Plein Air Poppies

Plein air Poppies 5x7 pastel

This morning I went out to Lost Mountain Nursery to do some plein air painting with a group of artists. It was great to see Marsha and Ginny and to paint with Jayne, Elaine and Deb. We really need to do it more often. It was hard to paint though because I was distracted by all of the beautiful plant. I am in the process of redoing some of my garden beds to the flowers were calling to my pocketbook! I bought some daisies and black-eyed susans and some pincushion flowers. I was anxious to get home to plant them. I did manage to paint two small paintings of the lone poppy I found! I will be going to a paint out next week at the Smith-Gilbert Gardens so I will have plenty of time to paint flowers this week!

Desert Color 8x10 pastel

'Desert Color' 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is a landscape from somewhere in New Mexico. I had done an oil stain underpainting for this painting and I forgot to take a photo to share! I have another desert scene on the easel that I will take a photo so you can see the before and after photos. For this painting I used the Terry Ludwig Arid Landscape set that I won at the PSA show. I had not had a chance to use it yet and I am so glad I won these wonderful pastels!

Last of series...Lavender Field 16x20

'Purple Haze' 16x20 pastel

I am putting my purple pastels away after finishing the last in my lavender field series. I had so much fun with these. For the last one I went larger and did an oil paint underpainting. If you look closely you can see the drips and spider webs from the oil paint stain. I love doing this kind of underpainting. We did it in yesterday's class and everyone went home with a great painting!

Lavender Field #3 with watercolor underpainting

'Lavender Field #3' 8x10 pastel

Here is another one in my lavender field series. For this one I did a watercolor underpainting. I have another one on the easel. This one will be 16x20 and I will be doing a oil stain underpainting. I am hoping to get some cool drips and spiderwebs that will become my lavender. I just bought three lavender plants for my garden so I will have my very own reference material!

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New Mexico Sky 6x6

'New Mexico Sky' 6x6 pastel

I am enjoying the 6x6 format and you can get wonderful frames at www.kingofframe.com. I think I will do more in this size. This painting is from a photo I took on my trip to New Mexico for the last IAPS convention. I was fortunate to have a week before the convention to explore the area with my friends. We satyed at a wonderful B&B in Taos , soaked in the hot springs of Ojo Caliente and spent the night in Abiquiu. I can't wait to go back for this year's convention!

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Maya the Seal Point Siamese Cat

'A Regal Cat' 8x10 pastel

I pulled this painting out of a storage box the other day. I came across it while looking for something else. It had been misfiled. I painted it a year ago but I really like how it captures my cat Maya's look. Maya is a petite and delicate cat compared to her brother Tobi. He is a solid cat. Both of them are beautiful to me. I love my siameses!

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My Favorite Color is.....SOLD

'Restful Meadows' 16x20 pastel

Purple! Yes it seems I am on a purple kick this week. I still have another lavender painting I haven't posted yet. I rarely miss a day of posting but I am in the middle of a big garage sale with my sister and there has been no painting or computer time for the last two days. One more day then I can relax a little.
I also would like to thank you all for the comments and good wishes on my IAPS painting. I am beyond excited about it and I appreciate your kind words of support!

Great News ...My painting In the IAPS 18th Juried Exhibition!

'Meadow Dance' 11x14 pastel

I am so excited that my painting 'Meadow Dance' was accepted into the IAPS 18th Juried Exhibition to be held in Albuquerque New Mexico in conjunction with the convention. I am so glad I will be arriving to the convention early so I can go to the opening of the show! Now I need to get a great frame and a bigger airfloat box to ship the painting to New Mexico. What a happy day!!

Time for Daisies! SOLD

'Time for Daisies' 5x7 pastel

Well it is almost time for daisies but I love to paint them anytime of year. I am getting ready for participating in a paint-out at the Smith Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw Georgia. Last Spring I painted the daisies and all of my paintings were sold. I hope they will be in bloom again this year! I have to get my plein air gear organized. I haven't painted outside since last September. I'm going to be rusty!

Lavender Field #2

'Lavender Field #2' 8x10 pastel

I had a visitor to my studio today all the way from North Dakota! I had so much fun sharing information about pastels and doing this lavender field demo. She is going to try to come back this week to paint before she goes back home. I have so much that I want to fit into a few hours but I hope I was able to give her some good information. This will be a crazy week since my sister and I decided to have a garage sale on Friday. I am working on a large marsh commission in between cleaning out closets!

