Beyond the Curve, 10x8

Beyond the Curve, 10x8" Pastel on sanded paper ©Brenda Boylan

Yesterday I spent the entire day clearing out my studio and making "new" of it again. I'm not sure who lit the match under my seat, but I got into it seriously. It all began last week with a few paintings that I washed off because they no longer represented my current work and there was nothing I could do to save them. So wash them off I did...and then the whole box of paintings had to be evaluated as well as the box behind the box that had to be sorted out and mat boards tossed and so on. I wiped down surfaces (pastel dust) and rearranged my art collection on my shelf as well as put my older iMac on the shelf to view images to paint from. Gratefully I was able to get through it all in one day and put all the necessary things back into their places. I now have a newfound creative energy in my studio. Let it flow baby!

My special place to work.

Drafting board with small set of studio pastels, empty easel, iMac and hepa filter on the lower shelf, mounted boards and art collection on upper shelf.

Reworking Day's Last Stand, 10x8

Day's Last Stand 10x8" Pastel on sanded paper ©Brenda Boylan

There are times when a painting just doesn't have what it takes to make it to a frame. Don't get me wrong here, I think it was a nice piece, but there was something about this little guy that was not working right and so I never framed it. You know there must be some little voice in that gray matter on top that stops us all from doing things, call it intuition or conscious, or whatever. I finally figured what was bothering me about it after nearly 6 months of storage in the "file pile". It was the sky, yup, the sky that had me stopped. In doing landscapes, the sky is usually the lightest passage in a piece. There are exceptions to this rule though: a heavy storm coming on or highlight on water...I'm sure there are others.... So, above is what I did to the piece, and in so doing, I decided to play with the color of the sky as well as create more contrast in the grass and a little play on the trees. I'm liking it.

Day's Last Stand before revision.

Last week, I attended the Northwest Pastel Society's 25th Annual International Show in Tacoma, WA. The American Art Co. is hosting the show again this year and they sure put on a great presentation of the work. This time around, I pulled away with an award (Pongson Espada Memorial Award) for Passing Point and am thrilled! Many thanks to the juror Clark Mitchell for his time spent on the show as well as holding a workshop with the NPS members.

Happy artist!

Cowhand Roger, 12x9

"Cowhand Roger" 12x9" Pastel on sanded paper ©Brenda Boylan

click to view close up of Roger's face

Now that the weather has cooled down substantially, I have been painting figures from a live model with a few other like-minded artists in my area. Today our model was Roger and he had on the full "cowboy" ensemble, including those jinggly spurs on his boots. Ohh, I liked this one! The lighting on his face had that hint of mystery, from the underlying cast shadow from his hat to the glint of light on the end of his nose. Pleased that this one just painted itself albeit difficult with nubby pastels. Just need to adjust the legs a tad and call 'er good.