Pastel Skies

Wind TomorrowAfterglow

I am calling the one "Wind Tomorrow" since I have heard that saying about "red sky at night; sailor's delight..."  meaning there will be wind for the sails the next day...The other is the river at sundown in early December and you can probably figure out there is going to be some sort of storm from the looks of the sky.. 
I wanted to do something with a good rural feeling to it for the Custer County Art and Heritage Center auction  in MT that takes place the latter part of September.  It's a fund raiser for the center so I am hoping these will bring them a good chunk of change for their cause.  They have one of the nicest art centers around and they do tons of great things for education of youth, etc. 
Something to note...some of the heavy pastel papers like Wallis and Art Spectrum and Pastelbord to name a few let you rework paintings.  If you hate them and  you haven't totally destroyed your surface with fixatives, you can often brush, wipe and wash off the surface and repaint it.  It's a good solution to last weeks "hissy fit" of being so disgusted with the piece you pitch it in the garbage can.  Some times it's probably best to do that and just take your loss, but other times it can be salvaged and reworked into something good.  I have used the old pastel for an underpainting of a new one, first by getting rid of excess pigment and then wetting the surface with alcohol and using that as a colored base.  Of course colors needs to be something compatible with what your new painting is...and that makes it work!
I am getting ready to start working on some pieces for a show in Sandpoint, ID in November.  It is an invitational show and will be at the Sandpoint Center where I showed for ArtWalk.  The criteria is that the work is to be landscapes of the northern ID.  I have some great reference photos to start working with of that area.  It is truly beautiful in that part of the world.  There is lots of water and mountains.  Color isn't  hard to find and it's really an artist's paradise.  I am also working on pieces for September Walla Walla ArtWalk and I will be showing work at Williams Team Homes office.  they have a wonderful office and good space for art.  Chris has been working on another show space in MT that may come together in October as well.  So I do believe that I need to keep painting!!