Granny for Mother's Day

I was asked to do this portrait as a gift for Mother's day.  It is 11 x 14, done in
colored pencil.  The wrinkles are very interesting...much easier to
draw in fact than smooth skin.  I am using Polychromos pencils
on Fabriano watercolor paper.  It has a great smooth surface, and holds
the pencil well.

Second day...a little more progress.  There is not really a flesh
color; I have to mix colors to achieve it.  I
am using a gold underneath, then some peach color,
some rose pink, and some unber for the darks.  I
will continue to add color and detail as I go.

sheltongail@hotmail.

Tom Peyton Memorial Art Show

A photograph at the Tom Peyton show...I thought
this was from a foreign country.  Actually, the artist
said they posed this in the backyard, and set off a smoke
thing...ha!  Great job

This piece is by Nippy Blair.  He does these Cajun compilations
with a story behind each one.

This is my friend, JoAnne Thompson, who recently
had a solo show in my gallery.  Great smile!!

This is during the awards presentation.  This was the 50th anniversary of
this show!  The man in the foreground in the blue shirt was my
Biology teacher at NSU.  Now he makes pine straw baskets!  You
can't make this stuff up!!

Me and my "Basket of Blues"

Me and "Street Music" watercolor.  That tiny red dot means that
it is SOLD!!  yea!!

This is by Judi Betts, from Baton Rouge.  I love the way
she does watercolor.  She is very well known, and a great painter.

Had a good time at the reception.  It is a lovely venue,
and there was a wide variety of art represented.  The overall
winner was a photograph, the first in the show's history.
It was a photo of a blacksmith's hands making something.
Interesting...

sheltongail@hotmail.com

A Family Affair

I had to deliver some art to a show today in Alexandria, LA,
and this pond is on the way home.  I had put my rubber boots
and camera in the car, hoping the birds were still nesting
there.  I found only a few.  Our recent floods likely washed
away a lot of the nests and young birds.  There were only 4 nests,
and 15 birds.  There are usually 200 birds nesting here.  They do
respond to the weather when it is strange.  I remember when we
had a hurricane several years ago, you couldn't find an egret nest
in any of their usual rookeries.  I believe they went west to Texas,
and nested there.  They did return eventually.  So hopefully,
next spring, there will be more nesting birds here.  In the meantime,
you can enjoy peeking in on these growing families, and
their fuzzy young.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Eye on the Sparrow

Started a new drawing today.  I took the photo out in
Texas..it's some old farm equipment.  I thought it needed a
bird..so I added the sparrow for one of my other photos.  There is
a lot left to do...lots of different textures: rusty metal, weathered
wood, metal bolts and springs, background foliage.
It should be fun!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Show Time: Tom Peyton Memorial Art show

Received word that these two pieces made it into the Tom Peyton
Juried art show in Alexandria, Louisiana.  The show is in April,
and I have to mat and frame these, and then hand deliver them
to the show.

"Basket of Blues" is colored pencil on watercolor paper, from a
photograph I actually took in NYC down in Chinatown.  They were
selling them in the market, and they were still alive.  They were
waving their claws, and hissing like they do.  Very fierce....
I knew I wanted to draw it.  The original photo is much larger, and I
cropped it to the long format.

The street musician, "Street Sounds" was in New Orleans. She had
an entire band with her, and she was wailing away on that
clarinet...all the blues and jazz you can imagine.  It was hot,
of course, and the steamy music added to the warm, sticky,
afternoon.  I loved the lighting in the photo, and decided to
do it all in warm yellow tones with purple accents...some
popular Louisiana colors!

Both pieces are for sale.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

"Flower Child"

"Flower Child"  Polychromos and Prismacolor colored pencils on
Fabriano watercolor paper from my photo.

When I was in high school, I really thought I could draw.  Our art
classes were made up of 30 students or so, and I was one of the more
talented ones in the bunch.  A lot of students took Art because they
thought it would be an easy A.  When I went to college, however, I
had to take Life Drawing 101 with Mr. Buscaglia, who was known to
be a tough teacher.  He expected perfection and excellence, but in a quiet
humble way.  He never raised his voice, but would simply walk around the
room, and point to an area on your drawing, and nod.  That meant that area
needed more work.  Many times I thought I was finished, and he would
indicate I was just getting started.  He pushed all of us, and helped make
me the artist I am today.

