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A day at the Beach

24″x18″ pastel on sanded paper

Today I brought the beach to Baylor Hospital in Dallas. The best magic trick I know is making a scene appear from a blank sheet of paper and bits of colored chalk. It was wonderful to share that process with doctors and nurses, patients, and their caregivers. I set up in a wonderfully busy atrium in the heart of the Sammons Cancer center. There is a small stage with lights and an easel. Then…I just made art. People could just walk by, or stop and talk as their schedule and curiosity allowed them. The beach has a universal appeal. My painting reminded many people of trips they had taken to the beach and many shared their stories: a honeymoon to Hawaii, a trip to Mexico in college, family reunions in Florida, and two little girls told me all about their adventures camping on Padre Island. Some people found reason to come back over and over to watch the painting’s progress.

I love that today my daily painting touched so many lives, and for a moment, people could imagine (or remember) a sweet time at the beach instead of their chemo or their busy day at work.

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Walk Beside Me Not Behind Me

36″x24″ Mixed media. I recently got some new toys in my studio: oil paint sticks. They are delightful to work with. If you were ever tempted to draw on the mirror with your mother’s lipstick, you would enjoy these.

Here is the painting before the paint sticks!

I loved making the fat, crayon-like marks, and also found they produced a beautiful warm glow when blended. Delightful!

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Sunrise with Coffee

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

Plein air

My sweet husband is a runner, and he spends his runs scouting out fantastic painting spots for me. Today he made coffee in the dark, brought me to a spectacular beach, and even set up my easel.

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Coconut Coast

10″x8″ pastel, wind, and sea mist on sanded paper. Plein air

The wind was a battle. I used my underpainting to do most of the work, just sculpting out the palms with Sky, then adding a few strokes of green. Usually soft pastels are dusty, today they were sticky.

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Wailele

8″x10″ pastel on sanded paper

Koke’e State Park

Wailele means leaping water in Hawaiian.

“There’s no better place to find yourself that sitting by a waterfall and listening to it’s music.” -Roland R Keller

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A Single Wave

8″x10″ pastel on sanded paper

“Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.” -Albert Schweitzer