Art Cards

Cards are on sale for $2.00 or 5 for $9, and because it’s my last sale of the year (plus I’m cleaning out my studio), many paintings and prints will be at extreme sale prices too!!

Our show will be up for a month at the Old Bakery and Emporium at 1006 Congress, just south of the Capitol in Austin.

Hope you can come to see the exhibit and all the other great items!

Ducks at Laguna Gloria

Pastel, 10″x9″

This is the largest pastel painting I’ve done to date – 36″x24″ – and I am still working on it. I generally work to bring a painting forward all at once, but there are areas of this I really like and hope not to touch again. There are areas that are just roughed in, and other areas that definitely need more work.

“Austin Shine”, an original pastel, 10″x20″ will be part of this show ~

Fire and Smoke, Pastel, 9x14

“Fire and Smoke” was juried into the Austin Pastel Society’s Annual Member Show at Corridor of Art – 700 Lavaca, Austin, March 7 – April 30, 2011

Sky 10-15-10

Looking at the last post, I really seriously didn’t like the painting. Sometimes I can’t tell that until I see a photo. Weird.
So I re-painted it and cropped it. And what the hell, I blended it too.
And layered more pastel here and there. I like it better. At least for today.

I haven’t had much time to devote to painting for a while, so now that I’ve indulged my need to paint skies, I will be starting a commission that will take a while. It will be a challenge, and I’m looking forward to it!

Raining Up by the Barn

I painted this today on some new paper that my sister-in-law gave me. It is print-making paper (Stonehenge paper). I wasn’t sure I would like it because I’m so stuck on the Ampersand sanded board, but it took layering well and blended nicely.

I’m going to put this up on my mantle in the living room, so I can walk by it all week and see if I still like it after a the first flush of being in love with a new painting has passed. It helps me to see the things that bug me, that need to be fixed…

And the very complex, intricate, convoluted answer I came up with – because it’s fun. It’s fun to create, it’s fun to use your imagination, it’s fun to play with color and application, it’s fun to see a piece evolve minute by minute, day by day. But we all need input from others and a dry spell in sales can give cause for a lot of self-examination. And too much focus on oneself.

Over the years, we’ve all known people who brought to mind the phrase “enough about me, what do you think about me?” So to guard against too much “me”, it’s necessary at times to get away from your own little self and see what is going on in the world – or at least in your part of it.

Yesterday, I was able to attend several art events exhibiting work by artist friends. One was the Real Gallery, part of the East Austin Studio Tour, which has an impressive number of artists and locations, and a wonderful variety of work. Another event was at a friend’s house, where we enjoyed inspiring music and a beautiful display of her art and technique. And lastly, a visit to another house where the art was created from wood – lovely work and design.

So it was nice, for a change, to not feel the pressure to sell my work – that’s why God made the space between walls and sofas – and to spend time enjoying and appreciating the fruits of other’s creativity.

Austin Bats Sailing from Congress Avenue Bridge

Again, I’m having a very difficult time getting a correct color photo of this blue / mauve / grey painting.  This is a little blurry, but I actually think my cell phone took a more accurate picture than our more expensive camera. This was painted from a photo I took while in a boat in Town Lake, head covered, mouth closed.