Patio San Felipe del Norte

"Patio San Felipe del Norte" (pastel, 12x16 inches)  click here to bid 

So here's my first plein air painting in at least 2 years (since the first plein air convention in fact) I went out Wednesday morning last week during the IAPS pastel convention, into Old Town Albuquerque, and painted my favorite courtyard. I started with a watercolor underpainting on Stonehenge paper. Here are some progress shots:

Thanks for watching! Please share!

Rhubarb (and the IAPS silent auction)

"Rhubarb"  (pastel, 10x8 inches)  donated

Whew! Just got back from the IAPS pastel convention in Albuquerque. What a week of pastel inspiration, fun and relaxation, and friendships old and new! It's going to take me some time to sort through all the pics, thoughts, and workshop paintings, while I get back to the "real world" in a hurry since I have 4 portrait commissions due in the next two weeks (pencil, not pastel, thank goodness!)

But for a quick post tonight, I thought I'd show you the painting I donated to the "Pastel Pics" silent auction, which benefits the IAPS art scholarship fund.

Rhubarb was quite popular, with 7 bids!

I'm now also the happy owner of two of the silent auction paintings:
A koi fish by Isabelle Lim:

and a bird nest by Eileen Casey:

Grounded Duckling

"Grounded Duckling"  (pastel, 6x6 inches)  $249 Available at The Gallery at Round Top

My last painting before the pastel convention. Tomorrow I get to head up to Albuquerque for the biennial convention of the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS for short). I've attended every other one since 2007, when I was awarded Master Circle status. If you're not familiar with the convention (also called IAPS for short,) this is the long-awaited week when pastelists from all over the world gather, paint, learn, network, unwind and recharge. To get an idea of why I'm so excited to go, see my (long) post about the 2011 IAPS on my Art Journal Blog HERE!

Late yesterday I decided I'd benefit from cleaning out my travel pastel box for the trip...

See some pics of that process on a new Art Journal post HERE!

Meanwhile, here are some progress shots of Grounded Duckling:

Stay tuned next week for some Albuquerque landscapes, maybe!

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Periwinkle

"Periwinkle" (pastel, 7x5 inches)  click here to bid

I caught a chance to paint today, along with labeling the postcards for my pencil portraits Holiday mailing, finding new friends on Facebook and photographing and cataloging the more than forty caricatures I brought home from the ISCA convention on Friday!

Below is Derek Brennan's winning caricature of me, which was #4 of the Top 10 Caricatures of the Year for 2012.

 See more of the 2012 ISCA (International Society of Caricature Artists) Convention experience on my Art Journal Blog.

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Straight Up - from the plein air convention

"Straight Up"  (pastel, 5x7 inches)  click here to bid

Here's one of the two paintings I did from my hotel room window, after wimping out on the cold Saturday afternoon at the Plein Air convention last month. I took tons of beautiful photos, and really was dying to paint. I'm just too much of a 'studio' painter to uncover my hands and stand in one spot outside when it's less than, say, 65 degrees!

Here was one view from our hotel room (the view changed very rapidly on Saturday!)

...and here was the painting I attempted to create from the awe-inspiring view:

"Weathered Range" (pastel, 4x6 inches)

I had to settle for a general impression of the range, and the feeling of temperamental cloud patterns, as various mountains appeared and disappeared with the clouds and rain. It was also a learning experience to realize how very high-key such a distant landscape really is when viewed with the eye. The photo shows it much darker than it really was. Still, I had a very hard time with the red of the rock; that was quite subtle and difficult. I was glad I hadn't tried this outdoors!
When I finally tired of keeping up with this view, I rolled my eyes in frustration and caught sight of the breaking clouds above. I instantly set to work on "Straight Up", which was much less trouble, as clouds still look like clouds even when they change position. This little piece of sky soothed my need for some sort of creative success on that day!

Red Rock - from the Plein Air convention paint-out

"Red Rock"  (pastel, 8x10 inches)  click here to bid

I've finally had time to sort through my photos from the First Annual Plein Air Convention last month. Here's the painting I did out at Bonnie Springs Ranch, NV, on the Sunday morning outing. I tried to catch the cool, blocky shadow patterns on the mountain in the morning. Just an hour later they were almost gone!

 Here I am, painting!

The Saturday trip was icy cold and windy. Tremendous views, but no painting for me - I caught lots of great photos but wasn't brave enough to break out the easel... unlike so many of the die-hard professional plein air painters, many of them were there to help instruct and demonstrate for the rest of us!
Here are just a few of the great painters out there on Saturday:

Bryan Mark Taylor

Jean LeGassick

Matt Smith

Michael Godfrey

 Below are some of the inspiring views on Saturday. See the clouds coming over the mountains? Those were blowing at 20 mph and hitting us as freezing mist! Brrr!

Some of the die-hards still painting as many of us wimps were catching the first bus back to the hotel!