Seating for Plenty, 6x6"

"Seating for Plenty" 6x6" Pastel on sanded paper

What a busy week I had that I'm going to say it for my first time ever that I'm glad it's Monday!

Being a parent of young kids and also conducting life as an artist is kind of like spinning plates in a circus show. Every night this past week we had some sort of event: daughter and her 2 flute recitals, an art reception, baseball tryouts, my Dad coming to visit, and teaching after school art to grade school kids...there's more, but I won't bore you with that. Suffice it to say it's Monday and I'm back in the studio posting to my weekly blog. This blog is probably the only real consistent thing in my life, everything else is, well, just a busy life!

Here is a small painting that was painted from a visit to the Cruise-In Country Diner in Hillsboro. I painted the small country intersection of this greasy spoon restaurant a while back called The Cruise In Crossroad and then took my Dad out there to eat one day. I was really surprised to find that they serve up organically raised food, from the beef to the lettuce on the bun. The service was fabulous, a very 'homey' diner indeed. I love 50's retro and here is my way of remembering it. And no, it was not painted by memory, but by photo reference this time around.

This past week I also was accepted into a gallery in Tacoma, WA called The American Art Company. Yeahoo!

Enjoy your Monday!

Rio on Soquel, 20x16

Rio on Soquel, 20x16", Pastel on sanded paper © 2010 Brenda Boylan

I'm still painting like mad in the studio in preparation for the Caswell Gallery "Cityscape" show for February. I have 2 more to go, so here is the 4th in my themed series. The reference photo was taken from an emergency trip to the Bay Area last year in July. It was a horrible time for my family because we had a sudden death. This is my family taking a much needed breather of a walk in Santa Cruz to the beach by way of The Rio Theatre. I have always loved that retro look of oceanliners and diners and I was so taken by the shape of the neon sign that I had to record this moment in time or forever miss it. I have wanted to paint this scene since I took this shot and now I have good reason to put pastel to paper. All the while painting, I was reminiscing about the warm summer glow of the late evening light and the sadness and confusion my family was going through. A time-lapse video of this piece will soon follow.

An added note: The marquis originally had another performing artist in lights but because I didn't have a personal connection with that artist and promote whomever it was, I decided to put the title of a new book my daughter wrote and recently published through Lulu.com: The Hidden Temple.