Thanks for last weeks’ challenge Tim Livingston at The Forester Artist and Sylvia of Anotherdaytoparadise. I was happy to be able to finish all 15 pieces in a week and the challenge turned out to be an excellent learning experience making it worth the time and effort. I’m still finding my way with charcoal, these quick drawings were great for reinforcing form/shapes, value ranges, light/shadow and loose strokes. The only downside was all the black dust, wish you could have seen my studio – lol!
Here are all 15 drawings by day of the challenge. What follows after is the title and reference information. For those references that weren’t mine, I took a lot of liberty with the image to make the drawing my own.
Each individual piece is on my drawing gallery above
(allows you to see a better close-up of details)
Day 1: The Glass, Tall, Ghost Bottle
Day 2: The Drip, The Hats, The Cup
Day 3: Flowers for You, Single, Basket Full
Day 4: My Daisy, Time to Wander, Spent
Day 5: Summer Breeze, Abandoned, Catching Rays
Day 1: Glass Reflections (reference: my own setup)
Day 1: Tall (reference: Viacheslav, pmp)
Day 1: Ghost Bottle (reference: Viacheslav, pmp)
Day 2: The Drip (reference: Viacheslav, pmp)
Day 2: The Hats (reference: Sarah Finn, pmp)
Day 2: The Cup (reference: my own setup)
Day 3: Flowers for You (reference: Manneheim and Annie Bennett, both pmp)
Day 3: The Single (reference: Viacheslav, pmp)
Day 3: A Basket Full (reference: Maria Barcells, pmp)
Day 4: My Daisy (reference: Susanne Helmkuhn, pmp)
Day 4: Time to Wander (reference: my own imagination)
Day 4: Spent (reference: Charlie Capuano, pmp)
Day 5: Summer Breeze (reference: Gwen Card, pmp)
Day 5: Abandoned (reference: my own image)
Day 5: Catching Rays (reference: Serge Schmit, pmp)
Oil Pastels by Mary 
What a challenge, Mary! Glad you had fun meeting it! Hard work mixed with fun, what could be better? 😉
Thank you so much Patsy for your cool feedback and comment. That’s just it – I had to let myself go and have a good time at it, or the challenge would have stressed me out. Thanks!!
All absolutely perfect!
Thank you Elizabeth – really appreciate your feedback! Was a great exercise.
pulling up the rear is always a great bonus, as the comments are always interesting… the dust affects my ‘hayfever’ — except i just finished allergy tests, which showed i was allergic to —— nothing!
go figure, she says as she blows her nose for the millionth time this year!
am writing from bus and had best ‘send’ before we roll 9out of town and away from the signl… z
What a great comment Z loved it of course ~ glad to hear that you have no allergies, but your body maybe is telling you something different. Have a good trip, stay safe ~
Proof that working hard and challenging oneself pays off in spades! Absolutely wonderful, Mary!
Thank you so much for your beautiful comment Elena. Learned a lot about charcoal and how versatile it is.
Not an easy challenge but you did a wonderful job Mary! Amazing❤️
Love the painting of a flower in glass pot❤️
Hi Violet – thank you so much for such positive feedback. It means a lot to me ~ have a great weekend!
I think it was not an easy or simple challenge but what a great result!
robert
Thank you Robert, really appreciate that you stayed with the challenge for me. I did enjoy working through it, actually was a little refreshing.
What a beautiful collection. It’s a virtual Art Show!
Thank you, I rather like your description! Very cool, yes that’s what we’ll call it, a virtual Art Show. Thanks again ~
You have definitely risen to this challenge Mary! I love your Daisy. Great work. 🙂
Thank you Karen! I do like the Daisy too ~ I was a little intimidated to give it a go, but glad I did in the end.
Great work!
Hi Eunice, thanks so much!
Well done Mary. You hit it out of the park! I’m glad you did the challenge. The charcoals are awesome!
Thank you so much Tim, well this work would have never gotten even close to being done or the subjects chosen if it wasn’t for your challenge. It was a great exercise for me, learned a lot too – so all n’ all I’m thrilled that I participated. Thanks again – hmmmmmm, now what can I throw your way!!
Uh oh … what have I gotten myself into now.
They’re all so wonderful! I like day 4 with its “time to wander” 🙂
Hi Christy, great to see you. Thanks very much – that was a fun scene to draw from purely imagination. Glad you enjoyed it.
oops, not oil pastels as you do, but chalk pastels.
Cool challenge! Love seeing all of them together. Great job Mary! Would love to see you work in pastels. xoxo
Thanks Rhonda. I tried soft pastels for a month when I first started painting and was shocked at how much dust went flying around and also I kept ingesting it – so I’ve had to stay away from the softies. Great suggestion though, because the effects of soft pastels are gorgeous.
Same here. I can’t take the dust but love the effects. Didn’t know you’d done that already. Sorry.
Not a problem at all Rhonda – I admire soft pastelists and wish I didn’t have so much trouble with the dust. But I receive your earlier note while working on a charcoal drawing and thought okay why not, put a spot of color (with my softies) into the drawing. So tomorrow will probably post – you nudged me to have a go (and naturally some color, that I’m missing in my recent work). Anyway stay tuned and please don’t ever feel you have to apologize for a suggestion or an idea – because you just never know how important it can be for me. Thanks again ~ hope you are having a good break!
Very cool! This is what I love about good community and art friendships. It brings inspiration. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!! xo 👍😊
These made me like feel like I’m on a farm near the woods, a warm summer breeze, crickets chirping…thank you, it’s a lovely feeling in the this freezing weather. 🙂
Beautiful and loved your description of what the work meant to you. Have a great day ~
Beautiful seeing them all together. I especially like day 3 and day 4….I guess I’m drawn to flowers. Thanks for sharing them.
Thank you for your lovely feedback and thoughts – flowers are a newer subject for me w/o much practice so I want to spend more time in developing this area. Thanks again ~
Impressive to see them together, lovely collection and remarkable achievement! Congratulations Mary, loved to follow the process! Have a most wonderful week!
I love the ghost bottles, Mary! Art on.
Hi Millie – so nice, thank you!!
These are beautiful. They feel soothing and quiet.
Thanks Sharon!!
remarkable art Mary, absolutely lovely.
Thank you Holly,you are very kind! Have a great week ~
Oh, my dear Mary, what a crop!!!!! 🙂
Happy Monday and new week! xx
Thanks Marina! Happy Monday to you as well, or I should say Happy Tuesday! Best wishes with your latest album!
I love glass reflections and the cup—we so rarely see you venture away from 2D references into our 3D world of life—and Time to Wander, from imagination. Congratulations, Mary!
Thanks Cynthia. The whole of last week was very unexpected, but yielded results I’m happy with and came with learning experiences that will carry forward in not only charcoal/graphite mediums but oil pastels as well. Glad you enjoyed my world of 3D – there will be more to come. Thanks again for your encouragement and support – means a lot.
Wow, what an accomplishment! Each drawing is gorgeous. Thank you!
Thank you very much Resa, I really appreciate it!
I love how you putting your 5-day B&W drawings in one gallery!
Thanks Amy!
Time to Wander is my personal favourite.
Thanks Simla – I really appreciate it.
Love them all. Day 5: Summer Breeze, Abandoned, Catching Rays certainly stands out for me.
Thank you Lee for your support and feedback! Catching Rays is up there on my list too ~
Wow, don’t know that I could pull off 15 pieces in 15 days. What a great experience.
Hi Mona, you are way too kind ~ thanks very much. Charcoal is helping me loosen up my strokes and overall feel to my drawings which I hope will translate when I go back to painting with oil pastels.