It seems the holidays are upon us and there has been a certain amount of inactivity on my part in relation to this blog. Thanksgiving was lovely and I enjoyed it with an eclectic group of charming people who invited me. I was on my own this year since I have a big commission that is in process and needed the time to work on it. Besides my son was working so there was no point in doing the trek to Baltimore.

And now Christmas is here or nearly so and after working like a frenzy to get the house ready, I am finally in a place to post on this blog. I am hosting the pastel society'a annual Christmas party and expected 14 to show. There maybe more but things needed to be in some sort of order.

I have just completed a snow painting in pastel that actually turned out differently than expected but I like the way it was going. It's really due to the surface which was one of my old surfaces that I reworked and put a coat of art spectrum grit on it. When I started it it was turning out soft and a little fuzzy so it made me think of memories of past Christmases when I was still in Baltimore. I made sure I did not make it too precise because I liked the memory / dream idea.

 I decided to make it my Christmas card for this year

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE

      Wi-fi seemed to be a wonderful thing- so yesterday it was installed and everything was going smoothly as long as I was in the studio.... but I better not be in my office in the house or it becomes spotty- although now it is working very well- let's hope it continues.....

 I have been asked to do a demonstration at the Muddy River Arts group in November. It was decided that I would demonstrate in pastel since that is one of my primary mediums- Then I find out that I am only allotted 45 minutes to do a demonstration---- 45MINUTES!!!! That is short.
  At first I was stumped as to what to do and how to approach it. I have decided to do a simple still-life with one of my old copper teakettles and lemons. I have started it and am going to do part of it as a powerpoint presentation and only do the demonstration in one area. I am approaching this as if everyone was fairly new to pastel since I am not familiar with this group. I will forego my usual emphasis on composition since time is so short, which is too bad but maybe I
could do it in a nutshell but still include it.

I am having a lot of fun with this still-life and wish I could keep going but I need it only partially done.

I chose the blue ground because it would make the copper and lemons sing and I am pleased with my  choice. I will write an update of the demo after it happens.

 
  I am sorry it has taken me so long to do another posting but I have been doing some traveling, I went to Baltimore and stayed with friends way out in the country- very beautiful there! I felt like painting but I came to visit my son who is a writer.
   He also participates in performances of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society and they have been asked to give a Reading Performance at the Kennedy Center over the labor Day Weekend- can you believe it. Dave helped rewrite one of their earlier productions for this event and he is reading the stage directions- I am so happy for him.

  Saturday was sooo lovely I went out painting with my group Triad Outdoor Painters at the SugarBush Airport- lovely place-there were quite a group of us painting.

Our group is also showing at the Center for Creative leadership in case you want to go see it. The opening was friday night and several pieces sold! You have to make an appointment  to see it now. The show is there until November.

    Its has been a while since I let you all know the goings on at the Kiefaber studio. I have been getting ready for my annual show, which is my student show along with some professional artists with whom i draw on sundays. Basically its a giant party with goodies made by parents or other artists with whom I work. The studio is spruced up and lovely- you will never see it like that normally.

Carol J. oil                                                                                                                      Sarah A-pastel

Watercolor- Anthony P

There will be some great work in oils, watercolors, pen and ink, pastels and drawing media, These pieces above are from my advance students one of whom has graduated from my program. Please come to the show on sunday October 6th from 1 to 5 Pm or monday from 6:30 to 9 PM and you will see more work of this caliber

  I have been working on still-life this past year so this is one of the pieces that will be in the show.

Great class on saturday! All the participant have done good paintings of this week's model- a wonderful model who sports a long white beard. I was so happy for everyone. I will have to post some of my students paintings after we are finished'

Here is the study I did in "grisaille" which is an underpainting in raw umber,black and white. I did it this way because one of the students wanted to learn the Renaissance technique of underpainting.Many of the french painters like Boucher, Nattoir and others used this technique. It is especially effective for people with light complexions

You start with an umber drawing then build the complexion with a mix of raw umber, black and white

and paint all the values using only these 3 colors. After it dries, then you glaze on the colors,

the joy of painting outdoors

Hey its been a fun week artistically.
 On thursday morning I went to lake Higgins to do some plein air painting- what a lovely day- the weather was cool and though somewhat cloudy, still a great day to paint. I got there at 8 AM to get the early morning light. I chose a view with the soft misty light in the distance and the wind ruffling the waters then along comes a fishing boat-perfect- I put him in fast before he could get out of range

Early Morn- lake Higgins

Working in plein air is the best for your art work as it makes you aware of the limitations of photography and lends one's work a more realistic feel. Some of this is because you have more emotional input since you are there. I love the feeling of lake Higgins and at that time in the morning it is just me and a few fishermen plus the occasional duck or goose swimming by.

