Today's Featured Painting for Sierra Art Trails

High Desert Tapestry

17 x 24

Pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes

For the rest of this week I will be featuring  paintings that will be showing at my studio for the upcoming Sierra Art Trails this Saturday and Sunday October 3rd and 4th. Today I am busy cleaning and curating my house and studio. I'de so much rather be painting.

All works on my blog site not as yet sold are at my studio and can be seen this Saturday and Sunday Sierra Art Trails Weekend. Click on http://www.sierraarttrails.org/ for details.

From Underpainting to Finish and Sierra Art Trails ...Big Event Coming Up

Sunrise Coming Out of The Grand Canyon

                                     5 x 7                            $70

By having the blueprint of the picture sealed under the alcohol I felt a new freedom . The foundation  was set in place thereby allowing the painting to keep it's integrity intact. The rest of the painting flowed.

I am not doing a new painting a day for now as I m so busy preparing for the  Sierra Art Trails artists open studio event coming this weekend ( see post of Sept 13th). This year we have 88 artists participating. It's a marvelous event. Ya all are invited to come , for details please click on http://www.sierraarttrails.org/ .

Heron Lake Enchantment II

18 x 24

Pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes Paper

Featured painting showing at my studio open house this weekend.

The Underpainting

Sunrise Coming Out of the Grand Canyon Underpainting

I haven't done underpaintings on my works for years. I always thoght it was a messy job, not worth the effort until I began reading Loriann Signori's  wonderful blog. Well, I was persuaded to give it another shot and so here it is.  After a quick thumbnail sketch and a quick layer of pastel, I applied  isopropyl alcohol 70%. Today will start and hopefully finish the painting to put on my next post. So off to my easel I go. Bye for now

Painting for Today

Lily Pond Glow

5 x 7

Pastel on Schmincke Sanspix Paper

Woke up this morning still in a funk of what still has to be done before Sierra Art Trails weekend coming up . The countdown is here and the pressure is on to get preparations done in the next six days. But it all comes together in the end  doesn't it. It has every year I've done it . Well folks, once again it's me doing it to myself. Yes, oops phone just rang, it was a friend. I'm back , forgot what I was going to say. Oh,  I remember, Yes I exercise most days and that helps relieve the stress no doubt about it, but it seems to pop back the next day. Soooo I have decided to call it good stress, at least for the rest of this week.

Oh, about the painting.....My inspiration for today's painting was the fabulous light and reflections in the water of the lily pond at The Norton Simon Museum.         

My Day At The Gallery and A Little Sideline About Oakhurst

Pond Currents

16 x 20

             Pastel on Suede Mat Board               $900

I worked at Timberline Gallery today in the town of Oakhurst about 27 miles from where I live. Oakhurst is about 20 miles from the South entrance to Yosemite National Park. It's a lovely and charming place. It has  three traffic signals, two markets , a Kaiser Clinic among a couple of other medical facilities and lots of wonderful small stores. Oakhurst lost it's only department store recently  which was a very sad day for most of us, anyway back to the good stuff, Oakhurst has beautiful views all around it. Mountain views of course . Oakhurst didn't get electricity until the 40s I'm told. Lots of wonderful history here. Anyway I do diverge, I was telling you all this to wet your appetite because for me the best part of the town is the art, we have have some amazing galleries. Timbeline Gallery is one of them. Timberline sits in Gallery Row along with three other fabulous galleries. If you're ever in Yosemite, you must stop in Oakhurst and check it out. Maybe I'll be there when you stop by. I'de love to meet you.

The painting I picked to feature today "Pond Currents", one of my lily favorite lily pond paintings, is currently hanging there. Actually this painting is an award winner and was featured in The Pastel Journal. For this painting I took a small section of the pond located in the Techatchapi Mountains and went macro with it. My inspiration for this painting was the textures and patterns created by the breeze hitting the water's surface. I hope you enjoy it.

Oakhurst  and Mountain view from Timberline Galley

Unexpected Scene's in Unexpected Places

High Country Lilys

7 x 7

                 Pastel on Suede Mat Board           $75

Somewhere in the Tehachapi Mountains above the town of Mohave, California where you wouldn't expect it there is this gorgeous lily pond . It sits among the pines. The mountain atmosphere and the clear air combine to make this pond one of the most beatiful I have ever seen. I have already done several large format paintings of sections of this pond (see below for one of them).  Unexpected scenes in unexpected places. As an artist , I'm always looking for a new angle, a new place to explore for future paintings. I try to keep my digital camera handy. Before I got my first digital camera, I used a conventional camera, but didn't always carry it with me, but I always have a throw-away camera in my glove compartment and almost got into an accident on the freeway because a beautiful scene caught my eye and at the last second I slowed down to exit the freeway. Stupid thing to do I know. I still carry a throw-away in my glove compartment but I manage to take my digital most of the time now.

