I haven’t been painting as much as I anticipated, although I do have four paintings in progress right now.  But I have done more cooking.  I even made pear wine jelly.  It is so good.  I learned that pear doesn’t like to be a jelly.  So I have a runny jelly, but it is still so good.  I tried the Eat-to Live philosophy of just making a big pot of soup for the weekend.  It started off well, but by Sunday, even I didn’t want any more soup.  I am still working on the idea of simple and nutritious.  One thing that I did, that I believe is working well, was create a space for my prepped salad foods.  I had a large basket that really wasn’t being used well elsewhere, that I converted to a salad bar basket.  It is great.  I have all of the prepped veggies and other fixings stacked neatly in one place.  Now we almost always have a salad ready to go.

I still need to work on painting more, or focusing more, or… I decided early on in my career to focus on one thing – pastels.  I realized that although I wanted to do it all, I couldn’t.  I know it was very beneficial because people came to know my work.  So, in January, I went to the store to buy acrylics!  Sometimes you just gotta play.  Plus I believe that our experiences will add value to our future endeavors, even if we don’t know what they may be.  I wanted to play with color, and layers.  Funny, even with pastel, I tend to think in layers.

I will surely have those four paintings finished next month, as I do have specific plans for them.  In the mean time, I have donated two of my favorite pieces to my local museum for their ARTrageous Gala fundraiser.  These are examples of my earlier work.  I had just started working with a gritty surface and rubbing alcohol.  I used the alcohol and a paintbrush to work the pastel into the surface and to layout my composition.  Once it was dry, I worked over the underpainting with soft pastel.  For me, it was the best of both worlds, painting with a brush and then working with the medium in my hand.  I don’t use rubbing alcohol any longer as it removes the grit from the surface if I work with it too long.  I now use Turpenoid.  It allows me to rework an area if I choose to.

What I like about these pieces is how I applied pastel in the areas where I wanted to focus the viewers’ attention, and left the underpainting show through.  I like to see how a painting came together.  I know some would say that this is a no-no!  But I was also told that rules are made to be broken.

These paintings are of the apple orchard behind the airport in St. Ignace, Michigan.  I was disappointed to learn of the coming storm, but I think the paintings reflect the weather conditions well.  I was also amazed at the spring-like colors even though we were there in the fall.

If you are interested in these pieces, the ARTrageous Gala will take place on Friday, March 7 from 6:00 – 11:00 pm at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.