everything beautiful in its time
Crimson Blossoms and Gold
6" W x 6" H x 1.375" D
Oil Pastel and Acrylic on Canvas
She is a miniature floral beauty with big grey eyes and red-auburn waves of hair. Her journey began with burnt sienna overlaid with gold and ended with embellishments of crimson, pink, coral and rose blossoms.
Writing for me has always been a painful exercise. Not because I don't feel I have something to say, but because I worry about precision. Words are powerful and once they go out into the world, they cannot be brought back. This is especially true when they are written down for others to read.
So I go through the struggle of choosing the right words, and putting them in the perfect order. Then I second guess what I've written. Then I rewrite and second guess again. Eventually I have something I'm willing to share, but like I said, I find the process painful. I also feel very self conscience about the end result if what I wrote is about myself.
I was asked recently why I don't write very much and that was my answer. My husband has helped me tremendously by encouraging me to be more personal and less formal with my writing and not to worry so much about perfection. Still I find it infinitely more fulfilling to express myself through my art.
When I googled "the pain of writing" I was comforted to see that even gifted and professional writers struggle with this. For instance, Lauren Martin's wrote about this "hard truth that all aspiring writers must accept":
The worse the pain, the better the writing. The best works are completed while drowned in complete sorrow, all-consuming pain and utter despair. A good writer always writes through his pain, leaking the truths and woes that come with from real emotion. The words should cut the reader, soaking them in the very pain the writer just bled onto the page. The greatest works of literature, music and art are bred from pain.
So it seems that the writing process is painful for many of us, whatever level of talent we feel we have.
This summer I said goodbye to artbyanima.com and transitioned to animamckertcher.com. It's one of many changes I've been implementing over the past couple years. I'm also painting using a streamlined studio practice in a new home studio in a new house. I'm excited to reconnect with everyone again and share some of the new paintings I've been working on. There are around ten of them in various stages of development.
Artwork:
Dreamscape
© Anima McKertcher
20" x 25" (50 cm x 62.5 cm)
Oil Pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper
Colours: Blue, White, Pink, Purple, Chocolate Brown
After 15 months of painting, Dreamscape is finally complete! It's a fantasy painting of a black man and a tree that, I've been told, evokes feelings of peace and serenity.
Artwork (with permission from the artist):
Forest Patterns
© Mandy Budan
16" x 20"
Acrylic on Panel
Canadian acrylic artist Mandy Budan's work is unexpected and striking. Her Etsy avatar was my first glimpse of her art, and always curious about another Canadian artist, I checked out her shop on Etsy. What a brilliant surprise!
What I'd assumed to be a contemporary abstract painting went far beyond that. The kaleidoscope of shapes and colors transformed into a beautiful summer landscape. I was fascinated.
Artwork (with permission from the artist):
Last Rose of Summer
© Mandy Budan
18" x 24"
Acrylic on Panel
By day, Mandy's a "mild-mannered graphic designer", to quote her own words. But by night, she recreates the scenery, decomposing sky, trees, leaves and flowers into discrete shapes and colors. Ordinary details are re-imagined as geometric designs, but with the structure, patterns, and rhythms of the natural world.
Mandy's strong use of color strikes a chord with me. Hues are vibrant and create stunning contrasts. My favorite thing about her work is the feeling I get of coming in and out of the painting, of seeing abstract forms one minute and an entire landscape vista the next.
Artwork:
Mist Patterns
© Mandy Budan
9" x 12"
Acrylic on Panel
Mandy's blog, features her paintings in progress. I'm filled with curiosity about her translation of reference pictures into her painting concepts and then to preliminary drawings. Her preliminary drawings are intricate, to say the least.
Looking through her portfolio of work, the finished paintings vary in their levels of abstraction. Some are barely recognizable as landscapes while the scenes of other pieces jump right out. It makes for a refreshing variety. Diverse color palettes and subjects also keep the viewer interested. Make sure you browse her abstract landscape art website to see her entire portfolio.
A fellow artist and friend who's dipping her toe into the joyous world of oil pastels asked me:
With oil pastels, do you draw out everything in pencil first? I'm doing some practice runs but the pencil blends in a bit with the pastels... what do you do?
I sketch with a neutral colored oil pastel stick or sometimes a pale grey colored pencil.
