Portrait of Mattie

Rebecca Osgood is a talented person with pastels. She does wonderful portraits and she graciously allowed two of us to a semi-private series of lessons on pastel. Pastel's are chalk-like, and I have had no real experience using them. Also portraits are new. So learning two new techniques at once was challenging.

Yesterday, Rebecca had her daughter, Mattie, sit for us. I did a colorful version of a portrait of Mattie which Mattie said she really loved. Anyway, we'll see if I continue with pastels.Often I use them to highlight on watercolor.It's always good to be learning new things.

New work on Angel Inn and Shangrila

The two recent works are of places that have a special interest to me. The one is of Shangrila, the former residence of Doris Duke, who was an American heiress who built a magnificent home on Oahu. She decorated the house completely in Islamic art. She was not a Muslim, but was an art collector. The house has many courtyards and fountains which are typical of the Islamic art. The house is now open to the public for tours.

The next painting is of a restaurant that friends have enjoyed in North Yorkshire. It is called The Angel Inn. What was confusing is that I started to paint another Angel Inn when I discovered it wasn't THE Angel Inn. Come to find out there are many Angel Inn's, especially in England. I plan to gift this to the friends as they gifted us with something special. She is a quilter and made us a very handsome quilt.  Now off to the framer's place.