Pastel Dust

"Portico"  pastel on Wallis



I finished a pastel that I have been working on for some time of the portico.. And when I look at this again, I see some refining points I will still do.  Darken the passageway on the right and brighten the sunlit wall a little more.
I have definitely decided to do the next series of "50 off the 90".  This is a pretty broad scope of opportunity since I didn't declare HOW far off of 90 I might extend my search for the places to paint!  I definitely got some great reference photos from my trek out in the hills on Thursday and they will be appreciated on the upcoming cold gray days that comes with January and February!  I painted outside yesterday in the balmy weather, but today that's not an option with it being drizzling and chilly.
My series will all be a similar, if not the same size...probably the 8x10 or 9x12 size.  This is to be again a learning and experimenting project and I may do the same composition in a couple of different ways to keep things interesting and that of a learning experience.  At times, I will ask my readers to take an image and paint it and then will post those...The lesson in that is to see different interpretations of the same subject.  That's something we can all learn from....so don't be shy, send me some images of the the cliff and junipers that I posted a few days ago.  Email them to me or post them on comments if you can (I don't know if that is possible)...email is bzgriff@charter.net.   I will get that one done soon and post it.

Planning on my Open Studio event...this year it will be focused on just paintings and prints.  We will rearrange the furnishings on the main floor of our home to be gallery like and hang lots of paintings on the walls.  Hours will be 10-4 Saturday and 10-3 Sunday Nov 19th and 20th.  It is a fun time that we invite people to come in and see the new work and have a cup of coffee and a treat.  It is the best of time!
So, if you are in the neighborhood of Walla Walla, WA...follow the "A" boards to 938 Mountain Park Drive and stop in, sit and have a cup of Joe and look at the paintings and most of all visit!

Back to the 50 of the 90...my goal is to complete this at least by mid year.  I am plotting on a car trip to New Mexico and painting there for an extended time.  If that all comes to be...it would be a WHOLE 'nuther project to work through.  So with that said...I am heading to the studio to paint...Happy painting!

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!

the dust never settles - Montana October, 2010

a Montana Sunset...with a story...

50 some miles to Miles City; 40 some to Ashland; 45 to Forsyth



Strawberry Hills Rec Area in the Pine Hills of SE Montana near Miles City


 

near the Tongue river south and west of Miles City




the Tongue River




Any time I can get a chance to go to Montana, I do.  It means I get to see family and once again experience the "Big Sky Country for a few days!  I had sent a couple of paintings to the annual art auction for the Custer County Art and Heritage Center show/auction the end of September and wanted to go to the auction event the latter part of September.  It worked out and Les and I were able to go.  The art center in Miles City is just one of the best around.  They have an incredible gallery space that was developed in part of the old water holding tanks along the
Yellowstone River.  These thick concrete walls provide a wonderfully climate controlled, unique space for this venue that holds a great permanent collection of work as well as shows that are changed out regularly.  The team of employees and volunteers always seem to tip the scales with quality in their events as well.  It was a pleasure to attend and to donate one painting to the cause and share the commission on another.  The "River in December" topped the bidding for the auction which was a happy note for me!  I had lots of good comments on the pieces that I submitted and that brings a good feeling to one's heart as well!  This event is another one that gets attention from several well known western artists and it is a pleasure to be part of that.


Earlier in September John from the Discovery Pond and Loft Gallery downtown Miles City had contacted Chris and asked him if his mother would want to hang a show there.  Chris asked me if I was interested and I said I was, but didn't know that I had enough work in Miles City to be considered a "show."  He assured me that he, himself had plenty.  Apparently my kid has been hording some work, because he was able to accommodate the gallery space well!!  John set up a very nice reception and artist opening while I was there and we got to visit with quite a few folks.  He also submitted an article to the local paper about my work from excerpts from the blog and website.  I was very appreciative of his warm hospitality and attention to details in how he hung the art show and the reception.  What a pleasure to work with people like John!   One of the highlights of the reception was a visit from  native American artist Joyce Lahn a longtime SE Montana native.  She was interested in talking about pastels because she hadn't done much with them.  The comment that she made about my work was great affirmation to me...she said "you do the best skies and they are MONTANA skies.  I knew you were from here when I saw how you painted skies."    She told me as a child, she moved to SE Washington with her mother and lived near the Columbia River in the town on Wallula.  Her step father had worked a river project at the time.  She told me about one scene that she said she has never painted but had thought she might was a scene one night as she walked home with a full moon and when she crossed the numerous railroad tracks of this town the moon's glow shimmered blue over the tracks and they were almost iridescent in the light of the moon on the dark night.  Painted quite the picture in my mind, so much that the next full moon and I going to head out to some tracks and see if I see that effect!  She was a delight to talk with.  She paints a lot of landscapes and Native Americans with very nice effects. 
Another day while we were visiting and our kids were at work, Les and I took a drive heading south of Miles City toward Broadus, then turned on the Tongue River Road and headed south and west.  We followed the river for some 30 -40 miles through pastures, along the river  and buttes, cedar, pine and juniper growth before we came to a fork in the road - dirt roads this far out.  A sign said it was 53 miles back to Miles City, 45 to  Forsyth to the north and 30 something to Ashland to the south.  We had long been off the paved road and a sign indicated that if there was snow or rain these roads were impassable.  I understand this growing up in "gumbo" country of north central Montana.  But a day with blue sky and 80 degree temperature, it is beautiful carefree drive through some very interesting country with the buttes and sandstone cliffs,  sort of rugged country with a beauty of it's own. The photo above of the road is near the fork in the road and gives you a sense of the tranquil trail through the hill sides; but in a rainstorm would be impassable as the gumbo would collect on the tires and the road would become so soft and muddy you couldn't move.