In over ten years of using oil pastels, I've tried a lot of mediums for drawing out my composition. In this post I'll discuss using pencils, colored pencils, and oil pastels. There's pros and cons to each, but I definitely have my preferences.
Graphite pencils are a natural first choice when it's time to draw your composition before painting. They're as comfortable as fleece pants on a cold northern Alberta day. After all, as artists, we've been drawing with them since grade school. When the general public thinks of the word 'draw', the word 'pencil' isn't far behind. So what's the problem, then?
On paper, pencil is an easy fit. But it's a different story on canvas which is my support of choice for major paintings. The natural roughness of the canvas' gessoed cotton or linen is a hassle as a surface for pencil. Pencil will skip over and skirt around the bumps, making your lines look shaky and broken.
Ever made a mistake on your drawing? How about changed your mind about where to put your subject's hand? Pencil can be forgiving but not always. If your marks are too dark, they may not totally erase away, whether you're using canvas or paper. In fact, some papers can't bear up under vigorous erasing at all.
Plus even lightly drawn pencil marks show through under layers of light to medium values of oil pastel.
Okay, I'm done raining on pencils now. They're not all bad when it comes to under-drawing. Pencils are great for drawing fine details (eyes and ears), complex subjects, or structures that call for precision (architecture). So if you're the kind of artist that completes detailed under-drawings before the oil pastels go on, you may want to consider pencils anyways. Just remember to press lightly!
Colored pencils marry the precision of graphite pencils with a soft blendable mark. Of course, the softness and blendability (is that a word?) will vary depending on the brand of colored pencil. So choose the brand based on your preference: hardness for precision and softness for blending and forgiveness.
I strictly use gray colored pencils for my under-drawing. Gray is such a lovely neutral color. It blends well with oil pastel colors and leaves a light mark that's easy to cover up. I tend to cover up changes more so than erasing them, so they fit well with my painting process.
Because I like forgiveness and I need a lot of it! Changing my mind about compositional details is something I like to have the option of doing. It's my peroggative, right? Sketching with oil pastels gives me that freedom more than colored pencils and definitely more than a graphite pencil. They'll either blend with your other layers of color easily or be covered over, depending on the techniques you use for applying the oil pastels.
Be careful when under-drawing with colors that are dark or contain yellow. Dark oil pastels will stain your support and then their goes the forgiveness you were hoping for. Also, yellowish oil pastels may add unwanted tints to the colors you lay over top.
I typically use a warm pale grey color. It's easy to see over the whiteness of the canvas but blends beautifully with all the other colours.
The only negative to under-drawing with oil pastels is the lack of precision. Try cutting the edge of a blunt stick of oil pastel with a razor to help you make more detailed marks. But even with this trick, you'll rarely achieve the accuracy of a pencil (graphite or colored). But if you're like me and save your details until you get further along your painting process, then oil pastels are definitely the way to go.
What about you? What medium do you use for under-drawing your oil pastel paintings?
Efflorescence
© Anima McKertcher
36" x 48"
Oil pastel on canvas
Naomi Dunford at IttyBiz, easily writes the most colorful blog I read. And yesterday she invited us to play the 'What's your home business' game. Apparently one of her readers recently surprised her with just that question.
I can't imagine that anyone's unsure of what I do based on the giant Art by Anima lettering at the top of this page, but who knows. It certainly can't hurt to be more explicit. So here are my answers to Naomi's questions.
Art, baby, art. Specifically, creating visual art with oil pastels and acrylic paint on stretched canvas. Subjects: beautiful women, colorful flowers, and plans are in the works for fine wine too. Style: romantic realism meets fantasy.
Sometimes I release this art as high quality, professionally printed, limited edition prints. And sometimes I collaborate with you to create personalized custom portraits done to your specifications.
I have an incredible passion for painting - the challenge, the process, and the final product. I'd like to think I also have a 'creepy knack' for it but mostly it comes down to practice and hard work.
My customers are self confident, know their own mind, and are bold about
expressing their personal taste. After all, they don't shy away from having a
large colorful painting of a beautiful woman on their living room wall. And occasionally, they like to spoil themselves with luxury items such as fine wine, fresh flowers, original paintings, and limited edition prints.
Quality. Beauty. Originality. And great customer service directly from me.
Doing more of what I love.
What's your small business? Write your own post, share here, and or comment on IttyBiz.
