Milescapes Art - Gifts, Original Artwork and Photography [Blog]

My Little Buddy, Cooper

Marianne Miles — Sun, 06 May 2012 00:47:27 +0000

I’m still working with the Pan Pastels. In fact, this portrait used them almost exclusively. I did only Cooper’s hair with Sennelier soft pastel sticks and a few of the harder NuPastels.

Cooper turned two early this year. He comes to church every Sunday with his Auntie Linda and they sit down front in a pew right next to the piano. He always comes over to say good morning to me and hi-fives me at the sign of peace. When I was thinking of working on another child’s portrait, Coop seemed the obvious choice. I love these Pan Pastels

A Portrait of My Good Friend, Sharon

Marianne Miles — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:33:52 +0000

So even though we didn’t have much snow in Upstate New York this year (I love working on my pastel paintings while the snow is softly falling outside my windows) I have so far managed to get four new paintings finished. I have to confess that I trashed two others. I have a tendency to overwork my pastels and sometimes it gets out of control and the painting becomes irretrievable. I wish I could tell sooner when a portrait is just never going to make it – it would save a lot of pastel and hours of my time! Here is a picture of my dear friend, Sharon. As typically happens when I photograph a painting, it is more contrast-y looking here than it really is. It is my favorite portrait to date. I am hoping to get one more little boy named Cooper finished before the season is over. And yikes! I have to get working on the tax return!

My friend, Sharon, in pastel

And here is the photograph I used as a model:

Model Photograph of Sharon

Continuing Adventures in Pastel Portrait Painting

Marianne Miles — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:05:13 +0000

Well, it’s the dead of winter again and I have not only broken out the pastels, I have invested a bundle in Pan Pastels – the softest pastels available. I do so want to learn how to handle them! Unfortunately for me, they go on with these wonderful Sofft art sponges and I am just not good with tools. I am willing to put a lot of time into practicing because I believe the results will be worth it. To begin with, I was extremely cautious. I was doing a landscape and building (Plumley Engineering, here in B’ville) ordered by the employees there as a Christmas gift for their boss, and only used the Pan Pastels for the sky, lawn, some foliage, and the daylilies. Here’s the finished painting:

Plumley Engineering

As soon as we returned from celebrating Christmas in Massachusetts I got back to working on portraits of people.

We had a wonderful visit with family while we were home and I got some good photographs of our granddaughter, Emily. I chose one of her to use as a model for my first portrait of 2012. Seems like she always has a big red apple in her hand so I was hoping to do one of those. I was timid about using the new Pan Pastels so I went with white paper and didn’t try to do anything challenging to improve the flush lighting caused by my camera’s flash. Here is Emily, our Big Apple Girl:

Emily, our Big Apple Girl

Actually, I was quite pleased with Emily’s portrait, mostly because it actually looks like her.

I had promised my neighbor, Dom, that I would do a picture of him last fall and just never go to it. I had him come and sit for some photographs and put him near a window so I would have good light that I wouldn’t have to create from my imagination. It was difficult to choose which picture to use because Dom has a really great face. Here is the photograph I chose:

Dominick DiCaprio, model photograph for portrait

I was still being careful, using white paper and trying very hard to just draw what I was seeing. Here is the finished portrait:

Dominick, in Pastel

When I had finished with Dominick I was happy enough with him, but felt that the overall portrait was wimpy and that the colors needed to be stronger. For instance, with both Emily and Dom, I had trouble recognizing them from more than a few feet away. I decided to use a darker colored paper so the colors would “pop”. Here is the finished Avery portrait. I am still a long way from where I would like to be. Avery looks okay but is overworked and I am again unhappy with the skin tones. Fortunately for me, the groundhog saw his shadow and there will six more weeks of winter for me to keep practicing my portraits. I’m also hoping to purchase a DVD set by an artist who does children’s portraits in pastel.

Avery, in Pastel

Leah & Scott’s Wedding

Marianne Miles — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:08:33 +0000

June 11th, 2011

Jen & Jess, best friends

Marianne Miles — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:55:04 +0000

Well, I’ve been at it a couple of weeks but I finally managed to complete another pastel portrait – double-portrait, actually. And while I was working on it I actually got the tax return finished and filed Here is Jen with her beloved friend, Jess.

Jen & Jess, best friends

While working on this picture I learned something new. I discovered just how much pastel you can really lift off with a kneadable eraser. I began with Jen and felt that she had come out pretty well and was getting up my courage to begin the horse. As is my way, I began with his eye. Then, as is sometimes my way (too late), I got out some books and looked more closely at horses’ eyes. This time there was no fixing it. What I had to do was start over. It takes patience (and a lot of kneading) but after repeatedly pressing clean parts of the eraser onto the pastel and lifting I was able to get most of the original color off. I am so glad I took the time to do it because Jen says that now his eye is just right. She also told me that I’d “captured his expression”! It’s a good thing I wasn’t aware that horses had expressions or I would have been worrying about that, too.

The Hunter Portrait

Marianne Miles — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:01:22 +0000

It would be really great if I could complete one portrait a week! Here is Hunter. I can see I still have a lot to learn, but his grandma liked it

Hoping for better skin tones next time. I loved his cheeky smile - which was even broader than it looks here.

Giving up on Graphite

Marianne Miles — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:02:36 +0000

Adventures in Human Portraiture

Oh, no. People don’t have fur on their faces! – and I’m used to doing pet portraits . However, I am just not happy with my shading in graphite. I’m going back to trying people in pastel. My friend Lizzie was kind enough to sit for some photographs I could use as models.

My friend Lizzie

I realize my skin tones need work but I really do think this looks like Lizzie. The photograph I used as a model is below.

Lizzie's photograph

Last year I bought a set of Sennelier pastels (very soft) for portraits so I should have all the colors I need. I guess I just have to keep practicing.

In all honesty, I should post my first attempt… Here is a picture I did of my granddaughter, Emily. The photograph I used apprears below the pastel.

Emily's photograph. Isn't she a cutie??

Baldwinsville Rotary – Charter Night 2010

Marianne Miles — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:01:18 +0000

And a great time was had by all!!

Pictures of everyone who attended! click on the “more” tag:

PJ Scott, District Governor

Sean Becker, our President

Lizzie!!

Rotary Gives Dictionaries to Every 3rd Grader in Baldwinsville, NY

Marianne Miles — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:22:14 +0000

A large group of Rotarians showed up to distribute dictionaries at the Reynolds school this year, Nov 2010.

Reynolds' Third Graders

Here’s Jacquie Olmsted giving an introduction

Sean Becker, President of the B'ville Rotary

Our two exchange students, Mook, from Thailand, and Lauro, from Brazil, with Norma Widmann

Rutabaga Apple Soup -a delightful harvest treat

Marianne Miles — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:57:34 +0000

I saw this prepared on the PBS Series: Chefs A’Field. This soup was created by Chef Patrick O’Connell. I was hoping to link the recipe to Facebook but had no luck so here it is:

(Not only do we make it every Fall, but now our friends are asking for it every year. It is really wonderful!!)

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/4) butter

1 cup onion, roughly chopped

1 cup Granny Smith Apple, peeled, seeded, cored and roughly chopped

1 cup rutabaga, peeled and roughtly chopped

1 cup butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped.

1 cup carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 cup sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped

1 quart good chicken stock

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup maple syrup salt and a little cayenne pepper

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, apple, rutabaga, squash, carrots and sweet potato. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent.

Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked through and tender.

Mash all the soup/vegetables with a potato masher until all the chunck are very small. Add the cream, maple syrup, salt & pepper.

We like it with hot biscuits.