Tuesday, November 29, 2011

More on the eagle painting...

I have not been able to work on this piece for a few days but it did feel nice to hop in the seat at the easel again. Although it does not look like I have achieved much work on the bird, there is a significant amount of time spent blending and shaping the pastel on the paper; something that simply cannot be rushed.

 I hope you enjoy following my updates as much as I enjoy sharing them with you!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Another bird painting on the easel

For my next project, I thought it would be exciting to create a nontraditional composition of a familiar birds' cropped face, close-up.
Many of you might recognize this national iconic bird already, with only just the eye showing. Once again, I am using a variety of pastel pencils on archival sanded paper.


Thursday, November 24, 2011

Black Capped Chickadee Painting

For this composition, I used two of my reference photographs and rearranged/re sized the birds and tree branch/trunk until I reached a desirable composition. I originally had come up with 4 different poses but finally decided on this particular one since the position of the birds and tree recreated the most pleasing and balanced arrangement.

I am delighted to have been able to complete this painting in a relatively short time!

Black Capped Chickadee Painting in Pastel by Colette Theriault
"Two's Company" ~ Black Capped Chickadees
pastel on archival sanded paper
14" x 11"

To view the progression of this painting, visit my website here:
http://www.colettetheriault.com/descriptions/workinprogess/Chickadees_wip.php

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Today's update on the chickadee painting

I have worked more of the birch bark on this step and slowly working my way to the right and downwards to prevent smudging the pastel. Accidental smudging is much more of an issue when working pastels on sandpaper as opposed to using suede or velour. But then, one can easily blend the pastel on the sandpaper; virtually impossible on the flock type surface of the velour and suede.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Chickadee painting step 4

As an animal artist who paints mainly fur, I have to admit that I am finding that recreating the birch bark on this scene is a refreshing change. I can't say that it is easy to follow the intricacies of the bark on the reference and then reproduce them on paper...it's probably because I am not used to drawing trees. So forcing myself to do so is a great exercise (which is what I consider this painting to be).

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Step 3 of Chickadee bird painting

I am not quite finished the second bird on this update as I decided to add some of the background color of the birch trunk to help me evaluate my values. I am looking forward to start working on the birch bark detail  and hope it won't present too much of a challenge but I am ready for it!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Step 2 of Chickadee bird painting

With the background now complete, I have begun to add the details of  one of the main subjects. Being right handed, it makes sense to work the bird on the branch on the left hand side first, to avoid smudging the painting as I work my way across.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Working backgrounds with pastels

I am happy to share that the horse portrait is now complete and waiting client approval! I will share the final scan of the work once I am sure that no other touch ups are needed, I promise!

Feeling a sense of relief, and wanting to indulge in my own creativity, I am now working on a wildlife bird scene of two black-capped chickadees. Since I received my order from Blick today, why not try my new Rembrandt's on the Colorfix Plein Air Painting Board?

After printing and cutting the outline of my subjects, I worked the background first, spreading the pastel with my fingers (I use finger cots now!) all the while using the cut-out paper as a guide and a mask. This is an easy and fast way to work backgrounds while keeping the area that needs to be free of color still virgin. I have included the two images below to illustrate my point.


-completed background with cut-out (grey-scale)

-background completed with cut-out removed leaving clean area with crisp edges


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Revisiting the Horse Portrait

I was fortunate to have had the chance to put this portrait aside in order to work on Christmas orders. I have a very patient client and am so thankful for her understanding! Since I am caught up somewhat on my work, I have decided that, since there is so little work (relatively speaking!) left to do to on this portrait, it deserves to be finished.  And so, here is the latest update I have so far. Let's hope on the next update the shoulder area will be filled in and the customer will have approved her painting!

Appaloosa Portrait Progress

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Tri-colored Shetland Sheepdog Painting in Pastel

In today's sitting I manged to sit long enough to complete the sheltie portrait. I still need to scan a high resolution copy for my files, as well as spray a light layer of fixative. I usually fix the pastel if it needs to be shipped out and, especially if there are muptiple layers of color. I find that white tends to be the worst pastel for dusting off.

Tri-colored Shetland Sheepdog Portrait in Pastel
"Cody" ~ Tri-colored Shetland Sheepdog Portrait
pastel on velour
11" x 14"
To view the progression of this portrait please visit my website here:

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

That Sheltie tongue!

I never thought that a dog's tongue could be so difficult to portray...the intricate groves and subtle tones and highlights along with the many different positions (it is a complex muscle!) means one has to really study it (and practice) in order to paint it realistically! It did not help that my reference photo had the muzzle (including the tongue and teeth) out of focus which made it that much more difficult.

Update on Sheltie portrait

I love drawing the markings, colors and fluffy long fur of shelties; their good looks make them handsome subjects for portraits.  This one is referred to as a tri-colored Shetland sheepdog because of his black, sable and white coat (white chest not yet visible).

On the next stage, I hope to have the mouth completed.

Gone to the dogs!

As my blogger and artist friend, Gary Keimig commented on one of my previous posts, it seems I have gone to the dogs. With yet another canine commission on the easel, I am busy getting portraits to their owners just in time for the Holidays. I share with you a few snap shots of the preliminary sketch and of the beginning of my next pastel k9 portrait.




Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Two sleeping buddies

Yesterday I was able to complete the portrait of the two dogs resting on the sofa. I have included a close up to show the details of their cute faces.

Pastel on suede
18" x 14"

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Dogs in pastel continued...

Here's a bit more that I completed on today's sitting. It won't be long until I start to work the detail of the sofa.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Dog portrait progress

I am so excited to have started working on the second dog! While the coat color is different than the lab, it does provides me with the opportunity to apply a different technique to recreate the fur thus avoiding monotony.
 The texture and pattern on the sofa will probably be the most challenging aspect of this piece so I reserve that for last. I have included the reference photo so that you can see the transformation of the "flash eye" effect that ruins so many pet photos. I did use a few other reference photos of the dog that were taken outside in natural light (showing much better eye detail) to help me capture the likeness of his eyes.