So the sunset photo was one that Les took at Chris's house to the east.  When I saw it, I said, "wow! that is my sky in one of the paintings that I had sent to the auction!"  And when you look at the painting and then the photo, you can see the similarity of that red/pink Montana evening sky that lets you know there will most likely be wind in the morning! 

I did this little painting while I was in Montana.  It isn't a MT scene, but is an OR one instead.  The weather was so warm (80-90 degrees) while we were there that I didn't do any fall paintings....it seemed more appropriate to paint spring and summer!!   We managed a couple of other treks out with the camera and the dogs as well as visiting my all time favorite coffee and pastry shop Cafe Utza, downtown Miles City.  I had the pleasure to meet Cara who is one of the owners and who had shown some of the series of 100 this spring.  She indicated she wanted more work for another show, so will have to put something together for this this very cool venue.  And the coffee!!  A flavor of it's own...almost buttery.  Love this place.
We also hung some work in a new establishment - The Main Street Grind - a new bakery and sandwich shop on Main just across from Stockman Bank where Chris and Michelle work.  Some great sandwiches and baked goods there and regarding the art... the golden ochre walls show off some of the wheat field paintings well!
Another highlight was my sister and husband driving down for the weekend and spending time with us.  We had a good time visiting and checking out a few establishments of Miles City.
When we left, we decided to drive the two-lane roads back to Missoula since the weather was good and for a change of scenery.  We headed north from Miles City toward Jordan where, for 80 some miles there is nothing but range land and the remnants of some old towns that have ceased to exist.  When you are on this road, and the day is clear, I think you can easily see a radius of about 150 miles...you are on the plains and this is the "big sky country"!


Now that I have returned, it's time to get back to some serious painting...and you???  happy painting!





pastel dust

I went again to Kontos's pond and painted with my friend Bambi.  In a matter of weeks there area changes in the fields and vegetation.  The wheat field to the north has been harvested and the straw baled and there is more dry weeds and grasses around the pond.  While we were there a big blue heron glided in and landed on the little island in the pond, but stayed hidden from us.  We took a break in the midst of the paint out and walked the banks and pastures and shot bunches of images for reference.  When we finished painting  we stopped back at her studio and I looked at some of her pieces she has been working on.  She is talented and is growing so much as a pastelist. 
We always grumble a little about how much stuff we drag with us to go out and paint.  I have a French easel and it works good for short hikes to set up.  But I still have a box of pastels and another bag with paper and stuff that I drag along.  I need to load my tray in my easel with pastels and eliminate one bag!  Bambi however, has been on a quest for a better system and she found a great easel from Cheap Joe's.  It is smaller than my French, but has good storage.  It seems more compact, but has great features and seems a little easier to put together than the French.  I believe it is Cheap Joe's own design and it is quite the ticket!
Our SE WA fair opened today and as part of fine art department staff, we demo during the hours the fair is open.  Carly and I were there today for some hours and managed to complete the vertical pond pastel above and start another.  There was a  moderate amount of traffic and it's a great way to talk to people about pastels and for them to watch us work.  My "Evening Storm Skies" nabbed the Best of Show  and first in the professional division.  "Velvet Underfoot" was 3rd.  It's a nice reward to earn such a prize.  There are some beautiful pieces of work there.
The kid's art is in the same area and last night when we were labelling them, it was great to see what uninhibited art comes from children.  There are some really good stuff.  My two grand daughters both had little watercolors entered; sweet little pieces they are so proud of!  And our friend's son Wiley who takes oil painting lessons regularly entered an outstanding impressionistic piece.  It earned a Blue in the open division and justifiably so!
So three days of demos and Friday brings "First Friday Art Walk".  I will show new works at Williams Real Estate office for the month of September and I am looking forward to having a lot of the pieces framed plein air style in mahogany and gold frames, hanging on their walls!
With that, I wish everyone a safe and happy Labor Day weekend and keep 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...

