Rising Mist, 12x12

Rising Mist, 12x12" Pastel on sanded paper SOLD

Early in the morning, long before my family wakes, is the only time I've found this summer when I can get out and paint the color and atmosphere of the Great Northwest. Today I was out the door at 5:45 to pick up painting buddy and neighbor Michael Orwick. We headed out to our newfound and favorite place to paint called the Tualatin Wildlife Refuge in Sherwood, OR. that is only a 10 minute drive away. We like it so much that we have returned to it 4 times now. In the mornings there's always this low laying fog cover that breaks the sun's light into millions of prisms and creates a glow that is not captured on the lenz of a camera. These early mornings give me ample time to produce a stunning mess of color long before my children wake for the day, giving me much satisfaction for the rest of the day.

Here are some photos I took this morning, albeit not the "real" color our eyes can see.

Next week I will be participating in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2011 event held in Hood River for 5 days. Last year was my first time in this event and it was such a blast painting with some very talented artists and living the artist's life of non-stop painting and discussions about art. I can't wait to reconnect with old friends and meet some new ones too. The Gala opening is Friday Sept 2nd, so come on out if you can. And if you want to see the artists at work, here are the paint out destinations:

25 - 29 Thursday - Monday: Paint-Out & Write-Out Sunrise to Sunset 25 Thursday: The Gorge White House - orientation starts at 8:30am for both painters and writers Hood River Valley
http://www.thegorgewhitehouse.com
26 Friday: Pebble Beach, Stevenson, Washington
http://www.portofskamania.org/StevensonLanding.htm 27 Saturday: Mosier Plateau - Friends of the Gorge Property, Mosier, Oregon
http://www.gorgefriends.org/article.php?list=type&type=57 28 Sunday: Gorge Crest Vineyards, Underwood, Washington
http://www.gorgecrest.com 29 Monday: Downtown and Marina, Hood River, Oregon
http://hoodriver.org

Also, this past week I received notice of my Signature membership with the Pastel Society of America. I had put off applying to the Society for a long time because they only worked with slide submission, but now they have gone digital and so it is. I guess that makes me a real pastelist or a real procrastinator? Whoopee!