Work in Progress- Little Blue Sake Pitcher

With eggs! I started this piece today with the idea that I have painted the eggs on pink, and on green. So now I will paint them to see the effects of a blue environment.

I usually use a warm light (which makes the shadows relatively cooler), but today I am using a blue filter I bought from Qiang-Huang, a daily painter who sells the filters on his blog. It simulates north light which is a cooler light. When your light is cooler, the shadows are relatively warmer.

Just a different way of seeing and it will be a bit of a challenge to not pick up my usual colors for shadows.

My work from today.......just getting colors and values blocked in.

"Eggs and Little Blue Sake Pitcher" 8 x 10 pastel on sanded board - Work in Progress

Monday at the Studio

What a fabulous day at the studio!

Tracy (our easel-mate) brought her mother-in-law and brother-in-law to see the studio. They are in town for Tracy's step-daughter's wedding this last weekend. It was so fun to talk with them about our art and our studio. B-I-L said what a God-given talent we all have and what a "holy" place. It was like a blessing for our little studio.

Our neighbor through the alley has a framing business, so June and I walked over there after our company left and I picked out a signature mat and frame for my upcoming framing jobs. Doing that allows the framer to offer me a discount...and it was VERY affordable. I'm getting two paintings framed for what I expected to pay for one. Plus, we are helping another woman in Golden bring in business.

June and I then celebrated how fortunate we are...we really are and we know it...by going to the Hot Spot diner for a big juicy hamburger and fries. It's through the other parking lot about a block or so away.

We love our neighborhood, and we also have two new tenants at the motel. Two Colorado School of Mines students. We have a musician who makes violins staying here for a month or so. It's such a cultural little enclave.

Here is my work from today....(and I'm posting this from the studio as we now have wi-fi).

"Prairie Creek" 11 x 14" Pastel on Sanded Paper

Back to the Beginning

"Green Pot and Eggs #1" 8 x 10" pastel on sanded board

This saga is over....I went back to painting #1 of this setup...and I am now calling the project finished!

I took both paintings to class last night and the consensus was #1 would work just fine if I took out the far right egg. So today, at the studio, I brushed it out with a sponge brush and repainted the right side where the egg was removed.

Ready to see what happens when I paint eggs in a blue atmosphere....

It Was Really Buggin' Me!

"Green Pot and Eggs #2" 8 x 10" Pastel on sanded board

The placement of the objects in my first attempt at this painting was really, really buggin' me, so this morning I started repainting it.

I really liked the colors, the shapes and the light so I thought it was worth repainting..

Not finished yet and will use my first attempt at the painting to test out some different colors for the pattern on the vase. I want to have the pattern be more specific...not an exact rendering but more realistic in terms of shape and color.

Green Pot and Eggs

"Green Pot and Eggs" Pastel 8 x 10" on sanded board

I was snowed in this morning, but the sun came out and melted the streets enough for me to get to the studio this afternoon. I could have stayed home but I was bound and determined to paint!

This is 8 x 10 on tan Ampersand Pastelbord, and it took me about 2.5 hours to get to this point. I may need to tweak a few things tomorrow morning...the left egg looks a little too long. But I was happy with my progress.

I'm not completely happy with the composition, I could probably move the whole right side in an inch or so. But for a daily painting exercise it's fine.

Eggs on Pink Study

"Eggs on Pink Study" Pastel on Sanded Board 5 x 7"

Back in the studio bright and early this morning....haven't painted since last Thursday night. Started with a study today so I can get back in the swing of things. These are real live eggs, not hard-boiled or blown out so I had to tape them in place.

We have an "Affordable Art" Exhibit coming up in May at LAC so I will be painting more of these until I get a few to enter the artwork under $100 exhibit.

Morning Cuties Study

"Morning Cuties" 5 x 7" Pastel on Board

Started out slow this morning, back at the studio after being in San Jose, CA for the last few days.

Put these cuties in my still life box and turned on the lamp.....aaaaaahhhhhh! It's good to be back.

Now to move on to something a little more thought-engrossing.

