Paula's Painting

Anybody who knows me is aware I am a gigantic fan of the Food Network Show Paula's Home Cooking. I absolutely adore this lovely little gal for her delicious food and kooky attitude. She makes me think of what I am probably going to be like at her age (and if I move to the South!). One of the more subtle aspects of the show is seeing the beautiful Savannah, GA scenery in between segments. I want to visit there, as it has a sentimental, relaxed charm that seems to be of a different time.
Well, anyways, This perspective of Savannah had inspired the painting below, and I sent it directly to Ms. Deen care of her restaurant just in time for her birthday. I hope she likes it!



This was done with oil pastels, which is one of my favourite mediums to use. They have the mist vivid colours, and the soft, waxy texture is just pure heaven to push underneith my fingers. Although I typically stick to abstracts when using them, I had a lot of fun with what it brought to this unusual still life. I wish the picture was more clear. My method with this tool is completely unorthodox and a direct contradiction to 'proper' pastel use. In tutorial guides, as well as in school, it's always been said that the pastels should run smoothly together, using light layers but never allowing the strokes to actually show. In one book, it's written "This is the mark of an ammature to see the actual pressure strokes with the crayon". Well, screw that, I love the way the strokes appear, especially when colours are thickly layered over eachother. It doesn't look like a drawing, but instead becomes a painting. Rather than using the medium in it's mini-crayon form, I allow it to become brushstrokes, cutting the colours into eachother. I frequently use a pallete knife to make this even more prominent, as I did with the flowers in the vase. The peaches below are also a layer of four different hues, pushed together with a smudge stick. On the whole, I think it turned out great!