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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Top Paintings of 2011 ....#2 Colorado Wildflowers

'On the Way to Yankee Boy Basin' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis
This week I am sharing my top 6 favorite paintings of 2011. I was asked if it was difficult to choose my top 6 paintings and my answer was that it was actually fairly easy. My top 6 all represented an accomplishment to me and for that reason they stood out. In fact I have most of them out somewhere in my studio instead of filed away.
So why is this Colorado painting a favorite of mine? It represents a breakthrough I had this year with papers. This painting is on Canson Mi-Tientes paper and for the last few years I wouldn't touch it. Like many artists, Canson was the paper I started using as a beginner. It was inexpensive and easily available. But It was hard to work with especially with my cheap, hard beginner pastels. It is kind of like driving an old car without power steering. It will get you there but you may not enjoy the ride. Once I discovered sanded papers I decided I didn't really like Canson and didn't use it.
This summer though I attended the IAPS convention and saw several artists who did beautiful work on Canson paper. I love the work of
Desmond O'Hagan and Lorenzo Chavez and when I watched them paint a wonderful painting on a piece of Canson I knew I had to give it another try. Guess what? I love it! I love the softness and the feel of the paper and I am happy with my paintings done on Canson. I ordered more and will definitely be using it more often!

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