Texas Pastel Society Demo

Demo for TXPS

12 x 6, pastel

Click to Bid

Last year I was asked to give a demo to the Texas Pastel Society, an honor to say the least. However, standing up in front of people attempting to paint is not my cup of tea. So I was able to hook them up with another artist to give the demo.......whew! BUT that did not deter them, so I gave in and subjected them to watching me cover a blank piece of pastel paper with pastel this past Saturday!

They were so gracious, kind, patient and any other adjective you can think of in that genre. I decided on skies as the subject matter and went out on a limb and decided that it would be a vertical presentation instead of the usual horizontal, or my favorite...square. 

I almost completed this painting during the session. I did not complete the foreground because it is a made up area. If you have taken photos of a sunset/sunrise, you know that the foregrounds are usually very dark, unrealistically dark. So I usually have to think about them for awhile to decide what I can put there that will look good.

So a special thanks to the Texas Pastel Society for the invitation and the opportunity get me out of my comfort zone!

New Found Appreciation

Demo--First ever!

14x12, pastel

This past Sunday was a first for me.........giving a pastel demo for the Pastel Society of the Southwest during their monthly meeting. This group of artists are so very talented, it was a humbling experience. They were so gracious and kind to me as I tried to hide my anxiety.

I anguished for several months trying to decide on a subject to paint. The PSSW had requested that the demo be of a still life. Now still life paintings were a staple when my main medium was watercolor, but since pastels have ruled, very few still lifes have been completed. So many small paintings were tried to help me determine the subject matter......and heaven forbid that I choose a simple composition! The demo was begun with the drawing on prepared gatorboard ( you can see the light yellow pastel on the picture below), and was worked on until the break. At the end of the break a second painting closer to completion was put up on the easel (the apple on the left and two flowers needed to be painted). Really like the subject and may continue working to refine this painting.

It really was a fun experience and I am grateful to the group for allowing me to dip my toes into the world of painting demonstrations. There is a greater appreciation for those artists who so willingly share their knowledge of creating art.

Demo...what was completed prior to the break.

Persimmons

Persimmons

8" x 8", pastel
Click to buy

Early in January, I received an email asking me if I would do a demo for a pastel society meeting, and not a local society. I was floored, and immediately set about listing all the reasons to say no. My family thought I was nuts for not jumping at the chance for the opportunity. After consulting my art mentors, I decided to bite the bullet and give that first ever demo! The kicker was that it is to be a still life demo.

When watercolor was my main medium, still life paintings were my 'go to' subject. The reason being that my teacher, Angie Banta Brown, provided the most wonderful reference photos from which to paint. She was kind enough to help me in that area for this demo. Setting up a still life requires stuff, wonderful, colorful, varied objects to display in an interesting way and Angie has the most amazing props. We had such fun arranging and rearranging all those props. 

Persimmons is my first painting from that day. Decided I had better practice a little, don't think there has been a still life created since 'Caffe' Italiano'. Stay tuned for more still life paintings, as I prepare for the upcoming demo.

Wimberley Fine Arts Center

Austin Troubadours

12 x 9, pastel

This weekend is Arts Fest in Wimberley, Texas at the Blue Hole. It is also 2nd Saturday Art Walk there. I have recently joined a wonderful group of artists with the Wimberley Fine Arts Center. The Center is open daily and will even be open late tomorrow night (7pm) for the Art Walk. Hope you can get by and check out the great art on display there and enjoy a bit of wine as well.

I will be working on this work in progress. One of my prizes with the Merit Award from the APS Juried Membership Exhibition was black Canson pastel paper. I had never used black paper before and am enjoying exploring the possibilities. The one thing the paper lacks is grit so that means I need to get the value and color right the first time as it will not take as many layers of pastel as sanded paper will.

Hope to see you there.

Basset

Basset

7 x 5, pastel
Click to Bid

This is a smaller version of an earlier post. It was started as a demo while working at the NBAL gallery months ago. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my reference photo--bummer. So I painted it from the photo I had on my Blackberry's tiny screen. Think it turned out OK though.