When Naomi does her round-up of everyone's posts and responses, I'll add the link here.
If you're an artist, I recommend you go to Home Depot and grab one of every single color card from the CIL paint collection. I did this on Saturday. Then I grabbed the Ralph Lauren color sample book for good measure. I'm not sure how long it actually took but it felt like an eternity - there were hundreds, and hundreds of cards. Plus, I braved a record-breaking snow storm and icy roads. Ah, the joys of spring in northern Alberta!
So why bother? For three reasons:
Getting the colors right on a commission is critical, especially when your collector has plans for where the painting is going to hang. But the words your collector uses for colors might be vague, inaccurate, or just plain different from what you're used to. For instance: peach, coral, and pink, or turquoise, aqua, and sea green, or mauve, lilac, and lavender. Which one is which, and would your collector, husband, sister, and best friend all make the same call?
It's so much easier to have them just point to the color on the card! This even works when there's no chance to meet with your collector locally. Just have them email you with the names and brand of the colors they like.
Then all you have to do is match their selections within reason.
Whether it's for a commission or your own self-directed painting, take the color samples to the art supply store when you're picking out your oil pastels, or your colored pencils, or whatever you're medium of choice is. If your memory is anything like mine it's best to have a tangible reference to work from and not a vague recollection.
This was an unexpected side effect of looking at all those colors. I felt instantly inspired. It was kind of like the feeling I get at the art supply store when I'm looking at all those gorgeous oil pastel sticks. Honestly, I'm getting tingly just thinking about it.
The different hues, shades, values, and tints can really get you going if you ever get painter's block. Just imagine all the color combinations you've yet to explore!
Check out how Jerry Lebo uses color references or share what you use for reference colors and why.
In the last week I've read a couple really exceptional posts with painting tips that I'm going to start using myself.
Jerry Lebo of Sixty Minute Artist offers an excellent exercise on exploring shadow colors.
The first message I want to get across is: shadows are colors! Let me say it again another way: the color you are putting in the shadow is just as important as the color you are putting on the highlight. If either one is wrong--the painting will suffer. Okay, so how do you find the right shadow color? Well, first, you need to be able to see the shadow color. So let me give you a little exercise that I have learned that will help developed your mind and eyes to better see shadow colors.
Ever struggled to paint hair simply but realistically? For many years, I've had varying degrees of success with painting hair. After reading James Gurney's article on the Ribbon Secret, I now have words for what I've been trying to do all along.
Earlier this week we looked at how to solve the “string mop” problem by using big brushes, keeping the masses simple, and softening edges. It also helps to visualize masses of hair as ribbons. In a real ribbon, the highlight goes across, not along, the curving shapes.
What are your useful painting tips and techniques?
You may already have read about how, to my complete and utter dismay, oil pastel paint was tracked all over my cream colored carpets. Now, here’s what my husband and I did to get it out, along with a few lessons learned about what not to do next time.
The strategy of picking and cutting the oil pastel out of the carpet may seem barbaric and ill advised on first glance. However, I’ve implement it successfully on a few different occasions.
Start by using tweezers to pick as much of the oil pastel off of the carpet as possible. This works because oil pastels are a solid combination of pigment, oil and wax. Then carefully separate out the stained fibres from the clean fibres and cut the oil pastel out.
I like this technique because it’s effective, fast and doesn’t cause a lot of wear and tear on the carpet. But if the stain is large, do not attempt or you’ll end up with a patch in your carpet and a migraine in your head.
The next strategy was to pour undiluted Dawn dishwashing soap on the stains and dab at them. The idea came from a Google search on cleaning oil pastel stains from carpet. Eventually, the stains are gone, but with circles of blue liquid soap in their place. Obviously, though, a blue polka dotted carpet is not the objective here.
I have to say, I wasn’t too happy with this technique. The lather from the soap took forever to come out, and I’d really like to emphasize forever. Only after using both a rug doctor and a wet vacuum were the blue dots and the lather finally indiscernible. And I’m still worried there’s some left in the carpet.
