Day 1 - Mooove Back!

"Mooove Back!" (pastel on primed Yupo, 16x8 inches) Click here to bid or buy

Day 1 of 30 paintings in April, 2020. (Read about my new resolution HERE!)

This cow is violating social distancing rules!! 🤣

This was my other painting for the Australian Pastel Expo which was canceled. I started her as a demo for the Seguin Art League earlier last month.

I’ve painted this curious cow before, a couple of times, and thought she was worth another go-round. This time I tried a more extreme cropped composition to amplify the close-up viewpoint.

I met her and her herd on one of my travels around Texas. While the rest of her family kept a cautious distance, she just had to come over and see what I was doing with the little black thing in my hands. That, or she was either looking for treats or warning me away… She was rather vocal in her communication!

I underpainted with warm-toned Art Spectrum primers and inks to catch the feeling of warm sunlight.

 Thanks for reading!
Keep Painting and Wash Your Hands!

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Besties

"Besties" (pastel, 11x16 inches)(28x40cm) $850 framed

Well, I've never been so busy now that I have "nothing" to do. Ha! I've been looking forward to playing with my new prize pastels from my last two wins ("Persephone" and "Intent") and excited that this forced home-bound situation would give me more studio time! But what have I been doing instead?

Our Carriage House Gallery in Boerne has temporarily closed but we've all been cramming the last few days to get our artwork up into the new Sale and Gift Store pages of our newly revamped website, and to get the site optimized for online sales. Check it out! 😃

Yesterday I helped move my daughter out of her university housing, and into our guest room (she prefers the quiet on that side of the house.. 🙄) so our living room is currently full of extraneous furniture and closet junk mixed in with all the usual cat toys.

And now with all of this sorting and moving, I've been bit by the "organizational bug" and really want to tackle my office... and I know from experience if I don't strike while the fever is on me (no pun intended!) it will just get worse until another year has gone by...

However - the cancellation of the Australian Pastel Expo has had at least one good outcome - now I have the two paintings I did for the Tutor's Exhibition that I can post for sale immediately! This is one of them. My darling cats, best buds in their bed.

Mewler came home to us six months before Argie, and would not stop crying until Argie arrived. He was so happy we brought him a friend! They soon became best buddies.

This painting was inspired by a photo I caught straight down on the two of them snuggled in their bed, morning light from the nearby window casting a warm glow. The image is actually upside down from how I snapped the photo.

I started with a warm-toned underpainting using Art Spectrum primers and inks to establish the range of values and some underlying texture.

Stay safe, keep calm and wash your hands.
Thanks for reading. Please share!

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Intent - New Award!

"Intent" (pastel, 6x6 inches) sold

I'm very happy to say that my little portrait of Mewler won Second In Show at the Austin Pastel Society 2020 Annual Juried Member Exhibition 'Celebrating Pastels!'

This was one of my little daily paintings from my 31-in-31 challenge in January. I usually put out some better work after having painted for several days. I just have to remember that right now when I have several days ahead of me and somehow I'm STILL allowing myself to get distracted by other things...

..But I'm preparing! Stay tuned for new art!

Meanwhile, although we had made the decision to cancel the APS Celebrating Pastels! reception, the show is still hanging at the Austin Art and Frame Gallery on Bee Caves Rd in Austin, and also Online HERE! 

You can vote online (or in person at the gallery) for your favorite for the Janis Langley People's Choice Award. Take the link and browse the artwork. Click on your favorite for a voting link!


(PS: See some process pics of Intent on the original blog post here.)

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Finally... A Studio Sale! Thank You and Be Safe

"July" (pastel, 16x22) studio sale

Change can be scary ... but

It's been a strange world lately. News about the new coronavirus has come to a head, and concerns about it's spread has led to the canceling of events and temporary closing of businesses. Even as we can understand how necessary these measures are for slowing the spread of the disease, it's still difficult and a bit scary to live through these rapidly changing times. We have all been affected in some way; schools going remote, sporting events canceled, people working from home.

