my way!

This week has seen me tackling some oils and pastels in my classes.
I'd almost forgotten how much fun pastels can be. They're so spontaneous and mucky!!
It's probably the one media that you can get very realistic effects without much effort. Using these can make sketching much quicker and as there is no drying time involved, you can produce a number of finished pieces in less time.
this month i have managed to finish one large flower painting, which my daughters have absconded with to their bedroom. I'm still working on my commissions, the project is slow as every glaze on every character has to dry before the next. For those who know me, know I don't do very small paintings and these paintings have a lot of small details on them, which also slows my progress down, but the end is in sight. Just one and 1/2 characters to go and a little tweaking here and there and I'm done.

I hope that this next year will see me produce more of my own work and maybe I'll get more of the work out there. I'd like to produce another book next year that's based on the process of creating art rather than the finished article. I noted even while working commissions that if I neglect to follow the process I make some monumental mistakes, that require a part or all of the painting to be repainted.
I have made some of the most stupidest mistakes, through not concentrating properly on my process/procedure.
There have been mistakes which I really have no excuses for - moral of story! have a plan, make sure it works and stick to it.
A plan like, research first, sketches and exploration next, colour studies and tonal thumbnails, followed by a quicker full colour small version, in a quicker drying media, then make any corrections cogitate on it for a while or let the client if there is one do the cogitating. Although many artists have their own way of working they will eventually introduce their own way of working that keeps their work at it s best.
Whats yours??