Bushel of Crabs

I've wanted to paint a bushel of crabs for a long time.  I started working on this last spring and finished it up over the summer.  I particularly enjoyed painting the bushel itself.  The crabs were a little more complicated.  When I finished with the painting I then added a little pastel to the crabs just to highlight the shells.  It was alot of fun.

Right now I'm not really sure what direction I'm going in with my art work.  Sometimes I think I'd like to do some oils, colored pencils or maybe devote myself to learning pastels.  Then other times I think that I need to work on nothing but watercolor portraits for a while.  I really feel free at this point in my life to go in whatever direction suits me.  I just can't make a decision what to concentrate on next!

Festus

I painted Festus a while ago. A friend of mine found the picture and it was love at first sight. Painting it was one of those easy portraits. (If there is such a thing!) I especially enjoyed painting the hat and the clothes especially the tweed on his jacket.

Yesterday Amy Snowden came to the Chesapeake Bay Watercolorists meeting and did a demo on painting portraits.  I first noticed her work at the Virginia Watercolor Society.  She had painted a redheaded young woman that was spellbinding.    She has studied with Ted Nuttal and has picked up alot from him but her style is definitely her own.

I learned so much from her yesterday and when painting my other daughter today started applying some of her ways of looking at her painting process.  For example she spoke about painting the shapes of the face and not looking at it as painting a nose or a mouth or an ear.  As you paint the shapes the nose or mouth or ear just appears.  I love that I was able to work on a portrait so soon after seeing the demo.  It really helped me to experience the concepts of what she was demoing.