"In The Light Reading" A Portrait of Rose N. Muschick by Artist Katherine M. Schneider

A sunny spot and a good book are timeless pleasures. For this portrait, I used contrasting artistic elements to express a quiet, relaxed moment.

Warm red and orange tones in the sitter's face and hair stand out against cool blues and greens in the shadows.

The "hard" edge of the face in profile brings this area into focus as the softer, "lost" edges at the back of the hair cause that area to fade into the background.

The high value of the colors in the light adds drama and interest against the darker, lower values of the shadow tones.

Warm vs. cool colors, hard vs. soft edge treatments, high vs. low values plus the strong diagonal design of light falling across the picture plane are all artistic elements I used to add interest to this portrait of my mother.

"In the Light Reading"
Pastel on prepared panel
20"x17"

Cold and Flu Season for my Computer

My computer caught a virus several weeks ago. Don't know how or where, but there it was - my computer wouldn't get up and run.

No blogging, no email, no internet, nothing...



I called in the"Doctors" from tech support who after much hard work have finally gotten the ailing system up and running.

Thanks Dana and David. You guys rock!







Meanwhile, I've been working on portrait commissions and waiting for better weather to get back outside and paint "en plein air."

Hope to be able to post more frequently now that my system is well.

Some interesting new plein air painting and exhibiting opportunities are coming up in the next few months. More about those later.