Mountain Koi Pond  SOLD

Feeling Good

Pond Glow

Pastel on Suede Mat Board

                                      7 x 7                             $70

Woke up this morning feeling good. Here is the painting I started yesterday. Off to Fresno for a day of fun so will sign off for now. My quote for the day " Every artist needs a day away from the studio , a day of fun , a day to renew inspiration, a day to simply enjoy what's out there." Bye for now.

End of a Tiring Day

Heron Lake Enchantment

Pastel on suede mat board

                                 16 x23                       $900

This painting is a softer more abstracted version then Heron Lake Enchantment II. (see blog of 8/29).

I started a new painting today but didn't finish it . I will post it tomorrow. I can see now that I won't be able to do a new painting every day for the time being . Too much to do getting ready for Sierra Art Trails and other obligations that take me away from my studio. Hope you will understand. My hat is off to those of you who do it every day. Need to go to bed now. Too tired . Night all. Oh, yes does anyone out there know why my followers disappeared at least on my computer. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Lily Pond Painting for Today

Once Upon a Pond

Pastel on linen mat board

                                    4 x 6                          $70

Today's creation for my Lily Pond Series is a combination of real and fantasy . I took a scene from our precious lake ( Heron Lake) , abstracted it and of course,added lilys plus a few other things. Question, how far does your artistic license go in your art? Are you really creating art when you copy a photo?
Actually, that's two questions. I'm very interested in your answers.

Today's Painting and A Decision Has Been Made

Gossamer Light

               Pastel on Suede Mat Board 5 x 7      $75

I have made a decision. Since this is my 3rd new painting started and completed  in a day and the other two are lily pond paintings, I realized something is happening here and I like it.....So-o-o-o(pause and gulp) lily ponds it is. I am now committed to this theme until I've completed 25, you thought I was going to say 100 didn't you? Nope it's 25 buttttttttttt at the end of 25 my contract with myself is 1. renewable, 2. null and void  or 3. You out there tell me what you think. Do I go on, do I change the subject matter or what. Now don't expect a newly created work each day, day after day. Instead for now I will paint a new lily pond piece when I can but you can expect to see another painting  from my inventory or a just completed painting from a work in progress daily.

Today you see two works. Gossamer Light done today and Dancing Lights featured in my very first blog. Dancing Light is an example of one of my lily pond paintings in large format. I'm very proud  of it. It won 4th place  in The Pastel Society Society of The West Coast's  national exhibition and it put me into signature member status.  Question...What makes a successful painting? Is it because it sold ? Does it have to win an award?

Dancing Lights

19 x 25

Pastel on Canson Mi Tentas Paper

SOLD

Colorado River Glory

Pastel on Wallis paper

                                8  x 11                    $200

It's been some years since my husband and I were there but only recently did I creat this painting using one of the photos I took as my reference. It was a demo for one of my classes last winter or spring, I forget. Thought I'de share it with you. It's Saturday evening and I'm tired. Ready for bed. My brain isn't coming up with anything "brilliant" to say so I'll say good night to all you bloggers out there. Sweet Dreams, oh yes, first I want to check out a few blogs then it's definitely good night.

           

                                     

Escaping Reality

Dram Lilys

5 x 7

Pastel on suede mat board  $75

Have you ever wanted to escape reality? That's how I felt part of this day , what with a flat tire to greet me and my husband this morning and the heat going to over 100, and stressing out with all the work as yet to be done for Sierra Art Trails  open studio tour coming in two weeks. I didn't realize how much I wanted to do this until the thought came to me at dinner time  - to escape why not paint a dreamy thing , something, someplace where I would feel like I was floating on gossamer threads in a soft beautiful dreamy place. I wasn't going to do a painting today (too busy, you know) but the more I thought on it, the more I liked the idea and so I talked myself into it. Immediately after dinner, I grabbed some lily pond photos, found one I liked and started from there, it wasn't long before I was being carried by those gossamer threads forgetting the photo, just painting and floating as if in a dream hence you have Dream Lilys. I would love to hear your stories about where your escape creative process has taken you.

The Pond Series

The Pond #4

                                   8 x 10                          $160

We live by a precious lake in our community called Heron Lake, It's not really a lake. It's part of a seasonal waterway that's been dammed up at one end. Seasonal rains and irrigation fills it. Either google or yahoo maps calls it a pond, anyway I've called it both. I've gotten to know it well as there's a one mile loop trail around it. I go walking it with my husband many mornings or afternoons. Joggers use it and it's a horse trail too. The colors change with the season and time of day. About a year ago, I decided to do an ongoing series based on this pond. I use photos taken along this loop trail as my references. The numbered ones are in small format and the larger paintings have individual titles ( refer to blog of August 29th to see Heron Lake Enchantment II). I will present more of these paintings from time to time.  Hope you enjoy this one. Do any of you out there do a similar thing. I would like to hear about it.

