Your Hidden Gifts... or Art they?

When I was a littler kid, I was usually found quietly entertaining myself by making something with my hands, and pestering or instigating trouble with my sister. My wild side provided endless curiosity to make things; whether with crayon, pencil, paint, clay, wire, tissue paper, gum wrappers, mud, food...you name it. Sometimes the result was a mess!  Making something out of nothing was pretty much a self-driven therapy. I often thank the heavens I'm not crazy...or am I?  So to all of you creative souls out there, I'm sending you suggestions for a year filled with curiously fun adventures, creative opportunities, artistic possibilities, and hopefully some new art supplies that will keep on giving for years to come...

Advanced Pastel Class  $330/$390 
1/15/19 - 3/5/19

This Advanced Pastel class is an 8-week series that will cover the finer points of pastel painting and beyond, with the still life as our subject. Designed for the artists who have a solid understanding of pastel painting. Artists will have the choice of painting a still life that is composed and worked on each week over a series of sessions, OR, from a new still life composition each week. The artist must have knowledge of painting vernacular and skills based upon previous lessons, experience and instructor approval.  

7-week Pastel FUNdamentals and More  $290/350
3/19/19 - 4/30/19

In this course we will cover everything pastel that is 'chalk full' of information with plenty of time to practice and finesse your newfound knowledge. We will build upon your skill, understanding, and confidence in the medium through a progression of exercises on the many aspects of pastels.  We will be breaking down the values of pastels, exploring the facets of mark-making, discovering your style with pastels, under-painting techniques, and more. This is a great course for those who wish to discover the medium, learn about pastel on a broader level, or for those who wish to push their pastel work to the next level.  Perfect for Beginner to Intermediate levels.

Wishing you a wonderful, adventurous 2019

Brenda

Roy Rodger's Woods, 6x8

Roy Roger's Woods, 6x8" Pastel

This was a quick 1 hour plein air demo for my Advanced Pastel students yesterday. It's a small piece just big enough for a quick demo. The morning light was really beautiful for a fall day, and so I picked this particular scene because the foreground and background played upon the wonderful glowing atmosphere. This was painted on the West shore in Lake Oswego overlooking the Willamette River, OR.

Cropping to Fit

"Farmed Red Rows" 7x8" Pastel on sanded paper

After this past summer's tragedy, the desire to clear away and simplify my life has made it's way into my studio. I've cleared out the garage, my son's room has been organized (along with tossing a few old toys), and I painted the back side of the house. Projects that sat on my list for some time. In the studio the shelves are hung, I've wiped away the pastel dust, the art is off the floor, and now I am going through a pile of art that developed over the past 4 years. These pieces never quite made it to a frame, for some reason they all had something that didn't quite "sing" to me. There is a great way to remedy this dilemma, and that is by re-cropping the work. Here is one that was bothering me quite a bit, but now that I have cut the painting practically in 2, it looks so much better. The composition was not holding it together and now after cropping it seems to work a bit better. I cropped the rest of the pile of art (all are plein air) and here are some of them below. If you have a painting that just feels a little "off", try cropping it!

"Hillside View" 7.5x7" Pastel on sanded paper Sold

"Fanno Creek" 6x9" Pastel on sanded paper Sold

"Cove at Lopez Is." 9.5x8.5" Pastel on sanded paper Sold

"Plum Reflections" 9x6" Pastel on sanded paper Sold

Koi Color, 4x6

"Koi Color" 4x6"

Over the Christmas break, we had a lot of snow which kept everyone from going out. Parties, programs, meetings all cancelled! It's amazing how the snow will stop us dead. One anticipated party that I was looking forward to was the Paint-Out groups' annual painting exchange. We all paint a piece that will fit into a standard 8x10 frame, wrap it in a brown paper bag and exchange them like a white elephant gift. It's fun to see what you will end up with! This is my gift that someone will get. Since I had spare time on my side by being house-bound, I had time to try something new. I mixed some Golden acrylic ground (ground marble) with oxidized red pigment and painted it onto a gessoed gatorboard. Left to dry, it leaves a nice rough surface that grabs the pastel pigment well. I usually use Wallis with a wash of color, but trying to experiment a bit with some other surfaces that I've seen used by other pastelists. It was nice to try. One benefit to this Golden acrylic ground is that you can apply it to any large or non-standard board creating a custom piece. You can add a tint of pigment to the ground, creating any color underpainting you want.

Rusted River Bank (study), 6x6

"Rusted River Bank"  6x6, Pastel on sanded paper

Color reflected in waterways, rivers, ponds, or most shiny surface has always attracted my interest.  Maybe due to it's mysterious ability to hold and keep the color, even though water is a transparent element.  It behaves like a mirror when calm and still.  Here is another rendition of a waterway, similar "By Way of Water" in composition and subject yet it is from another location in the Oregon area.  Available through PayPal, unframed $75.00 (free shipping to continental US).

Kingstad Center Group Show

ArtPeace:PeaceArt

Note: DATE CHANGE!

Opening Reception, Thursday, 1/15/09, 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Catered by Kingstad Catering; no-host bar
The Kingstad Gallery, 15450 SW Millikan Way, Beaverton, Oregon 97006
Music by ‘Sky In The Road’

This exciting exhibit spans media from photography to bronze sculpture, printmaking to painting, to blown glass and mosaic, with subject matter ranging from political protest and overcoming the hardships of war and poverty, to the solace of the world’s great religions and the joys of home and hearth.

Featured Guest Artists: Jacquelyn Bond, Brenda Boylan, Celeste Bergin, Scott Gellatly, and Michael Orwick.

Exhibiting with them are distinguished regional photographers Adam Bacher, David Burbach and a group photography exhibit by Foto Kids of Guatemala, who are joined by bronze and stone sculptors Don Griffith, Lawrence Rajotte, Joni Mitchell, and glass artist Kyle Kraiter.
Regional painters, printmakers, and mixed media artists Melody Cleary, Blaine Johnson, Eileen Kane, Eileen Nolan Kressel, Pattie Palmer-Baker, Carolyn Rondthaler, Alan Rose, Allen Schmetzler, Jo Siddens, Ruth Lambert Smith, Lynne Taylor, and Samyak Yamauchi round out this extraordinary and thought-provoking exhibit.

ArtPeace:PeaceArt runs through 3/07/09

"Paulina Marsh" 5.5x4

"Paulina Marsh" 5.5x4

On the same trip to Central Oregon as the previous post below, I came upon a beautiful lake that was formed by volcanic activity. Paulina Lake has a lot more bluish-greens than most lakes because of the overgrowth of algae and offers interesting edges on the shoreline. I'm offering this little original pastel study framed in a simple, black metal frame with a spacer between the pastel and the Antique White matboard. Shipped the next day to your continental US location. Monitor colors may vary.


FRAMED: $75.00 + $8.00 shipping continental US only.