According to him though, "a drawing was never finished, only postponed".
He always said you could come back to it, even years later and re-work
something.  I still hear his voice in my head as I draw...the basics
about line, lost edges, shading, etc, still rattle around as I draw.  So, I have
worked on this enough to make him proud.  I have spent hours
shading, re-doing, adding values, erasing, etc...and now, I
think I am finished!  At least until tomorrow....


For info on children's portraits in colored pencil or graphite:
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Clara in Color

I always like to enter the CPSA annual juried show each spring.
I have a couple of things I can enter...it has to be 100% colored pencil,
and less than 2 years old. But I would like to
have a new piece to enter if possible.
 I have been wanting to draw this photo of
Clara ever since I took it.  So, I started on the flowers (the easiest part!).
Hopefully I can finish before the end of March's deadline...
it should at least be fun!
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Audubon Zoo   New Orleans

Got to take my grandchildren to the zoo this past weekend.  It is one
of my favorite places. They are known for their bird collections, and birds
are one of my favorite subjects for artwork.  Took a few pics in between
chasing an adorable 2 yr old around.  Our favorite animals were the
giraffes.  They were not out in their enclosure (they told us if it is muddy,
they don't let them out because they might slip and break a leg). They
were in their barn, and we got to see them up CLOSE...really CLOSE!
And they are huge!!  They were right on the other side of a  wire
fence...we could experience them from the ground level, and appreciate
their height!  In fact, the large males had to duck to come inside the door...
amazing!! (no pics...it was dark, and too close up for my big lens...!)

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Selling in the South

These are three more little mixed media watercolors that I finished
and took down to Breaux Bridge.  I took 25 pieces down there over the
weekend, and they wanted 22 of them!  They were very impressed, and thought
they would be able to sell them easily.  I hope they are right!.  

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Painted Birds in the Swamp

Still doing a few of these mixed media pieces to take down
south to a shop.  I hope she decides to keep some of these!  or I will
have a lot to sell at my own gallery!  I have had some
good feedback on these..so I am hopeful they will like them.

I am also getting a couple of my colored pencil pieces printed in Baton
Rouge: the "Let ir Bee" drawing and the "Basket of Blues" drawing of
some blue crabs.  I will pick them up on Friday, and have them
to sell at the shop as well.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

When a Plan comes Together

Still enjoying painting a few of these small watercolor/acrylic pieces.
I go through my photos of the birds and find several that I like.  Then I
try to envision what kind of background will best highlight the
bird.  I do several abstract pieces of paper, using different colors, compositions,
etc.  When I like the background, then I begin to paint the bird in
acrylic onto the watercolor paper.  Hopefully, when finished,
the plan all comes together!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Loose and Tight

Still working on these abstract, mixed media pieces.  I like doing the
fun, loose, wet backgrounds.  They happen in just a few minutes, and then
you have to wait for them to dry.  It is always neat to see how
they will turn out.  The white specs are made by sprinkling salt on
the wet paper.  It soaks up the pigment, and leaves the white areas.
Then I paint the bird over the background.  I just recently took this photo
in south Louisiana where these white pelicans spend the winters.

It is 11 x 14, and $100.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

A Few More

A few more that are headed down south to the Louisiana Marketplace.
As soon as I posted the first one (the egret in the blue background),
someone wanted it!  So it is sold already!!  Hopefully, customers down
there will be receptive to these as well....fingers crossed!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

South Louisiana Bound at the 115

This is the Louisiana Marketplace on Interstate 10 near Breaux
Bridge, Louisiana.  This unique shop carries art by 175 Louisiana
artists.  It is an eclectic mix of all kinds of paintings, sculptures, mixed media,
along with antiques, junk, and assorted collectibles.  I was here
recently, and the owner would like to have some of my work in the
shop as well.

So, here are a couple of little watercolor originals that I am taking
down there at the end of the month.  They carry a mix of realistic and more
impressionistic pieces, and they have very few watercolors, and no
colored pencil pieces. I will be taking a few colored pencil
prints and a couple of originals too.  And we'll just see how it goes!
sheltongail@hotmail.com