Day 26 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

'Rolling Cumulus'

Pastel on Canson

8" x 12"

Through this cloud series I have been hoping to capture the ever changing
tremendous art of the skies.
It also has been fun to create the skies in color these last few posts. Either way graphite or pastel, I enjoy creating them! 

Day 25 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Summer Cirrus 

Pastel on Wallis Sanded Paper 

9" x 12"

As I was working on this sky, I couldn't help but think about wonderful 

summers growing up. It would be so much fun to lay in the grass

and look up to a beautiful sky filled with wispy Cirrus Clouds.  Ahhh....

We are on Day 25 of the challenge.  This piece gets me current!
 Five more to go!

Day 24 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

'Breakup'

Pastel on Canson 

8" x 12"

Here is my Day 24 Art!

 I've been experimenting with different papers: sanded, unsanded, white and tinted.
 This is smooth white Canson Paper. If you like to blend, this paper will allow easy blending. 

Looks like I have a cloud series going.

 I am enjoying working on them.

Hope you are enjoying them too!

Day 23 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

'September Clouds'

Pastel on white Wallis sanded paper

9" x 10"

I have been having fun drawing and painting cloudscapes lately.  I have so many photos of clouds and skies that I have photographed--it is fun to use some from my accumulation!  I even had a chance to photograph some great Cumulus Clouds this evening. They were huge and amazing!  They looked like whipped cream!

Today, I was cheered on by one of my art students!  Thank you Nancy for the kind encouragement -- this post is for you! 

Horse Drawing Day 22 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

'Early Light'

Horse Study

Graphite/Charcoal

9" x 9"

There is something so beckoning in the eyes of a horse. I love to paint or draw 

their soulful expressions. My recent exhibit at the Naperville Riverwalk show in Illinois included several equestrian works.

You can see some of them on my website, mariedonato.com 

Thought maybe by working on a cropped image yesterday that I might get it finished and posted a little earlier. Nope.

And here it is Monday already. Whew!

 This challenge is making the month fly by!

Day 21 Art Challenge

Graphite/

charcoal Study

10" x 10"

Returning to a figure study again. Started late this evening and now it's 

  time to say good-night.

Six o'clock will be here too soon! 

Day 20 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Cloudscape

Pastel

8" x 10"

Working on clouds and sky is an opportunity to really work abstractly.  

As I put down color shapes

it was very calming and relaxing and.... of course I was imagining being near the water!

This piece was done very quickly as a color study. 

Almost as if it were done on site,

where I was putting down basic color notes and then it started to rain....

Day 19 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Blue Waterscape

12" x 15"

Pastel

Today I thought I'd take a break from my pencil drawings and try something in color.

It is a pastel with three of my most favorite things together: clouds, water and the

     color blue!

Day 18 "30 in 30 Challenge"

Figure Gesture Drawing

Graphite/Charcoal/Watercolor

14" x 12"

This gesture drawing is on a smoother paper than I typically use..it was a little more slick than I'm used to. 

 I usually use Strathmore Bristol -Vellum finish.  This paper may have been a Plate finish.

A little unplanned experiment and the Vellum finish wins, it has more tooth. 

Day 17 "30 in 30"

White Dress Figure Study

Graphite/Charcoal

15" x 12"

This challenge has helped me in so many ways. My goal was to improve my blogging

and computer skills,
and having this challenge has given me a reason to practice,
 by posting a lot more often. So much more than I ever would have on my own!!

Also a secondary goal has been to try loosening up a little in my technique. 

By giving myself a set time

to finish,
 I'm forced to loosen up, instead of dwelling too long on details. 

Day 16 "30 in 30"

White Horse Study

Here is Day 16's art for the day.  Sorry there were some missed days--but I'm back.  Had a great show over the weekend in Naperville, Illinois--a suburb of Chicago. It was good to enjoy some time away.  So back to my schedule and "30 in 30"!

Day 12 Art Challenge

Study 

powdered graphite, charcoal, sauce

12" x 8"

Here is a study using the centuries old Russian medium called "sauce".  It is essentially liquified charcoal, graphite or pastel.  I apply my mixture with a cloth and drawing stumps. It makes these beautiful rich darks. Once it's down, it pretty much stays. What I like most about it, is that it creates these deep darks quickly-- it's almost like painting,--- in a drawing! 

Day 11 of the "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Tonal Study

graphite/charcoal

10" x 8"

This study was done by blocking in the darks of the background which silhouettes the figure. Then I toned in the dark shapes within the figure.  It's still very rough.  But it is fun blocking in value loosely.  It's always amazing how quickly it starts looking like something. For the block-in I use powdered graphite.  It's messy but a lot of fun!

Day 10 of the "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Ballerina Sketch 2

graphite/charcoal

14" x 11"

I told myself to stop after a certain amount of time. That's hard to do when you want to fuss on it just a little more! 

