Two new paintings

These are two recent pastel paintings that I am so happy with. (You can see this new work starting October 9, at Red Sky Gallery, Charlotte, NC... their East Boulevard location... www.redskygallery.com)

Many things have converged this summer for my new body of 'figures in water'. First, a new permanent pastel studio space in addition to my existing studio means I can always have my pastel paintings going... and I have! I enjoy painting with oil, but pastels are my passion... my expressive medium!

This summer, I bought an underwater digital camera which really opened up the images I could capture in water... because I can SEE what I just shot! (This also helped to show the model what I like and am looking for.) Thankfully, I had access to a couple of different pools and models, including one place where I could do live figure study of the model next to or inside the pool! (Painting real water and real person helps me when I go back to the studio and work from photos.)

I'm varying my sizes, working with different color palettes and painting almost every day. This last part is tough because of all the other things I juggle. Anyone self employed knows it IS more difficult to get to work when you're working from home... many, many distractions. BUT, moving my permanent pastel studio space to another building has been great because I am leaving the house!

Do what you want with all this... I just wanted to share my thoughts on this cool body of work being the convergence of many things. (See more on www.carmellajarvi.com.)