Nude Girl Drawings by a Blue Ridge Parkway Artist and 31 Stomachs...

Nude Girl Drawings by Kendall Kessler

I want to start off with one of my Youtube videos!  I am adding one a week so I want to be sure to get them out to the public!

Here are two more selections in black and white that I decided to make color versions of.  What a great experience to look at a completed drawing and re-interpret it in color!  

As I have mentioned before, some of them I like better in color and some in black and white.  Art is always an experience for me that can't be explained.

Reaching Out     24"x 18"  Original Charcoal Drawing      $894

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at     KENDALL KESSLER

Reaching Out in Color     24"x 18"  Original Pastel Painting      $894

Prints on Paper or Canvas Available at     KENDALL KESSLER

When I taught in the Art Department at Radford Univerisity I would try to explain Art to students but I found the only way I could really explain it was to have them do it, which is why my Art Appreciation classes were "Hands On".  

When students had to make visual decisions then they started to catch on to what Art is all about.  Drawing is integral to the discipline but Art is so much more then reproducing nature.

In this case I prefer the color painting to the black and white drawing.  The color accents are strong and I like the light effect better in the pastel one. 

Life with the Word and Bird Man - Clyde Kessler

Last year I decided to take off a lot of years from our ages.  I asked my husband how it felt to be thirty years old!  The only response I got was a sour look.

Yesterday was his birthday so I asked him how it felt to turn thirty-one.  This year I got a sour look and a sour comment.

You mean turn 31 stomachs when they look at me?

Ha Ha.  No, that is not what I meant.

Patron is Happy and It is simple Arithmetic

I am so glad my patron for my latest portrait commission is happy.  I always check with them before it is completed to see if they are happy with the likeness.  She is thrilled with the painting and took a picture with her phone to show her husband.  Portraits are so tricky.  One of my favorite sayings is, Don't do portraits because there is always something wrong around the mouth.  I am proud to say I have always had 100% success rate with commissions and would be glad to do more.  This patron is making plans for the next commission of her daughter after this one is done.

As I have said before sometimes you just can't get to the mute button fast enough.  There is a commercial on now that is really irritating my husband.  The announcer claims it is simple physics, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  My husband's response is, it is simple arithmetic.  You have a drug to sell me and I am not going to buy it.  The  answer is zero sales.

Be sure to check out my sales on Fine Art America in The Limited  Time section and look for my best seller, "Reaching Out", on The Mindy Project.  I have had to miss a few but I  did see it on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 18th episodes.  I hope it was visible last night.

Check out my YouTubes and Headaches...

I have been working hard on some YouTubes of my work in spite of two sick guys at home.  My husband is better but my son took a few days off last week and then started a secondary infection that swelled his throat up so much he could hardly talk.  Anyway, I am proud of my efforts and I hope people keep checking them out.  The first one is on my Beautiful Nude Series which includes "Reaching Out" which was picked out of over three million works of art on Fine Art America to be on The Mindy Project.  The second one is on my portrait work and includes my recent portrait of world famous violinist David Garrett and the third one is on the beautiful Blue Ridge Vistas that I have made and sold many paintings of.  I live in the most beautiful place in the world and I never tire of painting it and adding my own special interpretation.

A new commercial about a help center got my husband and I joking around as usual.  The center is called The Headache Center, and , of course, the purpose is to help people who suffer from headaches but we couldn't help cracking jokes about how this must be  the place to go if you need a headache.  This week only, two for one sale! Buy one headache and get the second one free!  No offense to the center but I think they might consider adding the word Relief to the name.

I am working on a portrait this week that I didn't finish a long time ago.  Yes, artists do go back to old work sometimes which is why it is always good to sell them.  Sometimes revisions kill the initial effort.  Fingers crossed!

I Know Why Sargent said That and I am Not Going Any Place Where...

John Singer Sargent made a good living off of painting portraits of people that could afford them. Commissions are very difficult. What artists consider to be a good painting is not always what the sitter wants. People always disagree on what is a good likeness, even if the portrait is a photograph-oftentimes especially if it is a photograph. When Sargent hit fifty he closed shop. He said he would paint your barn or your fence but not your face. I think you have to be a painter to know how frustrating portraits can be. I have been fortunate and no one has ever complained but I have not done that many. I will still do them when asked but it is a difficult task.

My naturalist husband is always at his studies. When he is not doing field work he is compiling data on the computer. He has devoted his life to educating as many people as possible on what we have and how to take care of it. He is still working on a CD on Butterflies of the Blue Ridge which I hope will be out soon. Problems with the photographer have delayed progress. I have often wondered why he doesn't want to travel to Africa or South America for a completely different experience. He has studied species in Mexico and North Carolina but no where else outside of Virginia. I asked him why he won't travel to more exotic places and he said he isn't going anywhere where the wildlife is waiting for him with a fork and spoon as soon as he gets off the bus. I see his point.

Blogging and Looking for Hours

So much to do all the time. I wish someone would add hours to the day. Today I put in several hours on a portrait of my husband and son. The painting is based on a photograph I took when my son was nine months old. I have done a number of portraits of them from photos but I didn't think this one would work but now I realize it is an excellent start for me to build on with my personal expression. I am so excited to be reaching into the past with this work but I need to take better pictures for several pages of my website portfolio, work on images for my classes next semester, work on items that need repairing in my house, spend time with my husband, son and friends... The list goes on and on and all she wants to do is paint!

Here is one of the paintings I want to add to my portfolio among many others that I need good weather and good light to revise. Hopefully I will get some of that done next week. I am especially proud of the brushwork and delicate color contrast in this painting, " A Tree Poem".

Check out my work at kendall-kessler.artistwebsites.com