Pastels

I have never worked in pastels, although I once was a Waldorf teacher and did chalkboard drawings for the children's main lesson every day so I guess that's pretty good training. One of the art suppliers that I use had a sale on a box of pastels, so I bought them a couple months ago. The first one I did was the stream (a 5" X 7") which is from the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. The farmhouse (an 8" X 10") is from somewhere in southern Wisconsin. I had just spent a lot of time on an oil painting which I just plain don't like very much, so I thought I'd give something else a try.

Followup to Barns & Farms show

The Barns & Farms show ended on August 5th. I sold one of the paintings and just picked up the other today. I went to the opening of the show last July 7th. The barn photo is of the Barnsite Studio and Gallery. The other two photos were taken after the opening show -- about 8 PM when the sun had set. Today the field on the right of the road is full of sunflowers. Oddly enough, as I looked at the show I found someone that I had not seen since art school -- dare I say, 30 years ago! That was fun; being in the show was fun; selling a painting for more than I ever had before was even more fun. Today, August 6th, I drove to Kewaunee, met with the gallery owner, put the painting in the car and then headed north to Algoma where I gassed up and then drove around, taking a few pictures of the harbor and eventually pulling over to find a place to paint. I took my little portable watercolor rig to the shore of Lake Michigan and painted a 8 X 10 watercolor. I had to navigate a rocky path to the shore and would have had a hard time with my French easel. I was happy with my little painting and then drove south back home. I really love those barns and farms in Wisconsin, so the four hour drive was a nice trip. I will be trying for that show again next year.