Bison are some of my favorite animals and I could watch them all day long. This was a painting that took a long time merely because I was rather intimidated by the multiple figure factor and the fact that I had never painted a bison before. Drawn them countless times but never painted them. So all in all I am pleased with the result and hope others are too.

This isn't finished yet but  I wanted to say something about how these drawings come about. I start with 'what if?' and in this case I began to think 'Do you think dragons have tea? ' and if they do, 'who do they invite?'. From there it wad easy. cats and elves and good conversation are the ingredients that make this a fun and cozy reality.

This was the most fun I could have and still be legal. The colors are luminous and bright with that hint of mystery that makes a painting real. And this painting is the first where I really made consciencentious and intelligent decsions  based on what I was seeing. Taking down and pulling out and deciding what is the focus and not the focus. Very exciting.

So the universe isn't a happy place all the time but we can imagine it so....

So the thing is there is such a thing as too bright. I had to knock down the brightness of the books and darken the hat so as to emphasize what I wanted to emphasize. The best thing about a still life is they don't move. The effect I want to capture is a sense of wonder and magick and the feeling of cozy tea parties and 'anything can happen'.

Charcoal

Charcoal is a layering and push and pull just like any other medium. I began this in class but got bogged down and had to finish it at home. The highlights are quite developed and there is a sense of rest that I like. Charcoal is a soft medium both in actuality and in feel. There is a warmth to charcoal that is soft and makes one want to know more about the subject.

Samhain

This is a shivery sort of piece. I continued with the layering in of color and tried to keep a sense of 'Harry Potter' brightness about it. The Raven is pulled from a painting  I have done and I made him 'real'. My background is a bit muddy yet but hope to solve that problem on Teusday. My hat is as I see it all satin and elegant. The darks are alizarin and french ultramarine and the lighter tone is alizarin with cad orange and touch of french ultramarine and white.  Just a touch of white to lighten. To give one more layer I used cad orange and alizarin and a touch of cad red hue. with a tiny bit of white. I sort of drug that here and there. The candle strick is a bit of this and that layered and blocked with the flat of the brush to give a sense of reflection. most likely I will go back and knock down the brightness of the bottom book and shade the pages a bit more.

This is going to be a fun painting. It is that time of year with the swirl of fall and the hint of the otherworld in the air.  This a is time for remembering our year of work and challenges and for remembering our loved ones. So I assembled the elements from things I had at home. The hat was given me by my son who always thought his mom a bit magical. The books are favorites that  were bought from a small shop in Virginia called the Daedelus. The drape, a piece of crazy quilting I had started from remnants of kids clothes, and the candlestick part of a set given me by my favorite aunt. And the Raven, my own work from a photo taken on the best trip I had ever taken with my husband which is saying something because they are always great. The underpainting I an developing completely as possible since I want this to be a slowly built layered construct. Kathryn thinks it is a shame we coverour lovely warm siena underpaintings and I agree!