Radiance

'Radiance'

pastel on toned paper 11 x 14

I did this piece today just for you. So I hope you like it. :)

I had nothing to post since I'm working on two large paintings that have a lot of detail and they are taking me FOR-E-VER. And I'm still trying to get the colored pencil piece from this post finished and it's slow going too.

But it's good. I don't mean to say that slow is bad. It's therapeutic and meditative and all that. Except for impatient people like me. I have to tell myself every time I put brush to paper "DON'T rush this!" 

That has been one of the most important things for me to learn with the way I like to paint. I don't have to paint fast. There's no hurry. I like to have glowing color and accurate facial features. And for me to do that I have to take my time. It's fine. I've come to grips with this reality. Mostly. :)

I had a few questions from the previous post that I did not get to answer (life is hectic! But what else is new?) I read all of your comments and they really mean a lot to me. Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you think! You guys rock in an all out glorious way.

These are the questions that I can remember. If I forgot yours ask me again okay? I'm having a blonde day.

Where've you been? Here! I promise. Just busy. I'm glad you guys missed me though. And I mean that in a good way. Also in addition to my painting, mommy, wife, and church jobs I've decided to do NaNoWriMo.

What the heck is NaNoWriMo you ask? It's National Novel Writing Month. The idea is you write an entire novel, start to finish, 50,000 words (which ends up being a book about the size of 'The Great Gatsby') in 30 days.

Yes, I agree with you.

I am crazy.

But, it's a lot of fun and I'm totally in love with my story so far. There's a little widget on the side of my blog that shows my progress to the 50,000 word deadline. You can cheer me on if you want! I love cheerleaders!

Do you prefer bristol to regular cartridge paper? Yes, I do. Most of the time. Bristol is very smooth and is great for drawings with lots of detail. I really love it for colored pencil pieces. But it's not so great for work where you want texture and lots of nice line work. At least in my opinion. So when I use charcoal or pastel I don't use bristol. I like a paper that has some tooth or a really great sanded surface.

And, last but not least, tonight is the opening reception for the Carriage House Gallery Holiday Invitational Exhibit. It runs from tonight until December 30. And there are two artist receptions. One is tonight from 6 - 9 and the other one is December 3 from 6 - 9.

If you feel like taking in some art in Ogden stop by and see me! It'll be fun.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hello, I'm Crystal Cook welcome to my blog! I'm a full time mother of three and part time artist, whenever I can fit it in. I specialize in portraits of children in watercolor, but also use pastel, charcoal and colored pencil. I just finished this pastel in black and white and was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I was very drawn to the child's concentrated expression along with those full cheeks and lashes. But the thing that inspired me the most was the strong back light that framed that sweet face and caught the soft hair that only babies have. This was a fun piece to do, usually I work in watercolor which requires me to plan more in advance and usually takes me a while to finish. But this time I just sketched it out fairly quickly and tried to be as expressive as I could with my marks while still capturing a likeness. I think I need to break out the pastels more often it helped me get out of a rut I was in and inspired more creativity in me. Who knew a few little sticks of powdered pigment could bring such a change in my perspective?