Trés excited!

Let's face it ... I'm a crappy blogger.
I have the best intentions but look at this... almost four months since my last post!
My apologies, dear readers! (If you're still following!)

I'm just back from moving my mom into an independent living apartment in California, which she luuuuuuuuvs. So glad that worked out so well! Next up; clearing out her house of 31 years as it is currently in escrow and will close on Feb. 28.

But between now and then I'm about to embark on a paint-athon. The deadline for submissions to the Austin Pastel Society annual juried exhibition is Jan. 31 and EEK! I daresay that's right around the corner. I have a couple of paintings I could enter but I really wanted to have some new and improved, fresh work. So I'm crankin' it. Here is one I did after Christmas I'm considering entering, of my daughter cooking.

Annnnnd, I may also consider entering this one if I can clean up those messy taxis. Which I had to make up because there were no taxis in my New York reference photo, oddly enough. Which I never should have made up. I call it "Green Pants at 44th & 6th." I loved finding this green pants guy in my street scene photos when I came home from NYC and uploaded them!

But on to positively exciting news! I've registered for Margaret Dyer's 2 week pastel workshop in France this June! Along with my two other great pastel buddies, Katherine and Jane! We are over-the-moon excited! Trés excited!

Margaret Dyer during her demo at IAPS Convention, June 2013

I've been a huge admirer of Margaret's work for some time now but when I attended her figure painting demo last year at the IAPS convention I was swept away by her unique process. She whipped out that little beauty in the photo above in less than 2 hours. I can't wait to spend 2 weeks in the studio with her, absolutely steeping in instruction and inspiration! I believe this is her 4th year teaching at La Bonne Etoile, a wonderful artist's retreat in Fontaine-Fourches, not too far from Paris.

And this year they are arranging to take us to Provence to paint the last 4 days of the workshop! Lavender and sunflower fields! Fantastique! Breathtaking landscapes! Merveilleux!

I've got about 5 months to learn more French than that! But I'd better say au revoir for now and rush to the easel. Happy painting and happy 2014, everyone!

My Lame Excuse

What's my excuse for not posting or painting for a month?
It's a lame excuse, actually.
No, I mean really. It's a lame excuse.

I have been out of commission with frozen shoulder. Right shoulder. Painting arm.  #!&%*!#*!

It started with a minor injury while zip lining in Costa Rica last March. Then it all went downhill from there.

Just so ya know... shoulder injury + no doctor visit + 3 months go by + still no doctor visit = frozen shoulder.

And if you DO zip line, don't go inverted, like this. Unless you're like 26 years old. Which I am not.

Yup. That's yours truly.

So because I can't raise my arm to the easel without making yelping sounds, I've been down in the dumps. Yesterday however, my little pastel group met up at Katherine's wonderful studio in Wimberley and I picked up a pastel for the first time in a month. But with my left hand, not with my gimpy right arm. Still, it was interesting and fun to see what came from painting with the non-dominate hand. Nothing masterful by any means, but really loosey-goosey, kind of abstract-y and fun.

AND, our pastelist friend Vicki, whom we met at the IAPS convention in Albuquerque last month, was able to join us yesterday. And she's lame too! Exciting! (No.) Vicki had a very bad frozen shoulder condition and had surgery as soon as the convention was over. The recovery for this surgery is especially long, difficult and painful and Vicki is now in the throes of it. Here we are showing you our bum wings.

Here's a little photo journal of our pastel day.

Jane and Vicki creating masterpieces .....

This is an underpainting that Katherine started yesterday. The final painting will be magnificent, I promise you.

Nancy's doing research .........

Jane's lovely work in progress. And I wish I could tell you that Katherine is demonstrating some interesting pastel technique but she's really just describing how long her (other) dachshund's toe nails are getting. That's Fox, the doxie in the photo. Her nails aren't too bad, but her brother's ... daggers! 

I swear Nancy really didn't just flip through books all day .... she's already finished a gorgeous painting; it's there on the table. 

Vicki works on her art board at a slant as her shoulder recovers from surgery. But still, OW!