The group  usually paint with Triad Outdoor Painters are having an exhibit at the Center for Creative Leadership and from the work I saw arriving, it's going to be a fabulous show. The opening is on friday Aug 23 from 5 to 7 so please try and come if you are in the vicinity.

As you know from my last post I have been teaching a portrait session- We have focused on painting, color and plane changes during this session. Since a couple of my students didn't show up I was able to do a study of the model. What a great model- he has great bone structure and wonderful color in his face. It was a joy to be able to do this- just as much fun as the plein air painting was on thursday.

www.annekiefaber.com

Portraits- structure

 It has been a while since my last post. I- was hoping to do more work on my still-life but I have been getting ready for my 4-week portrait session and it has taken a lot of my time, so I think I will say a word or two about the way to go about starting a portrait from life or even a photo. Actually doing a still-life is great structure study for doing portraiture.

It is a good idea to consider structure whether you are a well-established portrait painter or just starting out. The skull is a good place to start. if you have access to a good reproduction than by all means, draw it in charcoal or paint it. I personally like to do periodic studies of different views of the skull

skull study-3/4 view

I have a friend who leant me his skull for a week so I did two studies- here is one of them. In a study like this- it makes you realize how large the eye sockets are and that your whole eye fits in it.
Notice- that the eye sockets take up a large part of the face. One actually sees a lot of the skull in a portrait: the forehead, the cheekbones and the chin area to mention the more obvious ones.

so when one is starting a portrait you want to keep this structure in mind. Here is my friend Jean who modeled for my last portrait class. Notice - I started with raw umber and followed the lines of structure as much as possible. I always start with the darks.

In my next post I will review proportions and show you the next stage of the portrait.

Jean- raw umber underpainting

Owl Still-life demonstration

On June 22 I was Invited to do a Demonstration at the Piedmont Pastel Society in Charlotte,NC. What a lovely space they have- nice cool light and plenty of shades on the windows with which to control the light.

  I chose a rather complicated still-life to do because frankly they are more fun to watch but in retrospect I should have chosen a smaller format as I would have been able to get farther in the painting. I have decided therefore to finish the piece through this blog so everyone can see how I would proceed
                                                                                                                                                                        I worked on a sanded board which I prepared myself with a combination of gesso, acrylic and pumice.
I did my underpainting with pan pastels because it covers beautifully on this surface and it blends well with stick pastels. In fact one can go back and forth for a while before transitioning to the sticks entirely

I did make some changes in the composition- lowering the flower and moving the birds nest farther back. I filled in the background more completely. Now I will be beginning to work in more detail, but I will show you that in a later post.

My name is Anne Kiefaber and i have been an artist and teacher for over 20 years. I was trained at the Schuler School of Fine Arts in baltimore then went to Paris and studied both at the Louvre evening school and at the Ecole Montparnasse.


Though I am primarily a landscape and figure painter, I have recently been fascinated by  the still-life. i must say the show at the North carolina Museum last october on the still-life really got me going and i have been attempting some rather difficult concepts





The still-life pictured here is an example- Its called "Pandora"s box" and it is the first of a series. I have never really done a series on the same subject before but the idea of pandora's box containing all the ills that we now face is rather fascinating. This one is a pastel done on canson touch paper. The box is barely opened and already evil personified by the snake and the beginning of pestilence are shown here. The picure in the far back has flowers and blue birds which give hope. I used mostly softer pastels to indicate the mists and to get a high color key. i have since added a locust so i will send a later post to show you

If you are interested in viewing more of my work visit my website at www.annekiefaber.com