I’d like to think we’ll never get oil pastel paint on the carpet again, but who am I kidding? So when this happens again, I’m going to do the following:
Hopefully, neither you nor I will have to test out this method any time soon, but if and when I do, I’ll let you know how it went. Hopefully it’s in the far far distant future. In the meantime, here are some more ideas for getting out your oil pastel stains and remember to share your experience in the comment box below:
It’s Friday at 5:55 pm. You’re bustling around the kitchen cooking supper when you see your husband pointing to a dark burgundy streak on the cream colored ceramic tile. And your heart sinks. Then he points to another one and another one and burgundy spots all over your pale cream living room carpet. And you just cannot believe this is happening!
This is what happened to me a few weeks ago. Apparently a tiny piece of oil pastel got stuck on the bottom of my husband’s foot. And, since he is almost constantly in motion, he tracked it all over the place.
Maybe you’ve experienced a similar sickening feeling in the pit of your stomach? If so read on. If not, read on – your day will come.
Getting the oil pastel paint off the ceramic tile only required soap, water, and a little scrubbing. Getting the oil pastel paint out of the carpet, though, was something else altogether. So how can you get it out? Read the post You Got Oil Pastel Paint on Your Carpet! What Do You Do? to find out.
Artwork (with permission from the artist):
Night Blooming Cereus
20" x 16"
Acrylic on Canvas
A couple weeks ago while wandering through an online art directory, I stumbled across an amazing find: some of the most beautiful floral paintings I've ever seen.
Lisa Ernst creates what she calls Passionate Floral and Still Life Paintings. Her work is large in scale, vivid, bold and colorful. I've been irresistible drawn to her site several more times since.
Flowers, leaves and vines have always been inspirational to me and I've featured them in several of my paintings including Efflorescence.
This summer, I'm trying to keep my digital camera with me so I can take reference photos of the beautiful plants and flowers I see in my neighbourhood. Hopefully I can incorporate these images into some of my new exotic fantasy paintings (I currently have over 50 planned). Other than a beautiful woman, nothing's more gorgeous than a luscious flower petal.
Artwork:
Lips of an Angel
© Anima McKertcher
6" x 6"
Oil Pastel on Canvas
Last night I spent the evening painting peacefully on my balcony until … well I'll get to that shortly. Let me set the stage first: I'm about to spend the rest of the night painting and usually, when I'm painting, I listen to music or watch a movie or something. But, alas, I had temporarily misplaced my iPod. And instead of popping in Pride and Prejudice and painting on the island in my kitchen, I'm lured outside by the warmth of the sun. For the last couple weeks, Edmonton has been having sensational weather: clear skies and 28 C (82 F) all the time. Absolutely perfect.
So I'm sitting back in my chair with a 6" x 6" canvas on my lap, watching the tall grass in the park dance with the breeze, and listening to the birds sing. My fingers were sticky from rubbing yellow, orange, and pink oil pastels onto the canvas and the sun is just starting to set. Contentment has slowed my hyper heart to an easy relaxed beat.
Then, my visitor arrives.
A ½ inch long spider. Grey and white with dark markings. Suspended behind my head on its silky white web. Wonderful. Just. Wonderful.
I'm pleased to announce that I neither screamed nor leaped up and spilled my art supplies all over the place. On the contrary, I'm very calm as I begin plotting to kill it. I contemplate using the painting I'm working on. After all, the flat edges of the canvas would be great for spider squashing. But no, I wouldn't want to jeopardize the painting so moving on … oh look! In my hand is the paper towel that I use for keeping my oil pastels clean. I could use it to grab the spider and squish it. That would bring the spider into very close proximity with me, though. And what if I missed when trying to make a grab for it and it wound up landing on my lap or my hand? No. Way. That would be unacceptable! So what now?
Ah, I finally notice the sandals I'm wearing. And as I'm preparing to slip off the sandal and do the spider in, I start to feel bad. I flash back to my husband telling me how spiders eat mosquitoes and how they're so small and we're the big mean giants compared to them. And, here I want to kill another living creature that's just minding its own business. This is the guilt trip (that inevitably fails) that my husband uses when I ask him to kill a spider for me. It's just - why does it have to have so many legs? And why does it have to be so creepy looking? I guess it can't help how it looks … maybe I should just leave it alone …
It wasn't easy, but I did manage to leave the spider alone. I turned around and tried to continue working on my painting. Concentrating was impossible and I found myself turning around again and again to peer at the disgusting little thing and make sure it wasn't about to pounce on me. But eventually I became re-engrossed in my painting, forgot all about the spider, and enjoyed the lovely sunset.