The Surprise Element

Shrimp Lilys

16 x 20

                    Pastel on Suede Mat Board         $700

So this afternoon I went to the pool to do a workout. I went to use the restroom. I went into the stall, when I opened the door something big scampered across the floor along the back wall. It zoomed by so fast I couldn't make out what it was. Turns out it was a hugh frog. Well needless to say I was all shook up. I'll never forget this. What does this have to do with art? Well when you think about it there was a suprise element here. Something happened to make this memorable. Something out of the ordinary occurred. When this happens in art I wonder what that means. You out there in blogland what do you have to say about this.

When Do You Call a Painting Done?

The Completed Painting (see September 10th post)

Winter's Glow     SOLD      

I called it done two nights ago.  When do you know when a painting is done? I would love your feed-back on this subject. Since this is not exactly a new painting for you the viewer but rather a follow up on a previous blog, I have added a second painting to show you . I did not paint this today, but it is a recent painting completed a short while ago..........and the painting is......Drum Roll da da da dum da da!!!!

Solitude

11 x 14

       Painting on Pastelboard        $275

The inspiration for this painting is the glow of the sunrise I was fortunate enough to observe on my way hiking out of the Grand Canyon after staying several days at Phantom Ranch. Not a sight one would expect at the bottom of the Grand Canon. But there it was and it was awsome.

For Today

                        Simon's Monet II                             

                         11 x 12   Pastel                       $325

                       

Not enough time to do a new painting today.....But instead here is one from my inventory. I love to paint lily ponds. The inspiration for this painting came from the gardens at the Notton Simon Museum in Pasadena, CA. It is one of my favorite museums to vist. I painted this on suede mat board. Yes suede not velour. Velour does not hold the pastels as well as suede. You pastelists out there if you haven't tried it, I urge you to do so. It has a wonderful sensual feel to it. When the pastel hits the surface I'm in 7th heaven. I used an assortment of brands and textures of pastels but made sure to use a generous amount of  Sennelier Iridescent and Schmicke. Signing off for today. Back tomorrow.

My First of Daily Painting, What Do You Think? .....Also Last Nights Preview Show For Sierra Art Trails

Gossamer Pond II

                                             7 x 7                                             

For sale $75 plus $7.00 shippingU.S.

O.K. so here's the thing. I've started to explor other artist's blogsites. Many of you are doing this one painting a day theme with amazing results. At first I thought "this is overwhelming", I couldn't possibly do this plus everything else that's going on in my life right now. This was on Friday. That evening I grabbed a small piece of suede matboard , said to myself what the heck and started in. This will be a challange. But I'm going to do something on this order ( I can't believe I just that, yikes, scary). Anyway, I'm hooked. Maybe I should call my site A painting a Day ( maybe yes, maybe no) this artist has been known to exaggerate. So here it is. While I'm painting more realistic but still impressionistic work, I found with my first peace a freeing up and I like that. Perhaps painting these small ones along with my larger works in progress I have reached a sort of balance. Painting in both styles each day (hopefully each day) takes away some of the artistic frustration  I experience. I invite comments please.

Sierra Art Trails Preview Reception

That's me with my entry. ( oops my bra strap is showing)

So last night my husband and I attented the preview kick off show for Sierra Art Trails  artists open studio weekend event coming up on Oct 3rd and 4th. Actually this is on its way to becoming a national attraction, (check out Sunset Magazine ).  Lots of people, artists and patrons. Great jazz band, good food, great show. 

O.K So I Did Some Painting Today

Work in Progress

Funny how often I don't give myself credit for what I accomplish in one day no I didn't paint this in one day but I did do some more work on it. In fact, after I wrote the previous blog, I walked away from the computer to do some more work on it. I'm guessing it's about 3/4s done. It's one of the works I'm planning on putting  in Timberline Art Gallery's http://www.timberlineartgallery.com/ winter theme show coming up in November or December.

Here's a couple more I'll be entering.

Winter Glow Merced River 

Winter at Fish Slough IV

What the Heck Am I Doing Here?

Marcia's Lilys

I should be working getting my studio and home ready for the upcoming Sierra Art Trails annual artist's studio tour...or I should be painting instead I find myself caught up with the blogging thing. How do you artists out there find the time to create your thing?  There isn't enough hours in the day or night. I'm 70 yrs old and yes when I was younger I was like a whirling dervish. Into everything, painting till all hours . I was in galleries around the west. Putting on solo shows, active in the art community way more then I am now.  So you out there please tell me what is your magic formula?

By the way I did not paint this painting or work on any other for today. Too busy looking up other artist's blogs.

Artist's Expose Themselves to the Public

Artist's Expose Themselves to the Public

I thought this title would get your attention. Actually this is about Sierra Trails once a year weekend event when many local artists living in the foothill commnities of Yosemite open their studios to the public. Well, I am one of them but I open my home as well as my studio.

Sierra Art Trails takes place October 3rd and 4th this year. Check it out at http://www.sierraarttrails.org/