Unveiling of portrait of the late John Q. Hammons in Springfield, Missouri

A few weeks ago I had the honor of attending a reception for the purpose of unveiling of a large oil portrait of the late John Q. Hammons. Mr. Hammons was a pioneer in building hotels and resorts. The unveiling took place in what I believe was one of his first (if not the first) hotels he built, University Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Missouri. If you are from the Springfield area or attended school there, you likely recognize his name as he was extremely generous with the entire area. His name is on a number of buildings as well as a street. It was quite an honor to paint his portrait. It is my understanding that reproductions of the painting will hang in the hotels and resorts.

Pastel Journal April 2014 Issue Preview

Congratulations to all the winners of The Pastel 100!  I am honored to have my work among such excellent art.  Check out this overview from Pastel Journal magazine.  My piece, "Pastel of Pastels in Pastel" is at 1:44s.

Artsy Shark Feature! Pretty Exciting!

Today I woke to a really nice little feature article on Artsy Shark, a great site that helps artists build better businesses and does a great job sharing the work of working artists to help them reach new audiences.  Here is the link:  Artsy Shark-Lisa Ober

WHAT A HAPPY SURPRISE!  Thanks Artsy Shark!

Workshop in Florida/Recap on St. Louis Workshop

Just a reminder that I am teaching a 2-day pastel portrait workshop March 17th & 18th in Tamarac, Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale.  I just wrapped one up in St. Louis and we had a ball!  Below are a few photos from that workshop.  I'm really looking forward to being in Florida.  Won't you join me?

 Please contact Paint St. Louis if you are interested.

Below are some photos from last weekend's workshop in St. Louis.  My students never cease to amaze me with their stellar results!

Name the Painting TItle Contest-We Have a WInner!

A little while back I ran a Facebook contest looking for title suggestions for the painting of these marbles below.  I had no idea what kind of response I would receive.  Well I do now!  I received 361 title submissions and was floored by not only the sheer number but also the varied ideas.  After a lot of cutting and pasting of titles for a final vote, we finally have a winner:

MONDAY'S MENTAL MARTYRS

Thanks to everyone who participated!  

TItle and Jerry's Artarama!

First, special thanks to Jerry's Artarama for sharing my review of the Gallery Handmade Soft Pastels along with an image of the painting I created with them show below.

Splatter Blog (Jerry's Artarama)

Secondly, I have a winner for the Facebook contest to find a title for this painting.  The winning title is "Art is the Best Medicine" by a huge margin.  Congratulations to the winner!

Finally, the painting has already sold.  It's been a good week!

First Painting with Gallery Pastels

I've just completed my first painting with the new Gallery Handmade Soft Pastels.  They were so beautiful new that I decided to include them in the painting.  I am running a contest on my Facebook Page to get a title.  Voting ends at 11:59 January 3rd, 2014 but if you want to vote on your favorite title head HERE.

Untitled (so far) 

Pastel on UART, 22 X 10

New Gallery Handmade Soft Pastels-A Review

Lucky, lucky me!  I received a new full set of Mungyo Gallery Soft Pastels from Jerry's Artarama along with a package of UART Sanded Pastel Paper just in time for my holiday break.  I have been asked by many people how these pastels perform so here is my review:

The full set of 200 is an excellent starter or base set with a wide variety of color choices packed into a beautiful sturdy and classy box which is perfect for travel. The set that I received was perfectly intact without a single break (I don't like broken new pastels). The colors are nicely arranged and AP non-toxic. Each pastel is about the size of woman's thumb, very similar to Unison Soft Colour Pastels. For me, the size is perfect. 

The quality of each pastel was consistent across the range of colors I used. The pigments are pretty rich…at least the blue/green colors that I pulled out for this piece and I assume that is true for the other colors. 

Gallery Handmade Soft Pastels have the approximately the hardness/softness of something between Rembrandt Pastels and Unisons. They are only slightly less blendable than the Unisons for this reason. The option to subtly shift tones in additional layers is excellent but for some, to significantly change a color with a subsequent layer would require a softer pastel such as Unison, Mount Vision, Townsend, or Schminke. This also may depend on the surface you prefer and how much pressure you apply when painting. Still, they are good for blending and layering and are a great base set for professionals and students. 

The Gallery's handled very well on the UART paper (600 grit) which is my favorite surface so far. I imagine they would be good on any professional pastel surface.

My overall impression of these pastels was excellent and even more impressive when one considers the value. The full set is priced at $624.99 but on sale through Jerry's (but out of stock, sadly-10-30-13) for $499.99, you really can't beat the price at all for the overall value. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts or any questions you have but I hope this helps. Happy painting!

November Pastel Journal suprise

Thanks to UART Sanded Pastel Paper, my painting "Oddball" appeared in an advertisement in The Pastel Journal.  It was an honor having a piece next to Toni James' artwork.

New Surface for Portraits

I rarely take progress shots of a painting but I had just discovered a beautiful linen panel made by a friend of mine so I decided it might be a good time to do that.  Here are the progress shots of a portrait followed by the final painting.  Oil on linen.  23 X 18.