MaryClara & Scout #8

MaryClara & Scout #8, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

Coming down the home stretch! The tack took some work... lots of little details. Sometimes I get a little too caught up in those details... but I want the client to be happy and do not want it to look like I pile of leather in the back ground. Now I will just be finishing up the grass and pulling it all together. I like to make sure that I use colors from the back ground also in the subjects and vice versa! I think it goes a long way to making my work... work! I don't want to have a "green" back ground and a "gray" horse... In nature colors are reflected all around us. It is what makes my subjects "fit" into their back grounds.... they are a part of it, as they really are. Hope that makes some sense!!

Sorry I have lax in posting... I had a big weekend here... I was taking photos at the Live Oak International Combined Driving and jumping competition. It is a really big deal! I have missed it in the past 2 years because it conflicted with the Aiken Steeplechase, which I did the poster for last year and photographed the year before. But I made up for it this year! I also was lucky enough to get a media pass... so I could get in the ring to shoot. But my favorite is taking photos in the warm up area... of the driving competition. I got some wonderful shots even though the weather was a little ifie! Some wild weather went through here... but the show got lucky... on saturday there was an 80% chance of severe weather.. it hopped over us and drenched everything north. On sunday the same scenario... but add high winds and tornadoes and hail... It bounced right over us and all that horrible weather was just south! Only 2 classes got cancelled. I will post some of my favorites in the next few days. I am hoping to do some collage work and possible get my work on their 2014 poster/program. And there are a few that are just begging to be pastels or oils! I also want to set up my work there next year... so I need some driving work!

MaryClara & Scout #7

MaryClara & Scout #7, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

I love doing denim! So many blues, purples and pinks!

MaryClara & Scout #6

MaryClara & Scout #6, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

MaryClara & Scout #5

MaryClara & Scout #5, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

I am just so pleased with the way this one is coming along!!!!! Usually I try to do white areas last. So that I don't get any dusting of darker colors on it. But Scout is behind MaryClara and it will be easier to lay her denim jeans on top of the white than the other way around. I will just have to be extra careful no to smear!

MaryClara & Scout #4

MaryClara & Scout #4, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

I enjoy doing gray/white horses... I love using all the blues, purples and pinks. Some grays... but I find that if you use too much gray the animal looks dirty. This is the second portrait I have done of Scout... the first one was done about 12 years ago. And he was covered in dapples! Now at 21 he is all white! I will post that portrait at the end of this progression. It was done on velour.

MaryClara & Scout #3

MaryClara & Scout #3, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

Sorry I missed taking a pic here.... but once I am working on my subject and it is going well, I hate to stop! I was so into it that I forgot to take a photo! MaryClara was easy but the sweater....!! But it was worth the extra effort. I actually mixed 2 different photos for MaryClara and I had to get a bit creative with her hands/arms. The details on the sweater actually helped in the end to camouflage the changes.

MaryClara & Scout #2

MaryClara & Scout #2, originally uploaded by debifitz.

pastel on PastelMat
private collection
19"X26"

www.djfitzgerald.com
www.facebook.com/D.J.Fitzgerald.Art

I am so happy with this back ground! But I am spending so much time working on them lately! I have decided to start charging for them in my future commissions! Its funny that I have never really been into doing landscapes just for a landscape. But since most of my photographs are taken outdoors, I think it just looks better with them. I know another artist who defines a pastel as a painting when the entire paper is covered in pastel... and it is a drawing if paper is left exposed. I can see that....