tomatoes WIP continues

Tomatoes WIP, coloured pencil on Pastelbord

Copyright Teresa Mallen

Here is how it looks now. Sorry the photo isn't straight on. The Pastelbord surface seems to be a bit different somehow on this panel. There seems to be less of a surface coating. My pencils scratch over some spots in an annoying way and there isn't much tooth for layers. Wax built up quickly on the tomato on the left. I haven't experienced this with Pastelbord before. Other areas of the board seem fine. Maybe something happened during the manufacturing process. Anyway, I'm enjoying working on it. I hope to get back to it later today. I'm just finishing my October newsletter.

tomatoes WIP continues

Here is the piece now. I didn't work too long on it yesterday as we are getting some delicious, very warm, Indian summer weather here in Ottawa. I couldn't resist the opportunity to don a T shirt and shorts once more, so I spent two hours in the afternoon taming the garden in the rear yard. As many of you know, I had to be away this summer so my poor flowers and shrubs have struggled along with much neglect. I made a bit of a difference and I shall continue later today.

One thing I need to remind myself with this Pastelbord is that I don't have the luxury of building my colour up with lots of layers. This surface doesn't hold much pigment, despite the sanded surface. I found that as I tried to lay down bright colours in the tomatoes, colours that would later glow through the red, the surface was quickly getting slick. Yikes...this works well on Stonehenge but here I have less oportunity to play around and experiement with colour. I don't have the option to just keep adding colours.

I love the look that paper gives as it allows my layers to be visible and this adds such wonderful nuances to the colours - the work gets more and more interesting as you view it closer. With Pastelbord, you get more of an immediate wow factor, good when viewing from a distance. It is easy to make objects 'pop'. I absolutely love being able to add the white highlights rather than saving them as you must with paper. Anyway, I am really enjoying this tomato piece. I especially love drawing all the negative space that is required in and around the shadows and the stems. Just juicy!

tomatoes - new work in progress

This is what is currently on my drafting table. The round objects are tomatoes. As you can see, this piece is just at the beginning stage. I created my drawing and then transferred it to the surface. After that I started the background.

The surface is Ampersand's Pastelbord (Sand) and I am using coloured pencils. Nothing else. I am looking forward to building up all the red in the tomatoes!

Isn't it great how getting something off of your to-do list has the effect of energizing you? Last night I sat down and finished all the thank you notes to the people who gave donations to charities and who gave flowers when Dad died. Dad was very well liked and there were a lot of people to thank. Anyway, it was just after 11:00 p.m. when I got the last one written, addressed and sealed. I did a little happy dance around the living room. And yippee, didn't I just wake up this morning before 6:00 so bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to dive into work that it was shocking. By 6:30 I was already sitting in my studio, coffee in hand, candle lit, fountain tinkling, and I had just finished updating my accounts. How awesome is that?

Maybe you should try it...what chore is currently camped out on your to-do list? I hope this rush of energy lasts all day!

This morning I was walking my dog past my neighbour's field. I was watching the hundred or so Canada geese that were feeding there. I was facinated to see two white geese in amongst the others. After a quick google search, it would appear that what I saw were two Snow geese. Apparently they breed in northern Canada and the northeastern tip of Siberia and winter much further south in the continent, in the southern USA and beyond. I guess these two are just traveling with the other birds. Anyway, a lovely unexpected event. Okay, back to those tomatoes...