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!