NC Statewide Pastel Exhibition Reception Photos

Don't miss an incredible collection of beautiful pastel work at Bev's Fine Art in Raleigh this June!
Work includes pastels from all across the state of North Carolina and beyond!

Her I am with "The Lookout" and "Fire and Ice"...the two pieces I had juried into the show.  I was lucky to be honored by Frame Warehouse, winning a $50 gift certificate!  That will surely come in handy!

Here's Vinita with her two beautiful abstracts in pastel...winning some Art Spectrum Pastel Paper too!

Patricia Harris posed with her beautiful barn pastel entry.  There are a little over one hundred pastel paintings displayed in this magnificent show.  Hope you get a chance to see it!

Thanks for following my art journey!

Kim Werfel

http://www.kimwerfel.com

Children with their dogs Portrait

Being commissioned to paint an outdoor scene with a sister and brother, each with their dogs, excited me when I got the call a few months ago.  Who knew how much work this would turn out to be!

"Family Portrait", pastel on Wallis paper, 21x31", ©Kim Werfel

The first challenge was the photo shoot....choosing where and getting the dogs to look at the camera and the kids to try and have a natural smile.  They were all pretty cooperative...so was the weather thank goodness!

(original photo)



Didn't like the tree growing in between them...or the house in the background, so I removed them but pretty much kept the rest of the composition the same.  Loved the rock and the natural feel of the landscape. 

Older dog

The boy's dog was elderly and deaf...very sweet but hard to get her attention... the kids were troupers and very polite...lovely to work with.

Girl with younger dog

The girl's dress seemed to have lavender shadows, so I went with it.  The tiny toes and fingers were really tricky to get just right...sometimes just suggesting instead of putting it all in.

The biggest problem I had was doing their portraits so very, very small....their faces were less than two inches long so all the details and nuances had to be done with specs of pastel pencil!  Very challenging...I don't recommend it.

While making this I heard in my head the wise words of my teacher years ago saying that you don't want to paint portraits too small or larger than life......now I know why.

All in all this was a learning experience...this portrait combined landscape painting, dog portraits, children's portraits, photography skills and figure drawing all in one. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Kim Werfel

http://www.kimwerfel.com

Little Calf & Goat Paintings Sold!

A pair of 6x6 wraparound canvas acrylic paintings sold at yesterday's Art in the Park event at Fearrington Village yesterday!

"Fearrington Goat", 6x6, acrylic on wraparound canvas ©Kim Werfel

This was the first time I exhibited with the Fearrington Artists, it was an outside event and the weather cooperated beautifully.  The same woman who bought my little goat snapped up a small calf that I had done years ago...they went together like bookends :)

"Fearrington Calf", 6x6, acrylic on wraparound canvas ©Kim Werfel

Forgive me, this little calf was painted so long ago, I only found this poor photo out of focus, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

The customer was visiting Fearrington from Wisconsin and wanted to take home a bit of charm from the place.  I was happy to oblige, but confess that I was holding onto them myself as they always made me smile :)

Need to paint more small acrylics of these sweet animals...so much fun!

Have some dog portrait commission leads from the show as well - and had a blast catching up with friends who stopped by. 

Thanks to all who made this show a success!

Kim

http/www.kimwerfel.com



Art In The Village

An Outdoor Art Exhibit and Sale at my homestead, Fearrington Village in Pittsboro, NC 27312 is taking place on Sunday May 20th from 10-4pm (rain date next Sunday 5/27)

Fearrington Village is such a nice place...great restaurants, bookstore and I love the cows and goats!  It's located just 8 miles south of Chapel Hill - off 15-501. 

Seems Fearrington has attracted an eclectic group of artists who live and work here.  We've gathered together to form a group that will show a couple of times a year here.  Don't miss this....great people...wonderful ambiance....great places to eat lunch....and pick up some one-of-a-kind lovely artwork, art prints and cards!

See our facebook page (just starting out, we would love it if you'd "like" us!)
Click here

Join our blog to keep current with our events:  http://fearringtonartists.blogspot.com

Thank you...

Kim Werfel

Two Entries Selected for the 2012 Statewide Pastel Exhibition

Yeay!  My pastels "Fire and Ice" and "The Lookout" have both been juried into the 2012 Statewide Pastel Exhibition.  Marla Baggetta, the juror, selected my work from 209 entries submitted by 84 artists!

"Fire and Ice", pastel, 18"x11"©Kim Werfel

Marla's comments on "Fire and Ice"  – The fiery invented color is what really makes this piece for me. Adding to it’s drama and intrigue is that the buck is in shadow. Great!

"The Lookout", 19x25", pastel ©Kim Werfel

Her comments on "The Lookout" – I love the combination of the tonal approach with line. The head of the “Lookout” poking out into the light while her family is in shadow is brilliant and stunning!

The opening reception and awards presentation will take place at Bev's Fine Art on Saturday, June 2, 2012 from 6:00-8:30 pm.  Bev's Fine Art is located at 7400 Six Forks Road, Raleigh, NC  27615.

The art exhibit is titled "On Common Ground:  Pastel Paintings From the Mountains to the Sea",  will have pastellists from all throughout North Carolina, and will be on display from June 1st - 30th.

Save the date!  Hope you all can come to the reception and/or see the exhibit.

Kim Werfel

http://www.kimwerfel.com





Artists for Animals Faire

Come to the Artists for Animals Faire tomorrow, April 21, 2012 from 10am-6pm at the Cloer Family Vineyards in Apex, NC.

"Baby Donkey", 9x12", pastel, $175 ©Kim Werfel

The Apex Arts Council will donate half of the profits to the Carolina Tiger Rescue, Paw Prints Animal Rescue and the Triangle Chapter of the US Equine Rescue League.

Cows, horses, cats, dogs and other animals will be available for purchase and adoption, and the vineyard will have wine for tasting and purchasing.

Admission is FREE!  Coffee, soft drinks, ice cream and snacks are available for purchase.

Come visit and meet me at my tent!  Twenty original paintings plus dozens of giclee prints and an assortment of artwork cards will be available.  Plus my dog Summer would love for you to give her a pat on the head :)

Hope to see you there!

Kim Werfel

http://www.kimwerfel.com



"Nicky in the Snow"

And now for something completely different!

After painting several small pieces and using different supports, I'm challenged to paint a large piece of a beautiful Sheltie in the snow.

"Nicky in the Snow", 18x30", pastel ©Kim Werfel

This piece is painted on Kitty Wallis paper mounted on my new favorite backing, 3/16" Gatorboard.  The paper is dry-mounted at the framers onto Gatorboard before I start, so I have a warp-free, lightweight board that easily framed too.

Nicky's portrait is for a repeat client who e-mailed me his photo taken in Asheville, NC.  He has two other beautiful Shelties that I've painted in the past.  See them here on my website.

I underpainted parts of this piece with a wash of acrylic paint in the dark parts to save some pastel build-up.  Since this is so large, I've included some close-ups....

Nicky's face was small here in proportion to the rest of the piece, so I needed to use my pastel pencils for detail.  Using impressionistic color for interest worked as long as the values and intensities were correct.

There were many more tree branches with lots of snow in the photo that actually started to compete with Nicky so I edited them out to create something less distracting, yet still told the story of snowy branches.

This corner of the work had some tangled underbrush which I simplified...keeping the color harmony with the rest of the piece.

Hope you enjoyed my journey with Nicky!

For a beautiful portrait of your own four-legged best friend, just e-mail me at k-e@mindspring.com.

Rates and commission info are at http://www.kimwerfel.com.

Thanks for following my work,

Kim