OK, OK Already!

Sunrise on St. Mary's - 24 x 18" pastel on paper

I can tell everyone is getting antsy for a new painting. I've lost subscribers to my blog, and no one is emailing me anymore.

Well, here y'go. After a rather length vacation (yes, the project is finished - thank goodness!), I'm back at my easel.

The photo for this picture came from a fellow Etsy artist's blog. This picture presented some challenges. The biggest hurdle was keeping the waterfall and the surrounding rocks in a dark enough value range that the sunshine would be dominant. The original photo only had a hint of sun at the very top (and hardly any of the trees), so I had to make up the rest.

This painting is a good example of how a color can look differently depending on what it's background is. The sun highlights on the rocks to the right are actually a light orange color, but on the purple, they, too, take on a purple color - weird, huh?

I'm going to let it sit on my mantelpiece downstairs for a few days until I sign it. If you see anything that needs adjusting, let me know!

Thanks,

Pastel Guy

www.matthewweld.com - pastel paintings

www.studio206.etsy.com - handmade jewelry for sale

Choosing Colors

It was born in 1971. It's now 37 years old.

I'm talking about our house.

We've lived here about seven of those years, and haven't really done too much to it. Sure, I painted the outdoor trim, repainted the kitchen and cut archways into the kitchen walls, but any major improvement has been put off. We did the usual thing and bought absolutely as much house as we could at that time. Fortunately, our salaries have increased over the years to a point where we're not eeking out our last week of groceries until the next payday.

But the time has come (as walruses say...).

Today we had a contractor/plumber in to put in a manmade marble surround in the kids's bathroom and to change the tub into a shower, so they can quit using ours. Their tub has been unusable for a couple of years now. But after tomorrow, it will be up and running (and better than ours!).

Then we chose some wooden interior fiberglass Marvin windows to put all around the house. Unfortunately with the economic downturn, our Home Equity Loan came back at about half of what we expected, so we can only do part of the house. I guess that means less to pay off in the future, right?

Through all this myriad of decisions, my wife and I have been on the same page. Window styles, tub surround colors and hardware, deck supplies, etc. But when we were in Lowe's the other day to find paint colors for our bedroom and for the living/dining area, we were polar opposites. She wanted dark red for the bedroom, and I was ready to go with a pale yellow (her fave color). For the living room, I wanted a rich khaki color, but she claimed that it was too dark, and so she picked an off-white. ACK! Fortunately, Lowe's sells those little tester cans, so we bought several (it'll be beautiful...). I'll let you know what happens.

Until next time,
Pastel Guy
www.matthewweld.com
www.studio206.etsy.com