Monday, February 7, 2011

Nine sides of a d'Anjou

Nine Sides of a d'Anjou
9x12 inches - pastel on black Strathmore paper

Making up for some skipped days, and because I've got another painting ready to post tomorrow, I thought I'd put this latest pastel up.

It's based on the Daily Paintworks latest challenge, hosted by Carol Marine.  For this challenge, a ten-minute limit was given for each small painting on a larger divided canvas.  The purpose is to paint quickly and focus on what you see, not what you think you see, and eliminate details.  It's amazing how quickly 10 minutes goes when you are painting; no time to dilly-dally - you have to get with the program immediately!

I must say this was one of the most valuable exercises I've done.  I've never painted a pear before, and it's been far too long since I even painted from life.  So, it was good on many levels.  I absolutely loved the process!  I admit that I did do some preliminary sketches of the pear with a ballpoint pen in my sketchbook before embarking on this pastel.  I didn't have high expectations for this, given the obvious limitations, so I used the black Artagain paper I save for such things.  I found the surface is improved greatly by sanding it.

The last two I finished with almost a minute to spare.  And, best of all, I think you can actually tell they are pears.  I am definitely doing this again in oils.

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A photo of tonight's sunset.  We are expecting about 4" of snow here tonight as yet another storm rolls through.

8 comments:

  1. You have the greatest sunsets where you live!

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  2. These pears are great Sonya! Nice job!

    We have been having some gorgeous sunsets lately, you really caught the essence of those in that photo.

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  3. Sonya, these pears are excellent! What a great exercise. I may have to try that myself. Great job!

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  4. Helen, we do get amazing sunsets here. It's one of the many reasons I love this part of the country so much!

    Thanks, Susan! I have to say that they turned out far better than I thought they would :). Carol (and her husband) is really wonderful for setting up the DPW site to host these challenges. The concepts are great, and I really enjoy seeing everyone's work all in one place.

    Hi Kari - thanks so much! I'd definitely recommend giving it a whirl - it would be like having a fun little snack between your usual elegant, detailed "main course" paintings :).

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  5. What a great job! The planes of the pears are so good. Trying to wrap my head around the fact that you did all of these in 10 min.!

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  6. Hi Gwen - thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind words. Oh, the cumulative time was 90 min. for the entire thing - 10 min. for each pear. Sorry if I gave the impression that I did the entire thing in 10 min!

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  7. Great sky photo. The pears--is 9" x 12" the size of the whole thing, or of each pear? Very nice.

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  8. Jala -It's a single sheet subdivided, so each pear is 3x4". I can see how it's a bit confusing, although there is no way I could do a 9x12" painting in 10min, unless I scribbled color in.

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