a LITTLE spring

Two little gouache paintings done in my Moleskine sketchbook, which is 3.5 x 5.5" in size. I'd say each of these is ~2.5" x 1.5", not the smallest I've ever done but pretty teensy.

I love the clean, quick immediacy of gouache. I can even change things, at least to some degree, though of course it isn't as forgiving as the pastels I'm used to using. However, the dusty look of the surface when its dry pleases me a lot, very much akin to pastels in that respect.

I'm certainly in the mood for spring now!

Workshop Update: Special Pastel Techniques in the Landscape

I'm looking forward to the two-day workshop that's taking place June 1-2. I just discovered that I have 15 students signed up already. My host, The Harwood Art Center, has set a limit of 18 students, so if anyone out there is thinking of signing up you better do it soon. I'm not sure we could stuff more than 18 in there! But we'll make do, even though the space may be a bit tight. Sometimes I think that actually makes for a more energetic and lively time together, since no one can hide with their back to the wall without someone else cheek-by-jowl with them. You just have to bring a sense of humor with you and relax a bit. I'll be passing out extra at the door...

The convention, May 28-31, should be a good time. I'm looking forward to meeting so many friends I only know online. I plan to be there on Friday all day, helping out in the Pastel Journal booth. I'll have my easel set up in a corner and paint a bit, but mostly it's just a cover so I can talk to people. Come over and introduce yourself, will you? I also plan to spend some time celebrating 10 years with the magazine that day, too. It's free and open to anyone signed up for the convention, so please come along and celebrate with us!

Hope to see you there or at the workshop!

Yellow Sunset

Another gouache, this one only 4x3" in size, on white paper.

There's a splotch where I started a stroke in the lower right corner, but I never carried it through. Right now it looks like a mistake but my intention is to go back in and correct that area. I have an idea how it will look, but at the moment it probably seems to you like I goofed or forgot something...

It suggests to me the idea that although something may look like a 'mistake' in our lives, God may have a direction He's heading that we aren't aware of yet. Is it a mistake? A goof on His part? Well, unlike me God is perfect and doesn't make mistakes, so I can trust that it isn't a problem. I just need to take on faith that He isn't finished with me yet.

Beautiful Storms: edited!

Last night I had a chance to work on this one and I tweaked some of the colors. The first version (as you'll see in the post below this one) just seemed too dark and heavy to me. I wanted the daytime sky to shine, and the distant ridge of moutains to become more evident. So I added a bit, carved some away here and there, and added a bit of sunny color in the fore, and now I'm happier with it than before:

Which isn't to say I didn't like the first version... just that sometimes things change!