and the quality isn't as cheap as the Reeves
f) Holbein Artist's Pastels 36 set- Now this is the bit on the higher medium price range. The quality of these soft pastels are very creamy, however I did not know that these were to be sold in half sticks. In fact the half sticks are tiny! These were a Holiday gift so I am forever grateful, but was bummed that the sticks were so small, even in for half sticks
g) Sennelier 80 half sticks, Plein Air set- Now, this set are 80 half sticks and isn't so tiny compared to the Holbein set. This is the set I mainly work off of. This so far is my absolute fav! (will post a pic of the content later) These are really awesome, they go on creamy and the colors are so rich. I originally thought, "landscape set", oh no...I don't do well in landscape, BUT the color range is so good, that you can do tons of subject matter then just landscape. If you run out of a stick, you order these pastel individually online, or I just make a trip to our local art store and they stock majority of the colors....so no worries there <;0)
Price range is on the medium-high. This set with shipping is $89.95.
h) Derwent 24 Pastel Pencil set- Another Holiday gift that I am forever grateful. Good color range for whatever subject matter. However, this pencil is thicker then your standard No.2 pencil or other color pencils and so now I have to order or find a pencil sharpener that will fit with this set. I guess I'm suppose to sharpen these with a razor???
i and j) Soft brush for fixing, smudges or any additional effects. I use my old watercolor brush, because the hairs are really soft. Disposable gloves. You don't want to work with pastels with your bar hands. The colors will get stuck and takes forever to wash out even with soap and water. Plus, it tends to really dry out my skin.

Quick landscape sketch of

New view just outside our home.
Was done really quick on a sketch pad.

Seahorse

Cool seahorse at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My son loves this piece <;0)
On Canson paper

A New Town, New Life, New Directions in my Art

We lived or rather moved from a typical busy Silicon Valley life to a local Beach town community.
So I've decided to get back into some basic drawings. I have spent my entire career working on designs using computers and such. I also felt I have lost the feeling of using my own hands to draw. So...I've just started my new personal exploration into Pastels.
With much help from the wonderful pastel classes at the Santa Cruz Art League...and my instructor <;0), I find that using pastels allows alot of freedom then I originally thought. True, it is a fragile dry medium, but the textures and colors are absolutely more vibrant then the dictionary definition of what "pastel" is.
So now, I shall begin my humble posting of my journey into this new medium that I've just started working on. Everything is, of course, alot of work-in-progress, and I make mistake and learn as I go along. I will be my own worst critic but my goal is eventually have a body of work that expresses my background and personal expressions. I will start this blog with posting the basics of my drawings on newsprint, still life and simple landscapes. But as time permits, hopefully I will start some sort of composition that is Neither landscape or still lives but something totally different then what I have been seeing being done with pastels....which are still life and landscapes. Totally nothing wrong with those subject matters, in fact what I've seen, are really impressive. It is just that there are tons of great artist painting those subjects and I just like to do something different.
Plus, I totally suck at drawing landscapes and still life. (this is just being honest, not being super critical of myself).