New Season

It's a new season - and I'm not talking about Spring. This is a new season of my life. It's been rough going for the last few years. But now - I am renewed. This is my new season.

I just moved recently and haven't painted anything for months. Today though - I felt a new energy inside me and so I dug around through a file folder I keep of beautiful pictures and pieces of art that give me inspiration. I was stopped by a painting that I had saved from another artist. It was this painting that motivated me to get out my pastels and play in the dust.

This is my interpretation of Kit Mahoney's painting. No - it's not for sale. (sorry)

I call this one "New Season"

10 x 8

Soft Pastels

Tres Bleu

5 x 7 Soft Pastel $55.00
I love Spring. Here in the north you spend months in the cold, everything buried under the snow. Most of our wildlife is hibernating, or have flown south for the winter. As the days begin to get a little longer, and the air begins to warm our skin, I watch for signs of life. Seeing a bud on a tree, the first Robin, hearing the frogs chirping - all the sights and sounds of Spring are a miracle I look forward to each year.

"Sunset Lake"

I paint to escape the daily hassles. It soothes me. Prior to ever picking up a pastel, any kind of creative "thing" would help ease the stress and tension of the day. Today was one of those days. It didn't take long for my stress to start subsiding when I began working the clouds in this painting. This scene reminds me of my youth - spending weeks at our cottage, the rickety dock we'd jump from, or sit and fish for hours on end. I think I like painting clouds and water best.

I am still working from 2 very small packs of basic pastels and found I'm missing a lot of colors while I did this one. And being rather pleased with myself at the outcome of this painting, I broke down and ordered up a more complete set. This painting is done on 400 grit sandpaper and totally ripped up my fingertips!  LOL... i'm going to get a new supply of 600 tonite. And then?  I think I may be ready for the big girl paper - I would love suggestions of what to buy. 

"Reflections"

I had been sharing my painting by email with my parents in Florida. They seemed to be impressed with what I was doing, so I painted this one with them in mind. Back on the canal in Foxton England...

I took the photo of this painting and noticed a few things that bothered me, so afterward refined it a bit. Sorry, don't have another photo to show those changes. Trust me, it's a bit better!

"Cowboy"

Nearly every day I want to try and paint a new painting. This one looked very interesting to me, and similar to the fisherman one. I liked doing the mist, so figured dust rising from a horse's hooves would be similar. I still need practice in figures though. I ended up giving this as a gift to my good friend's father on my trip to England. He fancies himself an American cowboy, and he really liked this. I felt honored they actually hung this on their wall.

My first pastel painting

Just a little over a month ago, (april '08) I found a new joy in life - painting with pastels. I had the pleasure of taking a 2 hour class and found a new passion. I have decided to start this blog after finding a wonderful site called dailyartists.com. I do believe that with each pastel I paint, I'm already getting better. I'm excited about the possibilities of what I may be able to accomplish. At this point, I don't have a style. I'm sure that will evolve over time. I hope that you'll comment on my work. I've never had any formal fine art training, however I was pursuing a graphic arts degree at one time, and remember how much the critiques helped. So with that, I welcome your comments, good and bad. 

During this workshop, the artist provided us with the pastels, and taped to an easel, he had a sheet of 400 grit sandpaper. I was very surprised when I started working the pastels into the sandpaper at how well it seemed to work. Later, I asked about what paper he suggests for future paintings, and he said I could buy the expensive stuff, but sandpaper works just the same, and no need for fixing. So off I went to Lowe's, and bought a small supply of my own sandpaper to continue playing.