This gesture drawing hopefully captures the body's movement and the overall angle and direction of the pose in a limited amount of time.  Before moving on from this point the gesture of the figure must be captured.

Because of the diagonal direction of the arms, countered against her upper body, this pose presented it's own set of challenges.  So I was constantly checking my angles- vertical, horizontal and diagonal to see how everything lines up. For instance a vertical check or imaginary plumb line would show how the ear, shoulder, elbow, and knee all vertically line up!  

Have a great day!

Day 9 of the Art Challenge

Ballerina Sketch

graphite/charcoal

14" x 11"

Here is a quick sketch... which was really fun to do. And I'll be doing a few more of these faster dance sketches coming up this week.  Time just seems to evaporate lately and deadlines are approaching.  So I will have some fun with these quick gestural drawings. Especially since this week is already jammed full with other art stuff--

Have a great day!

Day 8 of the "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Treetop

graphite/charcoal

11" x 14"

I have always been enamored with skies in any way--sunny, stormy, sunset, sunrise.

 And have been stopping to photograph a great sky whenever I get the chance.

This sky I spotted as I was driving. My camera was with me,

so I pulled over on the side of the road and took the photograph looking through the windshield. 

It was a great shot of the clouds. 

But honestly I really didn't want the treetop.  It just got in the way of those gorgeous cumulus-nimbus clouds. But later when I looked at the photograph I kind of liked the trees peeking in the view.

So here it is.

Day 7 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Friesian Horse Study

charcoal

13" x 11"

The Friesian Horse is such a magnificent breed!  I had the opportunity to see a Friesian Horse Show a few years back and was blown away. They are just amazing to watch in person!

Do you remember the movie 'The Mask of Zorro'?....starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones?  Zorro's horse was a beautiful Friesian.  For the filming, six different Friesian horses were used...

just a little movie trivia for you.

Well it's been a full week into the challenge. Yay!  I've got a week under my belt!

Day 6 of " 30 in 30"

Shells

10" x 12"

graphite, charcoal, pastel

The Nautilus Shell has got to be the coolest shell!  I guess its because of it's strong spiral design.

It's my favorite of all,

but it's buddy the Marble Cone Seashell is beautiful too.

So there they are together!

I've always admired there beauty but, I've never drawn them before.

 This was fun!

Day 5 Art Challenge

'Protector' Study

graphite/charcoal

8" x 10"

Day 5

Since it was late in the day when I started working I chose a familiar reference photo. It is an image from a series of photographs that I photographed for my watercolor painting 'Protector'.

So yes...I'm thinking, it's late in the day so why not choose something I know
to help speed things along?

Well... many interruptions later..dinner, taking dog out, cat laying on artwork, and sleep,

here it is.

I had to keep listening to my teacher voice

"You can do it just remember the shapes...abstract shapes."

They are the main fundamental that I teach in my art classes.

If you see the shapes and their relationship to each other you've got the foundation 

for your drawing or painting.  

Now that's enough art instructor ramblings...

I photographed the drawing as I worked so

I can share the step-by-step photos with you later.

Horse Drawing, Day 4, 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

Horse Study
9" x 12"
graphite/charcoal

Day 4 of the challenge

 I was determined to finish earlier than last night! So here is today's work and yay it's not even dark out yet.

As you might have noticed I love to draw and paint horses.--That's true.  Trying to capture their strength and beauty is always a stimulating challenge.

To see more equestrian art check out my website 
http://mariedonato.com/equestrian/ 

Horse Drawing, Day 3, Art Challenge

charcoal/graphite study
9" x 12"

                                                                            Day 3

Well, the art challenge this month has been giving me the deadline I need to produce a daily work, then photograph and size the work and then finally write and post to my blog.---Which probably wouldn't have happened without it....at least not all three steps at once! Kind of like blogging boot camp. ha-ha!

Conquering the digital world is one of my main short-term goals. It's my mountain. And I won't improve without doing..right? So this is huge for me. Bought a new digital camera and discovering new things about it every time I photograph my work.-- Well, that's enough about all that.

Hope you enjoy the work and have a great day!

To view more Equestrian Art
http://mariedonato.com/equestrian/

Day Two of the "30 in 30" Art Challenge!

                                           
                                                                   Ballerina Study
                                                                       12" x 15"

Drawing and painting the figure is an absolute love for me. ...And especially dance figures!

30 Day Art Challenge!

                                                

                                                 Horse Study  12" x 17"  charcoal/graphite

I'm joining Leslie Saeta's 30 Day Art Challenge for September!  

In this 30 day challenge my goal is to produce a drawing or painting every day this month. My hope is that I will not only produce more art but will also improve my blogging skills. We all need deadlines and challenges and that definitely includes me!  So every day I will be posting a new art image or as closed to every day as I can.  It will be an assortment of graphite/charcoal study drawings, and some pastel works thrown in as well.  Wish me luck!