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Lupine Clearing...Somewhere in Maine SOLD

'Lupine Clearing' 8x10 pastel

I am having a relaxing Sunday so far. I've been doing a good job at procrastinating most of my chores and errands and managed to find time to paint. I have a big commission that will take up my week so I felt like doing a small landscape today. This is from a photo I took one summer in Maine. I love Maine and would love to go back to paint. This painting is on Canson. I am really enjoying working on Canson. I think I am liking the softness I can get. I think I will be ordering some more!

Wildwood Boardwalk at Night 5x7 pastel

'Wildwood Nights' 5x7 pastel

I've painted a larger version of this scene and recently has someone ask about it. It has long since been sold but I remembered that I still had the small study for the painting. This study is still available. It is such a fun scene and I really enjoyed painting it. I so wish I had taken more photos that evening. It had just rained and the reflections were wonderful! I spent the day cleaning out my junk room. I actually call it my Wildwood room because I decorated it the summer we took the kids to Wildwood. We had such a good time I wanted to remember the summer at the beach all year. But over the last few years it has turned into the junk room....kind of like the spare closet. We are having a big garage sale next weekend so it was time to clean out!

New Mexico on my Mind

'Taos View' 8x10 pastel

I was going through my photos today and came across my New Mexico photos. I am getting excited for my trip to IAPS convention in June. It is held every two years in Albuquerque and I am so glad I made plans to go again this year. I was lucky to get a great deal months ago on my plane tickets and I will be rooming with a couple of friends from Marietta. This is their first convention and I know we will have a great time. This painting is from a photo I took at the last convention. It was taken in Taos and it is actually the view from the parking lot of a hotel!

Morning Mist 8x10 pastel Blue Ridge Mountains

'Morning Mist' 8x10 pastel

I did this painting for a class demo yesterday. We were discussing fog and mist and how to paint these conditions in pastel. I started this painting with a layer of hard pastels which I rubbed into my paper (Uart). It didn't take much to finish the painting with my softer pastels. I used many of my Great American pastels from the Richard McKinley set. That is my all time favorite set and I always recommend it to my students...along with Terry Ludwig pastels. I would love to put together my own 'Meadow /Wildflower' set. That would be fun!

Lavender Fields 8x10 pastel

'Roadside Lavender' 8x10 pastel

I hope my friends Jayne and Holly will remember this place. We stumbled on it on our road trip out west last summer. We were somewhere in Kansas and saw a sign for a lavender farm so naturally we made the detour. We had to go down several dirt roads and it was hot and dusty. When we arrived at the location no one was there and there was a very small overgrown field with some not so happy lavender plants...nothing was in bloom. We took some photos and there were some great dragonflies...but the detour was a bust. One of the great things about painting though is the opportunity to make something out of nothing. I took my photo of the sad lavender field and brought it back to life! This painting is 8x10 on Canson.

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A New Pastel Convert!

'Morning Marsh' 8x10 pastel

One of the joys of teaching is the chance to introduce the wonderful world of pastels to new artists. I had a gentleman contact me wanting to learn oil painting. I don't teach oils but I convinced him to come give pastels a try. He came today and left with a wonderful little painting and excited to get some pastels and paint some more! How gratifying is that! This painting is my demo from our class. I have so much more to share and I look forward to having him come back.

New Queen Anne's Lace Painting

'Misty Morning Lace' 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is a demo I did for a private lesson. We were talking about painting trees and foliage and in this painting I was showing how I paint distant trees and bushes...starting with big simple shapes. I got to use some of the 'new' pastels I discovered yesterday in my storage cabinet.

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Introducing our Puppy

If you don't see me in your facebook feed then you may not have seen pictures of our new puppy Heidi. She is a 9 week old Golden Retriever-labrador mix. Her mom is a yellow lab and dad is a golden. It will be fun to see who she resembles when she grows up! She is a sweet little girl and we are having so much fun with her. She has learned how to sit, lie down and give a high five. She makes us laugh when we ask her to sit and she does all three in a row as if to say I know what you want let's just get on with it! I have had her down in the studio and so far so good. Today she actually took a nap while I painted. I know I need to paint her soon!

Spring Forest pastel painting

'Spring Clearing' 5x7 pastel

I did some Spring organizing today and went 'shopping' for pastels in my storage boxes. Over the years, every time I would get new pastels I would break a piece off to use and store the rest. So I have quite a collection of brands and colors. It was fun going through the boxes and choosing some new colors! I had to try them out of course so I did a little Spring painting. I have a busy week teaching and a big commission to start on so it was nice to have an easy relaxing weekend.