My lefty painting in progress. Meh. But it sure felt good to get messy with pastels again! (hint: it's a landscape.)

Sooooo, notes to self:

At this point in your life (i.e. old) stop doing things that you could effortlessly do when you were younger but you only hurt yourself when you attempt them now! Like .....

No more skateboarding (remember the cracked elbow?)

No more cartwheels (another inversion that causes serious back pain the next day) 

No more pack trips on horses (remember the 3 broken ribs after being thrown? Search & Rescue had to come take you out ... remember?) 

And no more zip-lining. Especially inverted!

But painting is always okay.

So cool ... and warm.

Oh, how I love Margaret Dyer's work and how I loved her talk and demo at IAPS in Albuquerque earlier this month. Her methods clicked with me, especially the layering of warm and cool colors of the same value. As she said, this gives your painting energy and vibration. I've done a little practicing with that, from photos we were all lucky to shoot of a model she had there.

Here is the demo Margaret did of the model ... in a little over an hour! (Sorry they aren't more in focus.)

She builds the painting by starting with the darkest darks and layering the warms and cools.  Look at that purple and blue in the shadows on the arms!

I love all the colors she uses in the skin especially. She says the color is arbitrary, it's the value she reaches for. You can see the energy coming through the layers of temperatures. Well, maybe not so much in MY photos of her painting, but trust me.

Now I try. Same model but this is from photos I took of her.

The deep red shadows are my darkest darks.

At this point the skin shows cool colors.

I layered some warm colors onto the cool colors in the skin here, trying to choose the same values. But I do have trouble with value! 

Then I layered cool colors on again ....

Margaret suggested about four layers I think, but did I do four? No. In my usual style I got carried away and did about eight! I think the painting started to get away from me and I felt like I was losing control of it. I began to get confused about my values!

So here (below) is what I ended up with at quittin' time. It's okay but I think I liked it better about two layers ago. Bearing that in mind, I may try this one again sometime. I like the model's pose and the lighting.

And here is another one I did using the Margaret Method. I didn't take photos of it in stages but I kind of like this one a little better because of the stronger colors in the skin. (And yes, the model was pretty muscular.)

Still so much to learn and refine but this layering of temperatures really resonates with me. Thank you Margaret Dyer! (Aw hell, she won't see this.) A real break-through! I'll keep at it.

A Colorful Experience

Okay, could I even BE more inspired???

Having just returned from the IAPS Convention (Int'l Assoc. of Pastel Societies) in Albuquerque, I am bursting with new ideas and inspiration! Pastel buddies Katherine and Jane joined me for 4 days of bliss.

We attended demos and learned amazing techniques from fabulous artists like ....

Margaret Dyer & her demo ......

.... and Marla Baggetta.

Marla's demo ... painted in about an hour!

We made new friends .....

We met Vicki (on the right) on the airport shuttle the 1st day and she quickly became our new buddy. AND, she's from New Braunfels, a town near us back home in Texas!

We spent lots of time amongst beautiful paintings in the gallery .....

.... and we spent lots of time (and money) at the trade show. Also known as The Candy Store.

This is the Terry Ludwig booth. A visual experience!

We enjoyed the restaurants and local color in Old Town.

It was an inspiring time and now we're all home painting. Thanks IAPS ... we'll be back!

Convention time!

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Albuquerque to attend the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Convention with two of my pastel buddies, Katherine and Jane. Very exciting! It will be three days of mingling with and learning from fabulous pastel artists whose work I've come to admire since my passion for pastels began a couple of years ago. Just to name a few, I'm thrilled to be registered to attend demos given by Desmond O'Hagan, Lorenzo Chavez, Margaret Dyer and Marla Bagetta.

I will take pictures and report back upon return!

In the meantime, I've discovered a new favorite pastel surface to work on ... Ampersand Pastelbord. So smooth and creamy with lots of tooth and I'm loving the board instead of paper. So of course I had to order a good supply which arrived today! Here is one I just did on the Ampersand. Adding to my apparent series of stuff on a blue and white napkin.