Yellow Ranunculous

Yellow Ranunculous     6" x 6"      Acrylic     Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $135

I love the floral department at my local Heinen's Grocery in Aurora, Ohio.  Often, one can find unusual flowers that are in season for only a short time. In my world, that's an artist's urgent call to paint and paint now! This little painting was a "just for fun" experiment with tools that I don't ordinarily use.      

 I was happy with the result of my experimenting with colors that make me feel happy. This was done on a gessoed panel that was firm enough to allow for a little rough handling. I decided to apply paint with an old credit card, a razor blade, and a shaper tool. 

When this painting was finished, it seemed to call out for a soft gold finish on the frame with double pinstripes that complement the painting's color. It's overall framed size is 7" x 7" which still allows this small painting to fit nicely on a tiny easel for desk or table display.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Hope you enjoy the painting!

Amaryllis By Mornin'

Amaryllis By Morning      6" x 6"     Pastel       ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $95

There's nothing like waiting for the morning to see the amaryllis spreading her wings to show her stunning scarlett petals! This time was no different, I brought the bulb home from Heinen's with some green foliage, and first thing each morning I could hardly wait to see the buds open to reveal her spectacular hues of red. What a lesson in patience!

Finally, the day arrived to begin the process of studying every tiny detail in wonderment!

And then the gleeful rush to the pastel box to find the perfect sticks of color that would shout "Amaryllis Scarlet"! To my disappointment, there was no magic amaryllis stick!  From then on, I had to give up on magic and select and test colors that would speak in amaryllis tones.

Ahh.....finally, I strike up a new relationship with the oranges and peach colors in the box and know that they will help me tell the story of how the light changes as it strikes the high points. On closer examination, for the first time, I found that there are tiny specks of shimmering light in each square inch of the petals. Fortunately, the folks at the Sennelier company know this, as they include a group of pastels that contain mica flakes that reflect those microscopic specks of light.

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 Here's the final culmination of alone time with an amaryllis. There's a tiny replica beside the original where I've tested colors on the way to tell the final story.

Ornamental Kale

Ornamental Kale     6" x 6"     Pastel      ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $75



This is the ornamental kale plant that I mentioned yesterday. It is such a beautiful cool weather addition to any garden.  I understand that the plants actually can be eaten, but they're really used for garnish or as a base for hors d'oeuvres. I'm sure that would be a lovely splash of color for any table. In my opinion, they're fine plants for painting, especially for a lesson in how to paint purples!

Here's the "ornamental cousins" ....kale and cabbage from yesterday.

See my blog for more information on how these were painted on UArt 500 sanded pastel paper.

 https://sheilaliston.blogspot.com/2017/11/a-rose-by-another-name.html

A Rose By Another Name

A Rose By Another Name       6" x  6"     Pastel        ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $75

This plant is grown in my area in the midst of all the beautiful warm colors of fall. It's always thrilling to me to see how our Creator chooses this color palette. While the earth is covered in orange, red, gold and yellow with touches of green, this beauty pops up in shades of purple.  What a delightful treat for the eyes, this is a fine example of the use of complementary color in nature. Although, I've never grown ornamental cabbage before, I hope to plant this next year in late summer and patiently wait for the color explosion!

This pastel painting on UArt 500, has its' rather rough beginning in black watercolor to determine the values.

It's next stage is not much prettier! Here I've added a dry ink product called Inktense blocks. It is put down as a dry stick of color, and the water added to spread the color. This is a new material for me and I do enjoy watching the water bring the color to life.

In this stage, I added hard pastels (Nupastels and Rembrandts) lightly on the sanded surface to begin to establish the colors.

  After adding more color with some soft pastels (Senniliers), I defined the light edges, as I knew that this would be hard to be accurate in the final stage.

At this point, I added more fushia colors and defined the outer leaves with greens. I was able to work closer to the edges to create lost and found edges that didn't look so stiff. My final thoughts were that the painting had become too dark. I lighten the and softened the outer edges to finish.

Have you had the experience of growing these? Let me know any tips that you've learned.

Lavender Blue

Lavender Blue   8" x 11"   Pastel    ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $145

 It's always fun to use one of Grandma's pitcher and bowl as a prop for my still life. I know she would've approved, as she and I shared the love of flowers! 

I used a Canson Mi Tientes Touch, which is a finely sanded paper made for pastels. I've used their regular papers for years. This one holds more pastel which is helpful, as I like to work in layers. It's a bit different in that it requires a feather light touch, so as to not build up too much pastel in early stages.

   

This is a glimpse of the set-up for the still life. I use a simulated daylight lamp to direct the light to create interesting shadows and highlights.

Yellow Daisies   4" x 6"   Pastel   ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $60

My shipment of UArt's new dark sanded pastel paper arrived Saturday. I've been looking forward to painting on its very fine surface. I've used black printmaker's paper in the past and the results were pretty good. I find that I really like the sanded surface paper by UArt in the regular color. The combination of the sanded paper and the fact that it is almost black in the 800 grit is wonderful. The pastels seem to appear ever brighter than the other papers. You may need your sunglasses for this one!

