Pastel on sanded paper

8″x10″

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

12″x9″ gauche and ink on paper

12″x9″ pastel on sanded board

SOLD

It was a beautiful morning painting Plein air.  I offered this painting to the prior, and he was delighted to put it in the gift shop.  It sold before I left the monastery.  

7″x5″

These don’t grow where I am in New Mexico, but I was missing some friends from the Sonoran desert, and I was really hot, so I painted this.

8″x10″ pastel on sanded paper

I painted this as a complimentary color study: red orange/ blue green.  

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

I painted this differently from my usual method.  I painted one color at a time, jumping and dashing all over like a bee in a flower field.  I worked through all the primary colors, then the neutrals, then darks, and I finally added lights.  I was hoping to capture the energy of a busy Peruvian market, without bothering with all the details.

10″x8″ pastel on sanded paper

“Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor.” – Henry A. Kissinger

This is my beautiful friend Jan, who inspires and encourages me in many ways.  She is a talented artist, well ahead of my art journey.  She is also happily married for the 55th year, something that inspires me more than a successful art carreer.  Her joy and enthusiasm is so contagious, that you can’t help get swept up in it.  

7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven’t time, and to see takes time – like to have a friend takes time.”  -Georgia O’Keeffe