more dust

I just got back from the quarterly Northwest Pastel Society meeting in Gig Harbor, WA.  That's across the Narrows from Tacoma in the south Puget Sound.  It is a beautiful setting and typically would be a great place to some plein air painting down by the harbor, however it was mid 90's and that's a little warm to be outside painting for long!
I just am finishing the night scene of Joseph, OR above.  It is sort of fun to play with "night" colors and the lack of!  It was wet and lots of stormy clouds and most everything was peaceful; much different from the bustling of the daytime Main Street activities.
The vineyard is an older painting that I did some copies of and will be given to some of the guests tomorrow night at the vineyard dining and plein air experience that Lori, M'Lisse, LeaAnn and I put together for a Hospice auction item this year.  I met LeaAnn one evening at her vineyard to check out where I would be painting and maybe what I might paint.  She took me around through the vines and showed me the difference between Cabernet and syrah grapes and others and she was trying to be helpful in where I might set up to paint.  She starts talking about me standing and working on top of a table or in a "lift" on her tractor.  Man, WHOA!  I don't do heights!  I am good being 5'5" from the ground up.  She thought that was pretty funny.  But she doesn't really know me all that well.  I am not extremely coordinated.  I knock things over.  I could envision falling off the table; spilling pastels all over the ground, crashing the easel to the dirt and more.  Much better I stay grounded.  Then I said I loved her grape fields!  GRAPE FIELDS????  IT"S A VINEYARD!! just a technicality...I am looking forward to spending part of the evening with the diners and the rest of the crew.  It will be fun and I will come up with something appropriate to paint, I am certain! without the tractor or standing on a picnic table.
Back the NPS meeting...the entries are all in for the Int'l Show and entry has now closed for that event.  The entries are all done digitally and on line.  This is one of the greatest things, in my book, because it simplifies the entry process so much.  You don't have to take, develop and send in slides or even make a CD, it's all electronic on the computer.
Some folks were talking about preparing their images for transmittal.  That's the crucial element!  Every art show prospectus that comes out describes in detail what dimensions, etc is required for the entry.  Some shows, if the entry isn't done correctly, merely discard the entry and the artist doesn't know any difference other than they were denied for entry by the juror.  So a couple of things to make note of:
        Be sure the image you are sending has nothing but the image of the painting in it...no tape showing on the edges of the painting, no frame, no mat, no light sneaking around the side of the painting, etc.  The prospectus will tell you the image size should be...such as: 
Images should be hi resolution (300dpi), 1200x1800 pixels -approximately 4”x 6”.
Save each of your jpg images using this convention:
“yourlastname.titleofpainting.jpg”
Use no spaces or symbols in name.
So to change your image that you have stored in our computer, you need to have access to PhotoShop or some image software.  Once you go to the "resize image" you can accomplish most of this pretty easily.  You want to maintain the appropriate shape of your painting, so if it happens to be a long narrow piece, you want the juror to see it as it is and not just a portion of that.  So be sure the box is checked to keep proportions consistent. Then you change the longest side of your image to the longest allowed in the prospectus (in the case above - 1800 pi)   Then the shorter side will proportionately change automatically.  Always be sure to check and make certain the resolution is set at the required (300 dpi on this one).  A note...be sure you are using a high resolution when you take your image as well.  Your camera has a setting for this.  If  you shoot an image at 72 dpi and then try to make it be 3000 dpi when you change it, you will not be very happy because your image will not be clear and crisp...And then label the image as requested; "save as" in your documents and then upload this newly sized image in the entry.  Photoshop isn't the only software that allows you to make changes of an image.  I have a Canon ARCsoft program that allows and is very simplistic and easy.  It is a program that is part of my scanning system and works very well.  So that's some tips for preparing an entry for a juried show with digital entries.  Also what I do is print out the prospectus so I have that in hand to refer to, to make certain the entry is done correctly.
Wishing all you painters great success and keep painting...

As a note:  The show is hanging at Discovery Pond in Miles City and the Custer County Heritage Auction Show is ready for public view this weekend for the month before the actual auction.

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!