The Search for Art Festival Supplies: Part I

A few weeks ago I went supply shopping for art shows and festivals.  I already had three tall, narrow panels I created out of slatted closet shelves. They were a deal, and I needed something ASAP last October. They worked fine, but were 8 feet tall and cumbersome to move.

Here's a photo of me standing in front of the panels.

See that behemoth panel in the background on the left? Yep, that's what I used...

...and the wind loved them...

If it weren't for the several good Samaritans at the tour to catch the display, many of my pieces would have ended up on the concrete.

My goal has been to purchase pro panels, but they are still cost prohibitive for me to get an entire set for a 10x10 display area. A fellow artist had black grid panels that created a nice display for her paintings. I went to the surplus store where she purchased her display and was instantly in heaven.

Did I mention I'm obsessed with supplies?

I stepped foot in a surplus store for used store fixtures. I'm a total geek for stuff like this, and even though I have no need for 99.9% of the items there, I still spent at least 3 hours salivating over them.

Here are some of the items I liked.

Check this one out...it's a metal pedestal thing with adjustable feet. Would be perfect for pottery displays! I think it was $8.

OK, so naturally there would be several mannequins in a surplus store fixture place...too bad I don't sew, crochet, or...anything else this little guy could be used for.

Slat walls are always useful, but I suppose they would be too heavy. Great for the garage or studio though.

Metal frames for signs...this would be great to add a great logo or...something like that...I don't know...there's potential there.

Ahh...a white grid panel. Once I saw this one, I knew I was going to get the panels in white instead of black. Just a personal preference there. The black works too, but maybe I'm a visual person and since the white one was on display, I fell for it.

So here they are in my studio, already being all purposeful with my paintings hanging. They're all helter- skelter here with no order, but order and neatness is not the purpose in this photo. I purchased 2 white grid panels because they only had 2. They had plenty of black ones. I'm planning my next trip soon...
 

I almost forgot...check out these ladders! I suppose they could be for a library or kitchen with tall ceilings...or they could really come in handy for a not-so-tall-person. Hmmm...

 

WIP: Elk

This is the WIP for the Elk. In order to depict the massive rack, I wanted to do this on the largest surface I had in the studio. So, I used my only 18" x 24" pastelbord (gray). If I had something larger, I would have used it. I've found I like to work large when working on animals...maybe it's because I prefer to stand when using charcoal and pastel, maybe it's because the nature of the subject warrants to me really get in the fur without getting bogged down with the detail. 

On the other hand, the colored pencils are the opposite. I prefer to sit down, work smaller (for now), and concentrate on the details.

So let's get back to the elk...I've added captions to each step. I guess I didn't take a picture of the drawing, but my favorite step is below...right after I've drawn in the subject, and I pick up the first and second color. It's just magic. :)

Blocking in the elk and background...

  Adding detail...

  Here's a good photo of the easel and reference photo. Not the best placement for the photo, but I haven't figured how to affix the references without looking away from my easel.

  Working on the horns a little more...

  Softening the horns further away, working on the chin contour, correcting the ear

WIP: Domestic Longhair Cat

I know...I'm obsessed with taking progress photos. But really, it's more for me than you. Looking at the photo after I take it helps me see the big picture so I can easily see where I am and what I need to correct.
It's sort of like blurring your eyes to see the values, or walking far away to look back at your work in progress.

Plus, it gives me more information to post...because I am not that verbose (but I can impress you with my vocabulary).

So, the first step...sorta. I used vine charcoal and the yellow at the same time to block in the darks and lights. The background was the next step. I'm trying to REMEMBER that backgrounds are as important to the painting as the rest of it. I can't pretend it was that hard here...there's not that much background.

 

Adding green and pops of yellow to the background, but keeping it blurry.

 

 Adding white, black, orange and light purple/lavendar.

 

Smoothing out areas and adding detail to others...

 

Filling out the face, adding whiskers...and repeating the dance of smoothing out areas and adding detail to others.

 

Add a few more black and brown areas to the face. Added more lavendar to the bottom right to balance this color with the top left. Cropped the painting to how I think I will frame it (minus the tape on the bottom and right).