Trip to Santa Clara

The CPSA Governing Board has convened in Santa Clara, CA for our spring planning meeting. We have three days of meetings with evenings out for dinner. This summer. at the CPSA convention, we are offering a plein air workshop for the Saturday daytime event. So today, our CA folks took the group to the Santa Clara Mission (which sits on the campus of Santa Clara University)where the artists will be doing their plein air painting.

Growing up in Nebraska and living in Colorado for about 25 years, I don't get a chance to see the charm of palm trees and the CA missions. (I visited the Carmel Mission about 22 years ago, which was a spectacular adventure.)

I thought I would share some of the better photos with you. Remember, I am not a photographer...but I am an artist and hope to use some of the palm tree shots I took for a landscape.

Heading home on Tuesday morning....

I'm not sure what kind of trees these are with the gnarled trunks but there is something very ancient looking about them.

Again, a giant fir type of tree I've not seen before

This picture does not do this enormity of this palm the justice it deserves. Very awe-inspiring.

Beautiful stone grotto on the grounds

Lots of fountains and holy water founts

Red Rocks - Today's Studio Finish

"Red Rocks" 11 x 14" Pastel on Colourfix sanded paper

Our new studio is just fabulous, I'm not sleeping well because I get so excited about going to the studio in the morning. June and Tracy are such wonderful studio mates, and I think we are going to be so productive.

"The Outbuilding" - Finished

"The Outbuilding" 9 x 14" Pastel on Sanded Paper


Step 1 - Block in large shapes and color

Step 2 - The underpainting after the water has dried

Step 3 - Work in Progress, working from top/back to bottom/front
layering colors, making more specific shapes and marks the more forward I get

"Hay Bales" Finished

"Hay Bales" 9 x 14" Pastel on Sanded Paper

Day Two at the Studio

Ok...Day Two at the studio was absolutely heaven! It was nearly 60 degrees here today, beautiful sunshine and the birds were chirping out the windows at the studio. I spent the whole day there and just really could have stayed all night if I had a pillow and a blanket!


I finished "Autumn" but forgot to photograph it, so will post that it the next couple of days.


This afternoon I started "Hay Bales", 9 x 14" on Colourfix sanded paper...I think the color is called Eggplant...a dark purple.


I started by blocking in the large shapes....

"Hay Bales" - Blocking in Shapes and color

I'm doing this piece as part of a challenge on WetCanvas.com in the Pastel Forum. The challenge is not so much the image but using an underpainting as a tool. You can use watercolor, rubbing alcohol and a few other things, but I chose water...right out of the tap. It was a scary process and thought I might have to start over as everything looked dark and soppy......until it dried!

"Hay Bales" - after the underpainting is "smooshed with water"
using a paintbrush

The nice thing about the underpainting is it fills the annoying little flecks of paper that often show through when using pastel only. Next time I might get a little more wild as to the colors I use for the underpainting. For instance, I could have used the complements, especially in the trees which would be a dark red.

"Hay Bales" - Starting to apply color and texture using NuPastels

Tomorrow I will be putting more form and greens in the trees, warming up the fields, and working on the foreground a bit more. I'm sure it will be another heavenly day at the studio.

Another Great Day!

As if yesterday wasn't fabulous enough, I just found out that Vintage Teapot was accepted into the Artists Association of Northern Colorado's 19th National Art Exhibition and Sale, April 3-May 7 in Ft Collins CO.

I LOVE Ft Collins, it's where we celebrated our sweet Emma's adoption finalization in September. The city holds good memories for me.

"Vintage Teapot" 9 x 12 Colored Pencil with Pastel

Move-in Day!!!

Oh, I've waited a long time for this!!! Today I moved into my new art studio, which I will share with two wonderful friends and fellow artists.

It's in historic Golden, CO, in an old 1950's style motel that is being refurbished...and is utterly charming!

There will be a couple of other businesses/offices in the motel...but the residence units will be for Colorado School of Mines students.

It's very small but the three of us will fit in the space nicely. We have a clean bathroom, and a tiny clean kitchen, awesome views and a super art community to explore.

View out the front...how awesome

Waiting for the heat to kick in

Move in day for Cindy and Tracy
June's moving in tomorrow

The easels up!

The refridgerator has arrived

View out the side window...rose bushes and a small courtyard

What a great adventure this will be!~