pastel dust

After returning from Montana and since my last post, I have been busy with a variety of "stuff" besides painting which can make me a little itchy.  Finally this week I was able to get things in order and get out and do some painting.  Our weather is still beautiful and it lends to getting out and doing some plein air work as well as going on photo expeditions for those reference photos that are so important when the fog sets in and the dampness is bone chilling.
Bambi and I went out this afternoon with the good intention of doing some plein air work, however, the colors were so incredible we agreed that it might be in our best interest to make it a "photo: day and shoot images.  And that is what we did.  We trekked down along some creeks and drove up remote roads in the Blues.  We stayed out late enough to record some of the fabulous light that happens around 4 o'clock this time of year.  We will appreciate this day come mid January and fog!
I am contemplating a new series...it will be different from the small works series where I  used one composition and recreated it differently 100 times.  I have decided this will be small works, but in the 8x10 or 9x12 size...what I haven't decided on is the number and if the pieces will have a relationship to each other.  I am leaning toward something like "Back roads" or "Roads and Streams" or maybe "Montana On My Mind" or "The Path of Lewis and Clark".  Maybe it will be "50 off the 90"...50 images of areas of interest off of Interstate 90...since I-90 begins or ends in Seattle and goes across the panhandle of ID and through MT and continuing on east to Boston.  Outside of Billings you get the option of getting on I-94 which takes a northerly route through North Dakota and continuing eastward, joining I-90 at Lacrosse, WI and then veering off again toward Madison, WI, crossing 90 in the Chicago land area and ending in the Detroit area.
So with that little bit of highway geography, about any area that I wander around is near I-90 and it is diversely different between Seattle and Billings, MT.
A small bit of trivia....up until a few years ago there was one stoplight on I-90...at Wallace, ID...that went away when a new section of interstate was built that circumvented the downtown area of Wallace.
So with that rambling...I think this next body of work will be spots of interest between Seattle and Miles City, MT.  They might be near I-90 (or 94 as one closes in on MC) or a hundred miles off of it.  I promise them to be interesting spots, remote, probably.

Shows to look forward to include The Northwest Pastel Society International Open Show  that opens the 13th at American Art Company in Tacoma, WA.  This should prove to be a good show with quality work.  I am anxious to see the show hanging in this beautiful gallery space.  The next NPS event is the members show which will be at the Kirsten Gallery in the university district of Seattle in a wonderful multilevel gallery.  that show opens in April, 2011.

I am considering going to the International Association of Pastel Societies annual convention/workshops in Albuquerque next June.  That would be a prime time to take some time and spend painting in NM which is something of a  desire of mine.  The thought of being able to combine a trip to paint and a trip to a pastel convention which should be like a huge candy store for pastelists seems almost too good to be true.  For me this could be a whole new series.  The potential for a landscape artist traveling the route I would take would take me through some splendid sites like Zion, Bryce, etc. and on into CO and northern NM.

"Fall Kaleidoscope" was given an honorable mention in Jerry's Artarama's Summer Pastel Challenge using the Mungyo pastels.  I had not tried them before, but like these semi-hard square sticks.  They are touted to be light fast and the colors are very nice.  Prices are great.  I did a trial run with a box of 1/2 sticks (64) and continue to use them for burnishing and some under painting.  I like these!  this little piece was actually done entirely with the Mungyo's on Art Spectrum paper.  I also used some on the painting at the top which was done on black Art Spectrum and is a scene along Patit Creek.   I am also a big fan of Jerry's plein air frames....very good value especially when you can take advantage of a case lot and when they are on sale!

Finally, I would like to post an image and invite anyone who wants to paint it and then submit it to me to post.  I think a few of these with people's different style and palette would be fun to see.  You can send them to my email bzgriff@charter.net and I can post them or you can try to post them with your comments to the blog!  Here is the first image:

good luck and happy painting!

