Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Front Range


Underpainting: acrylic + marble dust, somewhat sanded down, on panel.




View from inside my studio, looking out into the house (studio is connected to the house, separated by this glass door). It is so hard to concentrate on my artwork when I look over and see this winsome little face staring at me, hoping I'll come out and play.
(Taken with iPhone.)




In the Jaipur Air Palace.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

8 comments:

loriann signori said...

Nice experimentation with surface. What do you think of marble dust? It's my fave.
Sweet choice of color.

Karen said...

Good stuff going on in the experimenting front! It will be really cool and interesting to see what the workshop brings to all of this!

Sheila Vaughan said...

Love the subtlety and quiet strength of these last two pieces Jala. The English painter David Brayne works with marble dust and water colour but I've not been able to find it in UK yet. What make do you use?

Unknown said...

sweet cat, it is so cute. the picture look like it is paintet.

r garriott said...

Intriguind beginning... Looking forward to seeing the next stage! (and, always... more kitties)

( :

Caroline Simmill said...

Beautiful painting in it's simplicity and colouring. I wonder what size it is.

Jala Pfaff said...

Hi Loriann - I really like the marble dust, it's got a great feel... how do you get so many pastel layers onto it, though? It seems like it can only take a couple of pastel layers. Do you use several coats of marble dust in acrylic, sanding between them, or...?

Karen - Thanks!

Thanks, Sheila. I can't imagine wanting to paint with a combination of watercolor and marble dust (unless I were going to put pastel on top of that). I don't know that the marble dust is any particular brand...just ordered a small bag of it off of an art supply website (Dick Blick). You get a lot of it for very little money. I wonder if it's literally scraped off the floor of sculpture studios and then sold to us?

Hi Pia, glad you like my kitties!

R - Always more kitties, not to worry. ;)

Hi Caroline, thank you. It's very small: just 5" x 5". I think I might like doing a bigger one like it, but it never works when I try to repeat myself. So I probably won't try. :)

loriann signori said...

Hi Jala,
Marble dust..hmmm. I have found it best to use a couple of thin layers in gesso or acrylic medium rather than one thick layer. When wanting a chewier surface I have even added it to the Golden fine pumice mix. Each way provides a completely different surface with its pluses and minuses. Good luck!