I'm very proud of myself for letting that spider live. However, I make no guarantees for the safety of the next spider that crosses my path. In fact, I make no guarantees for the safety of this spider if it manages to crawl off the balcony and into our condo. Hopefully, it's smarter than that.
Artwork:
Breath of Light
12" x 36"
Oil Pastel on Canvas
I've been receiving so many scam emails as of late that I composed a special email response to use each time. Now I just reply to the email with this message and I never hear back from that person again. Why send a reply? On the off chance that someone sending a suspicious sounding email is legitimately interested in my art. Hopefully, this message will get around to the circle of scammers and I won't hear from any of them again.
Feel free to adapt and use this message whenever you get a scam email.
Your email has been flagged as suspicious for one or more of the following reasons:Please note that Art by Anima will not ship any artwork until the payment has cleared the issuing bank. This often takes 4 weeks or more. There are no exceptions to this policy. Art by Anima will only accept payment in the exact amount of the artwork purchased. We will not reimburse a third party including a shipping company for any monies paid in addition to the price of the artwork.
- references to artwork not created by Anima
- the structure and wording of the email matches those used for fraud
- request to use private shipping company
- request to pay in either a Certified Cheque or Bank Transfer
- request for prices on artwork when all prices are already available at www.artbyanima.com
If you have received this message in error we sincerely apologize. Just reply to this message and your email will be forwarded to the appropriate individual at Art by Anima.
Thank you,
Email Administrator
Art by Anima
June 4, 2007 Update: This email response has been working brilliantly. I haven't received any scam emails since May 8th. Hopefully, it stays that way, but I'll let you know if I receive another one.
If you're looking for instructions on how to install a sunken bath tub this is not the article for you. I'm talking about giving your bathroom the look of a home spa retreat with a few decorating touches. Let's begin the transformation!
Start with warm, soothing colors to set the tone for your home oasis. Try borrowing your color scheme from our natural environment. There are so many great elements to work with. Visualize the grains and colors from trees like cherry, walnut, cedar and oak. Imagine the look and texture of stones like granite, onyx, slate and limestone. Whatever palette inspires you, relaxes you, go for it! Once you've selected the colors that suite your personality use them for your walls, shower curtain, window coverings, and floor mats.
1. Plants. Plants are a great way to bring the outdoors in - especially when you don't have French doors in your bathroom with a view of the park. Choose lush, leafy plants that bring the tropics to mind or elegant, darkly colored plants for a Japanese garden feel.
2. Towels. And lots and lots of towels. Stack them on the side of the tub. Fold a few beside your sink. Roll them up and stick them in a basket. You can use many different sizes of towels but it's best to stick to only one or two colors. I prefer white. It looks fresh and clean and goes with any of your other colors. Plus, since white towels are regularly used in hotels and spas it gives your bathroom an authentic and professional feel. And while you're at it, buy yourself a fluffy robe. It's a great way to end a long, hot bubble bath.
3. Glass. Practical, economical and beautiful. You can keep your cotton balls and cotton swabs in glass jars. Fill glass bowls and vases with stones, bath beads, rice or fresh flowers.
4. Soap. It's not just plain old bar soap anymore! Today, soaps come in so many forms: oils, gels, beads. They're fragrant, colorful, functional and an easy way to accessorize your bathroom.
5. Candles. Ambiance and aroma are a couple of the benefits you get from a few well placed candles. With different colors, shapes, sizes and fragrances you can create a cozy and unique environment.
6. Fountain. The sound of flowing water can take you away to tranquility like few other things. Consider incorporating a simple water feature into your bathroom.
7. Art. Now that you've gone this far, don't forget about your bare walls! Hang one or two paintings that highlight your color palette and enhance your spa theme. Exotic paintings that feature women, plants and or water work really well for this.
A few of these simple steps will transform your bathroom into a soothing oasis. All you need now is an aesthetician to give you a facial before you soak in your tub. Happy relaxing!
Do you feel like Shaquille O'Neal without the $20 million dollar NBA contract? You might not be able to move into a house with 10-foot ceilings but there are several tricks you can use "heighten" your room.
Paint your walls with light colors. The darker or warmer the paint color, the smaller your room looks. But this doesn't mean your walls have to be stark white. Choose a light tint of your favorite color. The best choice is a pale cool color from the family of greens, blues or purples. Even if pale walls are too 'blah' for your liking - there's lots you can do.
