Gloria J Zucaro's "This One's For Dave"

My fellow artist friend, Dave Haley, always asks me to put some sky holes in my trees.  For some reason I usually hate to break up my dark trees with bits & pieces.  This week I decided to pacify him with paintings Numbers 21 & 22.  I also did those two trees in my series without any smoothing with my fingers, I only used other pastels to blend colors together.  If you missed my Facebook post last week or was it the week before(!) I did two paintings that week but didn't post on my blog.  That Thursday I had the movers come take out some furniture, many paintings and most of my mixed media supplies to get ready to "stage" my house for putting on the market. This week I am having my townhouse painted to freshen everything, then window washing is next and finally carpet cleaning.  

As far as my shoulders, I saw the surgeon and will be having shoulder replacement at the end of this year or in January. The other shoulder will need to be done at a later date. So now it is just procedures leading up to that.  Now that it is a definite go-ahead, I just want to GO-AHEAD!

Here are my last few pastel paintings in chronological order from the end of September until today.  I am posting this to Paint Party Friday, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, And The Artist's Playroom.  Have a great week and keep on creating!

"A Gray Day Over Lake Zurich"

Number 19

Number 20

Number 21

Number 22- For Dave

Gloria J Zucaro's "Autumn" and "Manet"

Here is the final version of our third portrait class with Ann Feldman.  After last week's drawing and adding shadows with charcoal, we had sprayed our portraits with fixative.  This week we used burnt umber to cover the entire surface with a wash, then wiped out the lighter areas of the face and neck that were not in shadow with a paper towel or small brush around the nose and eyes.  We then put in all the darker areas with our burnt umber.  I think it is a really neat technique.  
I thought you might like to see the front courtyard of my townhouse.(Three pictures)  I love this time of year, Autumn, when the trees are falling asleep, leaves blowing in the wind, and all the beautiful grasses are turning golden, too. All photos may be enlarged for better detail by clicking on the image.  In case I don't finish another painting today, this post will be my entry to Paint Party Friday.  Be sure to visit!

My Front Entry Courtyard

 The Front Door Area

My Asian Fountain.  It is turned off now and will have the pump removed on Saturday.