Pastel Dust on the Vines

It was a plein air sort of late afternoon to spend at Patina Vineyard as part of the Hospice event we created for their auction this spring.  The mastermind of the event or minds were  Lori and M'Lisse.  LeaAnn lended her vineyard and I brought up the pastel dust....which resulted in the above painting that the buyer of this particular auction lot also got along with a superb dinner and wines.  Other members of the party got a framed coy of a small vineyard painting I had done a few years ago.
One can see I had a great little set up for my space to paint and the pre dinner wines and appetizers adorned the table under the trees twinkling with candles nestled in little cut glass tea cups.  M'Lisse has just bumped one of the tea cups and waxed the back of her hair when the little tea light spilled in the collision!

Lori prepares the dining table for the meal while the guest stroll through the vineyards with LeaAnn.  These two put together an incredible feast with great appetizers, soup, salad and salmon.  I managed a taste of this, a plate of that and it was all top notch cuisine.

While the guest sampled wine and dined, I finished the painting.  We framed it and presented it to the guests to their approval during their meal.

Roy, who is an accomplished watercolorist showed another side of his talents and provided great music for the evening with his guitar and harmonica.  It was quite a pleasure to be painting on the other side of the grape vines and listen to live music!

The message in this blog?  I encourage anyone who paints to get out and do some plein air painting or just get out in the yard and paint from a photo!  If you have an opportunity to paint something for something like this - do it!  It is fun; there isn't a time limit and if you mess up one, just be sure you have an extra sheet of paper to start again!

Happy painting...

pastel dust

I have been doing the "other stuff" related to painting for the past couple of weeks...getting pieces into frames, taking work to galleries, picking up other work, etc.  It's all the busy work that takes big chunks of time.  I did go out and do some photography in a vineyard where I am going to be painting plein air during an evening dinner in this vineyard as part of an auction sale to benefit our local Hospice.  Three friends - M'Lisse and Lorie are cooking and presenting some wonderful fare to the high bidders of this auction lot; LeaAnn owns the vineyard and is providing al fresco dining in the shade of beautiful old trees at the edge of the vineyard and I am painting a 9x12" piece while the party eats.  The painting is part of the package as well and will be given to the diners.  All in the spirit of giving back to a superb organization that provides so much for so many people.

So, I have included a couple of images of works that are part of my collection - not my work - but from family.  The watercolor is a field painting done by my great uncle who, along with my Mom was probably my most inspirational person to keep me painting.  This piece was probably painted in the 40's - maybe late 30's.  He lived in Chicago and was an artist working the the ad business.  He traveled a lot, painting and spent years roaming Europe before WWII painting.  Every Christmas, his signature was to paint Christmas cards for the family.  I have 7 of them that my mom saved and framed and gave me.  The cards are all of somewhere that was meaningful to his family - the front stoop of the house in Chicago, the home he lived in out in northern IL, the street he lived on in Paris, etc.
The other image is a wood carving done in a wooden bowl by a young man from Chicago who my Grandmother was a nurse for.  My grandmother was a nurse by training and a pioneer.   She journeyed to Montana in the teens of the century and homesteaded with her brother and his best friend.  She married the friend and after he died untimely, she returned to Chicago with my mom (age 13) in tow and re-upped her necessary continuing education and started nursing again.  Private duty nursing was a good paying line of work and she like that.  The boy that did the carving was recovering from some malaise and he and my grandmother became friends.  Once he recovered he finished the wood carving and gave it to her.
Just another couple of interesting art items with a bunch of sentimental value!

I did spend 5 days in the Puget Sound doing a variety of art things.  The state fair entries were due and this year their focus in the fine art department was Pastels, so I decided to take a piece there for that show.  Other duties were meeting with a gallery in Seattle to host our Northwest Pastel Society show in 2011.  Kirsten Gallery in the University district.  Lovely gallery and look forward to working with them. And then a day with the NPS for a board meeting and general membership meeting.  Finally a trip up to Bellingham to retrieve some pieces that had been shown and back to the east side of the state last night.  The Puget Sound is beautiful; but I certainly appreciate the less traffic and busy that I live in daily in Walla Walla!
So...for now...keep painting...I am going to do that this week!