Sandia Foothills

After the International Society of Pastel Societies biennial convention the end of May, I attended a two-day workshop taught by well known artist Deborah Secor. One of the paintings I did was this view of the Sandia Foothills, not far from where we live. I did an "underpainting" in colors that were complementary to the final product. If you look closely, you can see the underpainting colors showing through. The background hill, for example, has a yellow underpainting with a lavender final coat of soft pastel.



Some friends and I started plein air paintings at this site and took photos. I found, when I returned home to the studio, that my initial painting was washed out...no contrast of values, no real colors. I worked with it for a while, and after maybe 3 times wiping out what I'd done, I finally arrived at what was "okay" --->

So, I decided I'd spray on some wonderful new fixative (SpectraFix) to help hold the powdery pastel dust to the surface. I grabbed the spray bottle, spritzed the painting, and OMG....the color was running down the paper!!!! I'd grabbed the wrong bottle and instead of fixative, it was plain water. I had battled so long with this piece and now this!!!! Nothing to do but wait for it to dry and see how much damage had been done. Well, there was plenty. When you paint in watercolors, too much water means the paint "blooms" and that is what happened here. So back to the drawing board to see if I could fix it.

I reworked it (again!) and spritzed it lightly with the proper fixative but I guess because of the change in chemistry from the water, the fixative darkened the painting. This is typical when using most fixatives, but SpectraFix is unique in that it doesn't darken the painting. However, in this case, it did. That left me with only two options, toss it or fix it. So I redid it one more time, and this time did NOT "fix" it and here is the final result ------>

I added more color and contrast in the final product, and it seems livelier to me.

The two paintings (top one and bottom one) are 9 x 12 on Art Spectrum Colorfix sanded paper, unframed, no mat and are available for sale $100 each.

If you like either one, you can reach me by clicking on the "contact" link.

Now, I'm going to see what other adventures in painting I can have.

Till later..................

EVENING MONSOON

The monsoons are starting. Amazing storms blow in, usually in the late afternoon, and for a little while drop rain here and there. It's nice and cooling, and not at all scary like Midwest storms that are sometimes so fierce that they literally destroy parts of cities and towns. Here in Albuquerque, warm rain falls for a little while, kids play in puddles, adults wait wherever they are for it to stop, or like Ken and me, we sit under the shelter of the patio cover and enjoy the rain on the roof.

"Evening Monsoon" is a soft pastel painting on sanded paper 9 x 12 and available for sale unframed.

Settling In..........

It seems like forever since I've posted here. I'd like to say I've been busy painting, but in fact we've been busy settling in, and getting the yard in shape. That meant getting bids for an irrigation system in back, and some updating in front; removal of old remnants of grass; xeriscaping the back yard after preparing a plan for submission to the water authority; redoing the front yard. Well, it goes on and on. We've just about finished buying plants and shrubs so maybe we can move forward. Our tiny veggie garden -- 45 square feet -- is doing well and we haven't had to buy lettuce or spinach for almost two months. Lots of tomatoes on the plants and the 3 varieties of peppers are doing well too.

We attended the IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies) conference the end of May and came away inspired!!!! What a wonderful group of talented artists.

Just so you won't think I haven't picked up a stick of pastel, here's a recent painting, 9 x 12, just for fun; an abstract of apple and tangerines. Enjoy.

FINALLY.....we are moved in

This move has been such a long process, sometimes we thought it would never end. Finally, though, we are unpacked and I'm able to get back to painting.

Here are a couple of quick sketches -- the top one of desert rocks is a pastel about 6-1/2 x 7-1/2 inches on LaCarte card, and it took about 53 minutes to complete.

The bottom one is a study of clouds, floating past my studio window, big puffy billows against a sapphire sky. Very typical of most days here in Albuquerque. Another pastel on sanded paper, about 5 x 7 inches. This one took about 45 minutes to paint.

Painting makes me feel so good. When I put the pastels away for the day, and look at what I've done, there is such a feeling of satisfaction deep inside. Even if the art doesn't turn out, it can always be erased or washed off, and I can start over again. Always the opportunity is there to make it better, and learn from the experience.

I am entering two pieces into a show here, which opens on Friday October 3rd. It's the first one I'm entering here in ABQ....it's time I got involved locally. It's been much too long since I've been active in local art groups and I've missed it.

Till next time....

We've Moved

It's been way too long since posting here last time....but there is a reason. We decided to make a move from the St. Louis area, where the summers are oh, so hot and humid that it feels like 6 months of a steam bath (sorry, Tourism Bureau, but it's true) to the high and dry country of Albuquerque NM. That meant fixing, cleaning, staging, clearing, selling, donating, for a couple of months in preparation for putting our home on the market. We listed it on March 13, and within 3 weeks had two offers. We refused the first one, and accepted the second one. Then the fun really began, as we prepared for the move.

Because of the distance and the cost of moving furniture, we finally found a wonderful auctioneer who agreed to pick up whatever we didn't want to move and is putting it into a consignment auction on June 14th. We packed what we could into two cars, along with our two cats, to take with us to a temporary furnished apartment in Albuquerque. The buyers bought some of the furniture, and the rest went into storage at the moving company. We left the area on May 29th, arrived in ABQ on May 31st, and are settling in enough to see how we like it here. As I'm typing this, I look out the front window to the mountains behind the apartment complex -- beautiful clear blue sky.

No photos to post right now, but we'll try to stay more current. My fingers itch to start painting again!