Hope to post the final state of Reaching Out soon

I have been having a great and challenging time working on oil paintings and a pastel at the same time. I am very pleased with the final state of "Reaching Out". I have been wanting to use some previous drawings as starting points for expressive pastel works and I am off to a great start. I love the direct approach of pastels and the beautiful cosmetic like surface they create. When people ask me for portraits I try to talk them into pastels.

Anyway, here is the final state of "Reaching Out" which I will post on kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com as soon as the weather is good enough for me to get an outdoor shot.

Too Much to do and the sale of Samantha

It is so hard to blog when you are trying to update a portfolio, get ready for a November show, teach four classes, and keep up with housework. I am worn out but I wanted to write about Samantha which I recently sold. The paintings and pastels that I did of my son's friends are very special to me. I was neighborhood Mom for many years and it was a wonderful time. I took kids skating, swimming, bowling, and fishing. They are all adults now and their portraits are more than paintings to me. They are monuments to some of my favorite years.

I hope they will all continue to be viewed in other homes after I am gone. I work hard to sell my work. I don't want them to be thrown away. I hope someone will see them and experience the joy I experienced in raising my son.