Karen Ciocca's Pastel Art

tea cup – pastel

Karen Ciocca — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:16:03 +0000

I was trying out my new pan pastels and painted this in two nights after work. I really like the pan pastels to block in the painting, its like painting with pallet knives with sponges on the ends. give them a try!

Winners of the First Annual Autumn Arts Painting Challenge

Karen Ciocca — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:00:35 +0000

The winners were announced yesterday for the challenge! Nearly a thousand entries to this free global event. The artwork was created in October and had to be submitted by October 30th.

Artists who participated were anxiously biting their nails while the three nationally acclaimed judges Soon Y Warren, Gladys de Moran, and Marsha Savage made their decisions.

Congratulations to all the winners! It was an amazing collection of art.

You can view all the winners at this blog
http://autumnpaintingchallenge.blogspot.com

This piece won best of show by
Jennifer L. Hoffman, “Winding Through,” Pastel on mounted paper

Artists Network – Competitions

Karen Ciocca — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:01:57 +0000

Hi everyone, there are some very cool competitions to try and get into and the deadlines are coming up fast!

Click on the link below to find out!

Artists Network – Competitions

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New Mt Vision Pastels

Karen Ciocca — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:06:04 +0000

I ordered these Mt Vision Pastels to try. An artist friend uses them and recommended them to me. I tried them out last night and I really like them. They are bigger than Sennelier and the colors are vibrant and beautiful. They are just soft enough.

I picked my selection of colors by opening a pic I want to paint in Photoshop and sampled the main colors of the image. I love my color selection, I have enough sky, earth, grays, bright yellows and oranges to do my fall scene. I thought it was a good way to get just the colors I needed.

Look back later and I will post the painting I am working on.

my new set of pastels just arrived!

Karen Ciocca — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:22:13 +0000

I have been working with less than great quality pastels and have been very frustrated and really wasting so much material, paper, time and pastels on art that could be better. I do think its important to have good quality art supplies. The pastels I have are not really bad but on the hard side. So it was very hard to layer to get the desired effect. So I ordered Terry Ludwig’s Maggie Price basic values set. I couldn’t have picked better colors for a set myself. They are a great mixture of landscape colors in different values, they are so soft. I can’t wait to try them out so stay tuned.

My niece’s baby

Karen Ciocca — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:36:12 +0000

Pastel portrait of my niece’s 6 month old Zoey

What’s beyond the bend

Karen Ciocca — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:52:31 +0000

This was from an old photo my dad sent me from when I was a kid and we camped across country.

Drawing from the model

Karen Ciocca — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:13:49 +0000

One of my favorite exercises is to draw from the model. This one I did a few years back when I used to go to the Creative Arts Workshop to draw from the model on Friday nights.
I am sorry I forgot the name of this model but I loved to draw her because she had black hair and very light skin and could keep the pose for a long time. I think drawing from the model helps you improve your drawing skills tremendously. This exercise can help prepare you to do portraits if you can get a good likeness in the three hours. First we did warm-ups of 2 minute, then 10 minute, then 20 minute sketches and finally did a 2-3 hour drawing. The group of artists that came to work every week were at different levels ans styles and we would critique each other or get some guidance. It was a good time where you left with a feeling of accomplishment. I highly recommend finding an art studio group to draw or paint from a model. Colleges and art groups, or even some galleries may hold a workshop for a fee every week. It is not a class but moderated by someone and you work any way you like. Happy drawing.

Blue Morning

Karen Ciocca — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:28:12 +0000

This is the pier in Rodanthe, NC where we vacationed last week. The clouds and sunrise were always so colorful.

Southford Falls

Karen Ciocca — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:12:55 +0000

Southford Falls, pastel

This is the covered bridge down below the falls, the water was rushing because of all the rain of late. My Daughter and I brought our dog Rose for a hike there Saturday. It was a beautiful day and thank goodness, as there was a wedding party there taking pictures. Its a great place to go for plein-air painters as there a lily pads, and trails and the rocky stream with the falls.