Delphinium on Glass

Delphinium On Glass     5.25" x 8"      Pastel      ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $95

DAY 27 of Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge, September 2017

The delphiniums are still looking fresh today, so I decided to paint them in a still life. I placed them on my antique wood flat file that has a protective glass sheet on top. The sun shone brightly on the table, creating a wonderful reflection of the sheer curtains. I'm always pulled to reflections of any kind, whether it's still water or window glass on buildings. The glass vase had an interesting look with the water, and also, it reflected that image onto the table.

I got lost in painting this one and didn't take but two progress pictures. I started with a quick watercolor wash of the dark areas on paper that I already had toned. I like working on a darker surface. UArt is now producing a black sanded pastel paper.  I can hardly wait for my shipment to arrive in early October. Slowly, I added the color in areas all over the painting. Then, I began to define each background areas. I finished the flowers last.

Delphiniums

Delphiniums       6" x 6"         Pastel         ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $75

DAY 26 of Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge, September 2017

It's always fun to have a good reason to buy fresh flowers!  Delphiniums were always a delight to arrange in my days as a floral designer. They were not as easily available as they are today. I found these at my local supermarket floral department. Painting the subtle color changes was a bit of a challenge in pastels. 

1. I usually choose a darker underpainting, but this time I started with a dark blue on white Premier Pastel paper. 2. This time I chose to wet the pastel a bit to be able to move it around smoothly without getting a build-up of pastel too early. 3. I  chose a very dark blue Sennelier pastel to deepen the darkest values. Then I worked gradually, alternating the adding the subtle colors. All of the blossoms had different amounts of lavendars, blues, and creamy whites.

Loren's Bouquet

Loren's Bouquet    6" x 6"    Pastel      ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $75

DAY 24 of Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge, September 2017

This bouquet caught my eye in a most unexpected place. My husband and I took our car in for maintenance at our favorite shop, Automotive Rehab, in Garrettsville, OH. The container of wildflowers was waiting on the showroom floor to be placed in a vase for the counter.

This repurposed 1951 Chrysler body makes for a creative service counter. Owners, Jon and Loren Martin have done a fantastic job restoring an historic Chrysler dealership for their auto repair shop. Loren adds an artistic touch with having fresh flowers on that counter. 

This is my reference photo for the painting.

These are my progress photos showing the stages of development. I started with a light drawing with vine charcoa on Uart 800 sanded pastel paper.  Then I used watercolor to do a value underpainting to establish the light and dark areas. I used a hint of watercolor to mark the colors of the flowers. When there are so many different colors, it's helpful to map them out early. Then the pastel painting begins. Having the watercolor wash underpainting allows the sanded paper to still still hold several layers of pastel without flaking off. To go directly to using pastel, it is easy to get too much build up that plugs the painting surface.

I must add, that if you are in need of a quality auto repair shop, this is the one. Loren and Jon are personable owners that pay attention to detail and deliver superior service in our area.  

 

Floral Tradition

Floral Tradition      6" x 6"      Pastel       ©Sheila Ashley Liston
SOLD

DAY 20 of Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge, September 2017

The floral department in my grocery store welcomes me as I enter the store to do routine shopping. Although there's nothing routine about the color that beckons me to linger a while, breathing in the fragrance of fresh flowers.

While I painted today, I realized just how much colorful flowers mean to me. It goes back to seeing my grandmother cutting flowers in the garden,, and carrying them in her apron to the house where she tenderly put them in water. My mother loved flowers and did the same. You can imagine their delight, when my first job was as a floral designer in the neighborhood flower shop. My daughter, Michelle, worked as a floral designer through her college years in that same shop! 

That training and emotion has become a part of my story as an artist today.  Designing flower arrangements afforded me the opportunity to learn color, shape, and depth in a 3-D form. In painting now, I have learned to apply different techniques giving the optical illusion of depth, and yet the basic color principles are the same.  

First Impressions

First Impressions  8.5 x 6.5 Pastel  ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $95

Ahh...first impressions! These cosmos were lining the walkway to the entrance of the Pemaquid Art Gallery at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park in Bristol, Maine. This colorful display welcomed us as we entered the gallery of some outstanding art. What a treat!

I could have stayed there the whole day, soaking in the beauty of the lighthouse and ocean, and the gallery as well. The weather was a perfect fall day in October last year. The only thing better than all this, was that I had an appointment to reconnect with my treasured friend. What a blessing it was, to see my friend, Pat Parker, again after so many years!  

We started right in where we left off back then, as though it was yesterday! It's so much fun to paint the memory of that day, reliving every moment. These times are more important that the end result of an actual painting being produced.

Here's some progress shots from the beginning. I've come to believe that paintings have to become a bit ugly and unruly at first.