Redbud Tree Painting

'Roadside Redbuds' 11x14 pastel

I was going through some of last years work and I came across this redbud painting. I always liked it and it just never found the right home. I love the wonderful greens and pinks of Spring and I think I want to do a new Spring painting. I should just go outside and paint my own cherry tree! Maybe tomorrow I will.

Raven up close

'Raven Power' 5x7 pastel

Today I am sharing another one of my raven paintings. This on is on black paper using a primary triad of red, blue and yellow. It was fun playing with triads on the same subject. It really allowed me to see the different moods and impacts that the colors created. I didn't get to paint at all today but I was good and did the taxes so I am free to paint this weekend! Yeah!!

Version #2 Landscape Pastel Painting

'Onto the Marsh' 8x10 pastel

I recently did a monochromatic painting of this scene in yellow so i wanted to try it again in another color palette. For this painting I chose mostly greens, some oranges and a bit of violet. I like this combination for a landscape. Tomorrow I will be posting my other raven paintings. I ended up painting three more yesterday. I want to get back to my big wildflower painting but taxes and spring chores are calling me and I have avoided them long enough!

My Entry for the Daily Paintworks Challenge

'Around the Bend' 6x6 pastel

I thought it would be fun to enter this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge. I liked the two photos that were posted. I especially liked the shadows and sunlight in this one. I did a quick underpainting with oranges and pinks with nupastels and then blocked in my shapes with softer pastels. I tried to stop before I got too fussy with details. Here is the link for the other entries in the challenge. That was fun! I also worked on some more raven paintings that I will be posting in the next few days.

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A New Raven Painting

'Raven's Call' 8x10 pastel

This raven was calling me to paint him today. I am in the middle of a wildflower painting but sometimes you have to put things aside and just answer the call! The model raven for this painting is our parking area friend we came across in Grand Teton National Park last summer. He really knew how to pose for our many photos! This painting is on Wallis Belgian Mist which I really enjoy when I don't choose to do an underpainting.

Triadic Color Scheme Studies

'Surfside Beach View' 5x7 pastel

This week we will be working on Triadic color schemes in my back to basics class. I did a few studies using four Triadic color schemes. Triadic schemes use three colors that are spaced equally on the color wheel. One of the most popular triadic color schemes and my favorite is Orange, Violet and Green. It is a wonderful scheme to use in the landscape and since they are mixed from the primary colors a natural harmony is already there.
I have finally had the chance to start on a larger wildflower painting that is just for me! I did an underpainting with gouache and will hopefully get to work on it some more tomorrow.

A Colorful Landscape

'Nantucket Color' 8x10 pastel

I still didn't get to paint this weekend and it looks like I won't be back to the easel until tomorrow. We had to take advantage of the nice weather and do some yardwork. We only scratched the surface but it was great to be outside. The puppy is now 8 weeks old and has really grown in just 2 weeks. She loves it outside and is doing good on the leash so as soon as she gets all of her shots we will be going for some long walks!
Thank you to all of you who wrote and commented regarding my new PSA signature status. I am honored and excited to have my work recognized and it means so much to be able to have this blog to share my daily paintings. THANK YOU!!

Today's Painting and my Great News!

'Autumn Mist' 8x10 pastel

I have exciting news to share today! I just found out that I am now a Signature member of the Pastel Society of America which means I can use the initials PSA when I sign my work! I am honored to have been juried as a signature member. It has been one of my top goals so I am thrilled! I wanted to paint today but too many errands got in the way so hopefully tomorrow I will be able to sign my first painting with PSA! Actually I don't really know what I will do about signing my name. I have always signed with just my initials and not my name. It would look funny if I signed KEM PSA...so so I start signing my whole name? Is it OK to change the way you sign a painting? Any thoughts?

Monochromatic Landscape

'Fields of Gold' 8x10 pastel

This painting was a demo for my class this past weekend. We discussed color and started with doing a monochromatic painting from a black and white photo. I chose a color I don't use very much except when I paint sunflowers....but I really do like yellow. I especially love yellow skies for some reason. We also did an analogous painting from the same photo and I will post that one next. Next week we will be exploring Triadic color schemes and I have a fun exercise for that one which I will share soon!