paintandsimple

10″x8″ pastel on RED sanded paper

“The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.” -Ovid

7″x5″ pastel on sanded paper

“Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of it. By living our lives, we nurture death.”  -Haruki Murakami

Dead cholla, or their skeletons, are one of my favorite nature artifacts.  I love to collect those lacy hollow sticks.  I found this cactus full of skeletons, live branches, and blooms – an intergenerational cactus.

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.