I have a few things to tell you this month.

I am showing at the Arbor Senior Apartments for the First Friday Art Hop.

Arbor Senior Apartments
115 Louie Ave.
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

For March 2nd ONLY!

They have some restrictions that do not allow artists to hang their exhibits all month. I will be at the Arbor Senior Apartments (in the foyer) for one day, Friday, March 2, 2012 and will be removing the exhibition Saturday.

I have included a coupon (see below) for all my Ezine friends to save some money, so come see all the goodies I’ll be offering.

I’m showing 12 paintings, 1 notebook, and 2 desk calendars. I also have 2 (old) 2011 desk calendars and my book, that we can order if you like. I also have some notecards available. It’ll be so much fun to see my friends on Friday.

Arbor will host the show, offering snacks, wine, and live music. Don’t miss this wonderful affair.

On a different note; I have always taken hand-me-downs, all my life. I am an only child, but I have many – many – cousins. We always handed down our clothing, since children grow so fast and clothes aren’t cheap. Still in my daily life, I cannot throw good things away. I always swap with my girlfriends, or give to the non-profit stores.

With this in mind, I have always taken everyone’s hand-me-down computers. I have never bought a brand-new computer for myself.

Well this is a new year!

I have a new Mac Pro for myself. Just bought it and paid full price. I love it… I  L O V E  I T !

Now I’m loading software, pictures, and music to get it up to speed. This time it’s all my junk and no one else’s. Can’t complain now, because it’s all my stuff. Wooo Hooo!

Don’t forget to have fun!

New Painting

While loading all my music, I ran across Leon Russell’s tunes that I had not heard in so long. I looked him up on Google and found quite a few photos of him. I found a TV special with him and Elton John (another favorite of mine) called Union. Wow. Leon is getting so old, and while recording, had to have a brain tumor removed!
I found a great shot of him and decided to make a charcoal portrait of him.

Leon Russell 18″x24″ Matted and Framed

I’ll be showing him at Arbor Senior Apartments for First Friday Art Hop.
Art Tip

While working on my charcoal portrait, I love one of my charcoal pencils, and tried to find it on the web to buy a new one. Apparently they no longer make the exact brand name.   Eagle brand, Charco 310 can’t be found anywhere. I even found a website that had pictures of all the Eagle brand pencils that were made, and mine was not listed.

Wow. I think I have an antique pencil?

I left a message and a picture with the website, but no response. I ordered other pencils from Dick Blick, and more stumps. I actually bought a kit, since it had a lot of things that I use. The Eagle Charco 310 pencil is so smooth and dark, I can’t find a replacement that is as good.

They just don’t make them like they used to! Hah!

I use a chamois to put large blocks of negative space down first. I just try to block in the form, adjusting the proportions as I go. I take a pencil and scrub it onto a secondary paper, then take my chamois and pick-up charcoal with it, and apply it to my painting.

I work from top-left to bottom-left so I don’t drag my arm across the painting. When I start detailing the painting, I use a clean sheet of paper to cover the painting, so I don’t smudge it with my arm. I usually put at least 3 layers of charcoal for the background, using even strokes at first, and circular strokes as the background gets heavier and darker. I try not to put any heavy lines on the painting that are hard to erase or cover up.

I finish by turning the painting upside-down. When you do that, the painting no longer looks like a face, so problems glare out to you. Try it and you’ll see.