Art connects people.

Artists and independent craftspeople are being hit hard. Perhaps one of the worst effects of the virus is how it's forcing people to disconnect. Artists make our living by connecting people with art, yet all of the art festivals and events on my calendar for the next several weeks have been canceled or postponed.

"Straight Up" (pastel, 5x7)

Finding blessings...

When I got the email about the Winter Park Art Festival being canceled, my first thought was to bemoan the missed opportunity to connect with all those Floridian collectors for the first time (not to mention the lost potential income!) But my second thought was that my kids are being granted an extended spring break and now I get to be home with them!
😀

I'm also blessed to have friends and clients like you, who have always been so supportive and appreciative of my art, and some of you have followed my career from it's beginning. To all of you who have connected with my art, I thank you!

"BonBon" (pastel, 12" circle)

Studio Sale.. Finally!

I also realized that now is a very good time to post the Studio Sale that I've had in mind for a while but hadn't had the time to organize. I've had quite a few favorite pieces in past years that by quirks of fate have just not yet found their forever home, and I have gathered them all into a new online page of my site. You can view the Studio Sale Here. These pieces are a select and eclectic group of paintings and drawings that I've always liked. You can consider this as your very own Virtual Art Festival Sale, with no traveling required! They are all priced to sell (and hopefully to buy groceries for two hungry adult children) at prices 40-70% below retail. The listed prices are unframed, but for most I have framing available at a lower-than-retail cost, just ask.

Another perk... Free shipping!

Additionally, as a convenience for y'all in this time of travel restrictions, I've decided to offer free shipping in the U.S. for the next 30 days. Yes, this includes even framed paintings, as well as any painting not included in the Studio Sale and not currently at a gallery or show, in case you see something else that really connects with you among my recent work.

"Red Rock" (pastel, 8x10)

Again, thank you.

We will weather this strange storm that has us all holed in our homes, and sooner or later things will be back to normal. But for now, if you can afford to, please consider purchasing a painting. Treat yourself or a friend to something lovely. Art enriches life. Thank you, and stay safe and healthy.

~Rita

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Creek at Willow City Loop

"Creek at Willow City Loop" (pastel, 8x10 inches)

This was the first of my plein air paintings last week in Fredericksburg, during the AIS paint out. A die-hard plein air painter I am NOT! I worked around the general rainy-ness of the day by scoping out the creek area with my camera as a viewfinder first, then retreating to my car to paint my chosen viewpoint.

I sketched the composition from one of the photos, and was able to pretty much catch the the colors from the slightly higher angle of the same scene... It was a little awkward, but it worked, and I stayed dry!

Rear Window

"Rear Window" (pastel, 6x8 inches) $425

I was headed back to the RS Hannah Gallery on Thursday to check out the view from the upstairs balcony, which someone said had really good views of Main Street. I stopped to chat with Debra Joy Groesser and admire the painting she was doing of a house behind the gallery, when I got distracted by the light on this window on a neighboring gallery and decided I had to paint it.

This was my final of four paintings I did in the AIS Member Paintout last weekend. The American Impressionist Society has their 4th Annual Impressions Small Works Showcase this year at the RS Hannah Gallery in Fredericksburg Texas. For two days preceding the opening reception, members could paint out around Fredericksburg and put one painting in the "Wet Wall" Competition. This is the one I chose to enter.

The Small Works Showcase itself is a truly amazing show. Every time I browsed the show I was newly stunned that I was actually included! (My painting "Golden" is in the show.)

"Golden" (pastel, 12x9 inches, $1350)

You can see the entire show online here, but to see the paintings in person has no comparison!

Meanwhile, here are some progress pics of Rear Window:

Shannon Hannah at the gallery wanted to keep this little painting a while longer (the Wet Wall Competition was only for the weekend) because she was eager to show it to the owners of that building. So this little "Rear Window" might be available at the RS Hannah Gallery 'til the end of the Small Works Showcase on April 4, when I go back to pick up "Golden"... Or maybe not!