Two Upcoming Shows!

I am so happy to announce that some of my paintings have been accepted in two juried shows:

Pastel Society of the West Coast's Membership Show

August 9 - September 29, 2012

The Arts Building Gallery

808 Lincoln Way

Auburn, CA  95603

Reception:  September 29 from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm

Paintings accepted:

Flick of the Tail

The Pond

46th Mother Lode National Art Exhibition

hosted by Placerville Arts Association

August 12 - August 26, 2012

Placerville Shakespeare Club

2940 Bedford Avenue

Placerville, CA  95667

Reception:  August 26, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Paintings Accepted:

Tawny Gold

Light ComingThrough

Painting at Lake Tahoe

9 x 12 pastel

Today my painting friend and I went over the hill to Sand Harbor to paint.  We got there early, but gradually, the families of vacationers came to enjoy this gorgeous park at the Lake.  Several kids of all ages came by on their way to climb on the boulders and hike on the point, and I got many compliments from these young folks.  One 8-year-old boy in particular won my heart - he said - "That is the best work I have ever seen in my whole life!"  Love it!

Another little girl about 3-yrs-old really wanted to paint with me and asked her mom if "we could share".

You never know if you might inspire a very young person and change their life....

20 degrees cooler!

9 x 12 pastel

Today I went with a fellow artist friend to plein air paint.  Since we were going to have triple digit temperatures on the homefront today, we drove up the Mount Rose Highway to the meadow on top of the pass.  It was 20 degrees cooler - and sooooo nice!  We saw a large painting class there at the trailhead parking lot!  But we found our own little place to paint in the meadow.  Here is my painting.

"The Pond" pastel painting

11 x 14 pastel

We are having very hot summer weather now.  So, painting a pond seemed like the thing to do!

"Flick of the Tail" koi fish painting

12 x 9 pastel

I am finished.  Sigh!  Now I'm happy - I spent time with my fish (wish I had real ones), and I'm ready to move on to the next painting in landscape.

Today is the 4th of July - our Independence Day.  We are enjoying a peaceful day at home.  I worked in the vegetable garden before it got too hot, and harvested more lettuce and my first zucchini.  The tomatoes are going crazy.  Many green ones.  I trimmed the leaves away from them so the sun would turn them red.  There are three little Green Bell Peppers growing bigger.

Happy summery everyone!

Using my computer to analyze my painting progress

In progress.....not done yet....

I needed a break from the landscape painting, and I needed to go into a cocoon of another world, listen to zen music, koto and flute...and...paint fish.  Just shut out the world and the deadlines for art show entries, and  just meditate on the fish and the water an light reflections.

Even though I worked up close on a drafting board, I still would take many breaks and put it up on the easel and step back to analyze how it was coming.

I seem to start out with a lot of detail, but then smudge the excess detail out closer to the end...when I have determined what detail is the "eye catcher" and what should be "blurry" and not as important to the painting.

I still need another way to look at it.  I'll turn it upside down, and I'll look through a mirror.  And now, I will look at it on the computer....and see what needs work.

So, here it is - a work in progress -