Paint one of your small walls with the color you want. Choose paint that's bright as opposed to dark. This will give the room the light, airy, open feeling you are going for. A dark color on the other hand can make your room feel like it's cozier. And this will only compound your low ceiling problem.
Feature large paintings on your walls to bring your favorite colors into the room. (There are more tips on selecting art to "heighten" your living space below.) Then you can leave the walls a light color. Not only does this help lift up the room, but it can also save you time and money. And you don't just save now; you also save because you don't have to repaint the wall when you get sick of that color down the road.
A dark ceiling can make a room with low ceilings feel even smaller and more oppressive. Fortunately, most homes already have a white ceiling. But if yours doesn't then pick up a roller and paint it white!
If you're adamantly opposed to white ceilings (I know some people who are) then choose another color. Just make sure the color is the same as your wall or a lighter shade of your wall color. The goal is to make sure your eyes can keep traveling upwards. A darker color on the ceiling will end that journey before it starts.
Consider this really cool way to add several inches of height to your walls. When you're painting your walls, extend the color to your ceiling by 2 or more inches. Measure it out and use painter's tape to make it look neat and consistent.
A dark floor grounds your living space. If you rent an apartment and can't change the flooring or have already invested a lot of money in hardwood or laminate, don't despair. Buy a dark colored rug. Make sure the rug is nice and large. Small area rugs can take away from your ceiling height.
Avoid crown moldings since they will only reduce the height of your wall even further. Paint your baseboards the same color as your wall. This will make your wall appear to stretch downward adding height to the room.
Choose art with a portrait orientation. This will make your eye travel vertically. If you can, select a painting where the darker values are at the bottom and the lighter values are on the top. Again, your eyes will be drawn from the bottom of the painting upward. But any painting with a vertical composition will work really well here. Forget about art with a landscape orientation. It'll make your eye travel horizontally which is good if you have a narrow room but bad when you have low ceilings.
As an alternative to using one large painting, try hanging a few small paintings in a vertical line on your wall. This technique is great on a small wall that's ordinarily bare or doesn't have a piece of furniture in front of it.
Use tall skinny plants to decorate. If you don't have a green thumb and inevitably kill all plants (I have this affliction), then try bamboo or tall dried grasses and branches. Throw them into a tall thin vase and stick it in the corner of the room. It's fast, simple and zero maintenance (except for dusting).
Keep your furniture lines low by choosing couches and chairs with low backs. Use an open arrangement. When your guests walk into the room, there should be a sizeable open pathway leading to the sitting area. Minimize how much furniture you use. All of these techniques will open up the space, making it feel comfortable and roomy.
This may seem like common sense, but how many living rooms have you been in with very little lighting? In a room with lots of space less light can add to the ambiance. But in a room with a low ceiling it can just be depressing. Be generous with your use of light. Have as much light on your ceiling as possible. Tall standing lamps work really well for this. They draw the eye up and brighten up the ceiling making the room look taller. Small inset light fixtures in the ceiling will also work wonders.
You don't need to follow every single step listed here for success. Even using a couple of these tricks will give you the illusion of higher ceilings in your home. Have fun decorating and let me know how it turns out!
You may have noticed that I always refer to my original artworks as oil pastel paintings. Frankly, I never gave this a second thought until recently. My husband was talking to an acquaintance about my paintings and she asked him what medium I used. When he told her oil pastels, she said I was really drawing and not painting.
When my husband told me the story, I decided to explore the subject: When I'm creating art with oil pastels am I drawing or painting? Painting usually refers to producing a picture using a liquid medium. Drawing implies a dry medium. So since oil pastels are a dry medium, I must be drawing, right? Well not necessarily.
Drawings are considered to be pictures produced in lines. But a completed work with oil pastels has a decidedly painterly appearance.
Even Pablo Picasso talks about painting with oil pastels. When he and Henri Goetz approached Henri Sennelier to design a fine art version of the children's crayon, Picasso told Henri the following: "I want a colored pastel that I can paint on anything, wood, paper, canvas, metal, etc. without having to prepare or prime the canvas."
After all of this research, what have I decided? I'm going to keep right on calling my creations with oil pastels, paintings. But if someone else wants to call them drawings - that's fine too. Either or works for me.