I love the immediacy of pastel and I love the buttery texture as the pastel slides across the paper. A pastel stroke can have as much energy or softness to it as a pencil, pen stroke or a brush stroke of paint. And a simple curve or rigid straightness of the drawn pastel line can suggest direction or maybe even form. The pressure with which you apply the pastel can determine how much color is transferred onto the paper or board surface. Yes, I love pastels.

Here is a page of pastel sketches of a dog, cats and kittens done in oil pastel. I did them quickly as if I was sketching from life and I didn’t worry too much about detail because I was more interested in the gesture of the model. My goal was not only to get a recognizable figure but to have fun with pastel.

A pastel drawing of one of my cats.

Many years ago I did a large pastel titled “Fat Cat’s Daydream.” Fat Cat is a pastel of my cat B.C. and three beta fish. I belonged to a group of artist and we had been invited to display our work in the windows of an empty downtown street level office. I was told the piece needed to be big so it could be seen by passing cars. I thought, what better muse than my young cat, but what will I draw him doing?

At the time I had a large bowl with a blue male beta fish, some rocks and a small plant for shelter. I say male because the males have the long fins and this particular fish had really long fins. The bowl sat close to a tree shaded window and the fish, who I called Blue, would swim around or hover among the stems of his plant. Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Blue and B.C. lived in the same house and the same room? B.C. was a wild cat as a kitten and seemed curious about everything but the fish. He could open boxes and empty the contents, he shredded a mini blind and if he wanted to be held he would leap from wherever he was to me. But, I never saw him anywhere close to the fish bowl.

One day I arrived home from work and noticed that the fish bowl was empty. I looked everywhere around the bowl and concluded that Blue had been eaten by B.C. Of course he looked totally innocent and kept shaking his head as if to say “not me.” And after my lecture, which I am sure went in one ear and out the other, I replaced Blue with Red and then Blue Too. So, I thought, here is my drawing, B.C. with three beta fish swimming around his head. He must be daydreaming about the fish when I am present, waiting for me to leave so he can make his move.

I sold “Fat Cat Daydream” from that exhibit and kept more fish in an aquarium with a lid and in my studio where B.C. is not permitted. B.C. has grown older now, he is 13, and I sometimes catch a glimpse of  that daydream twinkle in his eye. I am sure he is daydreaming about fish.

Drawings from one of my sketch books

I was going through drawers the other day and I found several old sketch books. I started looking through them and remembering where and sometimes when I created the drawings. I don’t always date my sketch book drawings, which is unfortunate, but my best guess is that this particular page is from the early nineties.

I think I have mentioned before that some of my artist friends and I would go to the zoo or other locales and sketch. It was always fun even if the sketches weren’t good. The pages in my sketch books usually have overlapping images because when drawing live animals you have to work quickly so there is no time for page design.

My favorite location was and still is the zoo. I especially like the very early morning just after the zoo opens. The animals seem energetic. I remember one particular morning a friend and I were at the zoo. We had split up but were still within sight of each other. It was a bit chilly and the big cats were very talkative and the monkeys were all too eager to counter with whatever they had to say.

The sketch book page included in this article was done at a zoo, but at a special bird section. I don’t remember which zoo, but the exhibit was fascinating. The birds were in a large aviary that was filled with lush tropical plants. Some of the birds could fly or sit on limbs and some walked around on the ground. There were ducks as well as many birds I had never seen other than in a picture.

The blue pigeon had a funny bunch of feathers at the top of his head and his legs were spotted. Those were the two traits I emphasized in my sketch. I indicated the rest of the feathers with quick strokes drawn in the direction the feathers grew. The blue pigeon was walking around under plants close to the walk.

Laughing Kookaburra is the bird you hear in jungle movies. You know the OOoowaaahhHH call in the background. I love the shape of the bird and the beak shape. The bird did do the call while we were there which made us giggle. I used heavier lines for the dark parts of the bird, but again because of movement by the bird details are kept to a minimum.

This is one of my favorite ways to sketch. You have to work quickly to try and capture the gesture of the subject that is being drawn. With sketches and photos I can then go back to the studio and use the information to do a more formal drawing. Formal is good, but there is nothing more fun or challenging than drawing from life. I highly recommend it.

I call this photo Cat Mandala

Cats feasting on turkey drippings and fat

Patient frog

I was out last night with the dogs and noticed that there was a small frog perched at the very top of a trellis that is holding up a tomato plant. My first thought was how beautiful and next I thought I would try to get a photograph. I ran back to the house to get my camera and when I returned to the trellis the frog was still there. So I set my camera to take the shot with available light with no flash, and moved in close. Wouldn’t you just know it, dead battery. So, I turned the camera back on because sometimes it will take one photo even with the low battery warning. After the third try I ran back to the house to get two new batteries, load them and return back to the trellis where the frog still perched.

I was finally ready, or so I thought, as I stepped closer to take the photo from the side. The kittens began jumping around in the garden below the trellis causing the frog to look back over his shoulder to see what was going on. I, thinking it would jump away at any moment kept sticking my camera in front of it tying to take a photo or two. I would snap a photo and wait for the camera to do its thing and then look at the taken picture only to delete it due to shakiness. I was standing in a funny position to try to take the picture and kept wobbling so my photos were coming out fuzzy. Blurring and with more movement than I wanted.

Every little bit I would speak to the frog while I made whatever adjustment. I would say something like “thank you frog for being so patient while I try to take your picture, or, I appreciate your patience, frog. I will try just a few more times.” It smiled its frog smile and sat as I cleared a little memory so I could try again.
When I realized how unbothered the frog was by my presence I moved in a little closer and took three photos from the front, still with available light and no flash. They are still a little blurry and one even has a halo around it, which I thought lent a magical quality to the picture. Not wanting to wear out my welcome and glowing from the high humidity, I said thank you again and stepped away to snap a photo of the moon. Goodnight.

The first one I titled “Fish and Chicks”. I got the inspiration from my own chickens that like to stand in a small plastic children’s pool in the yard near their coop. I think they look so comical standing in the water. The second floor cloth is called “Toucans”. I think toucans are fascinating to look at not just because of their wonderfully colorful bills, but also because of the size of the bill in relation to the body.

These floorcloths are available at La Maison d’Elodie, Inc., in Pensacola, Florida or visit the antiques, wine and art link under shopping.

Fish and Chicks

Toucans

Night Blooming Cactus

The blooms are about five inches in diameter. This photo shows an insect on the petals.