Monday, November 28, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Blue Tests. Watercolor on hot press paper, 5 x 7 inches.
Dick Blick was running a sale awhile back and I took the opportunity to order some more blue paints. Above is the result of my experimentations with my new colors.
Previously, the only blues I had on my palette were cerulean blue and phthalo blue. I bought some M Graham cobalt blue, ultramarine blue and prussian blue. I’m not too impressed with the prussian blue though, because it seems like it’s just a darker version of phthalo blue. I really love the cobalt blue though, and I think this might be my new favorite blue.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Pears and Apple. Watercolor, 2.5 x 4.5 inches.
While organizing through my art supplies during my move, I found a number of watercolor fruit still lifes that I had completed last January as a practice exercise. I will show you all of them later on, and I’m thinking of making more because it was such good practice.
Thanksgiving is going to be really hectic for me this year, but I can’t wait for my relatives to meet baby Cate. She is truly the best gift I could have asked for. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving with your families as well.
Monday, November 21, 2011
I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a monthly newsletter for a long time now, and I’ve finally decided to go ahead and do it. I’m calling it Delicate Paperwork, because my work is most often described as being “delicate” and I always thought of my artwork as my “paperwork.”
It’s not going to be anything long or tiresome to read. I’m planning on including mostly images, like work in progress photos and a “secret” sketchbook page that I don’t post up on my blog. I know my art goals this year have been waylaid by other things, but when I start selling my work, I would also offer subsciber only discounts from time to time. I’m planning on sending out my first issue in January, and I’d love it if you’d sign up. I put up a sign up form on my right sidebar, or you can click here.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Hibiscus Sketch. Ink in large handbook sketchbook.
I seem to be having more and more ideas for new projects than ever, but less and less time to work on them. A few days ago I saw this article titled Balancing Parenthood and Your Art Career by Lori McNee, and I felt like “the universe” was reading my mind.
I’m trying to think of ways to do more work, or rather, to finish more work. I feel that I need to work faster, or at least in a less tedious manner. Interestingly, I’ve been feeling like this for a long time now, well before Cate came along.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Baby Cate. Graphite in sketchbook.
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Cate Sleeping. Graphite in sketchbook.
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Right Hand. Graphite in sketchbook.
Baby Cate arrived last week and I’m finally getting into the swing of things enough to make some sketches while she naps. I am no expert on baby portraits, but I will definitely get a lot of practice over the next few months as I’ll want to do plenty of sketches of my precious baby girl. I am so lucky!
Friday, November 11, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Privacy Curtain. Ink in large handbook sketchbook.
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Skyline. Ink in large handbook sketchbook.
I was always suspicious when I heard women say that childbirth was their most creative act. In my case, the only creativity involved was making some sketches from my hospital bed while waiting for the contractions to set in.
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, A Dahlia for Christmas. Watercolor and colored pencil, 8 x 10 inches.
This is my latest painting, which I used as the image for my Christmas cards this year. I painted it in watercolor first, and then went over it with colored pencil. I wanted something really bright and bold, and I think that I got what I was going for even though it isn’t blatantly Christmas themed.
If you scroll down you can see two work in progress photos plus my printed cards that I got in the mail the other day. Opening up my package made all my hard work seem worth it. I ordered my cards with red envelopes. I am really happy with the quality, although I wish I had the option to have 5 x 7 cards printed.
This is after I finished the watercolor and had just started on the colored pencil.
I worked from top left to lower right and used a piece of paper towel to rest my hand on to avoid smudging the colored pencil.
My finished card.
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Rose Blossoms 2. Graphite and watercolor, 4 x 6 inches.
This image goes along with this one that I had posted earlier. My sister had them printed on postcards to use as invitations for my baby shower. I like the delicate look of graphite with watercolor wash and I’m thinking of making more pictures in this style. What do you think?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Sardinia Seaside View. Watercolor, 4 x 6 inches.
This is my submission for this month’s Virtual Paintout, located on the island of Sardinia. Looking around on Google Street View, I thought that this would be the perfect vacation spot for me. I love the dramatic landscape, and the sea is so beautiful. I would love to go there for a week or two and paint lots of watercolors.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Katie on the Couch. Ink in large handbook sketchbook.
This is a quick sketch of Katie from a few weeks ago. Katie has become my best buddy these days. I’ve been trying to do as much sketching and painting as possible recently because my due date is fast approaching. I am getting nervous and really excited!
I’ve spent the last couple of days putting a lot of hours into the painting that I’m going to use as my Christmas card. I love sending out a Christmas card with my own artwork on it, but I’ve been procrastinating all year. When I found out about the sale that Moo is offering right now, I didn’t want to miss out. Through tomorrow, they are giving 15% off their holiday cards (with the code CARDSYAY), in addition to the 15% off sale that they are already running. I say this every year, but next year I am going to be more prepared for sure and get my artwork ready ahead of time! I’ll be posting my painting, along with some Work in Progress photos in an upcoming post.
Below is a really nice short film by and Danny Gregory and Tommy Kane that I enjoyed. I thought the music was especially fitting.
To El and Back: a film about Butch Belair from DannyGregory on Vimeo.