Blog

I went to Lake Josephine on the edge of Billings today, and the water was like glass.  The reflections would shame a mirror and it would make the most hard hearted artist sit up and take notice.  Now to walk up to my easel and make my feeble attempt to capture what nature has done so brilliantly.  But, oh, the gratitude for having an artist's eye that can bowl me over with such images.

Okay … so I got myself accepted into too many shows this fall so I had to step it up and launch an art blitz.  It really sneaked up on me and I was in over my head before I knew it.  Fortunately I discovered that when one jumps into an art blitz one painting leads to another and the learning curve for me also kicked into high gear.  As a result failures were fewer and I got the shows covered.  Then I could step back and slow down a bit.  It was when I slowed down and a couple of failures hit that I knew for sure that things were back to normal.  Aargh!!  Those blessed failures!!  

This is all about learning how to salvage failed pastels.

Many artist do underpaintings by blocking in the painting then brushing it with water or alcohol.  But the brushing drives the pastel into the valleys if you are using sanded pastel paper so as an alternative start using a spray bottle as others may have without brushing.  This leaves a mottled under painting.

The next logical step is to take those failed paintings and prop them up in a sink and spray them.  UArt is tough enough to stand this treatment particular if you have some that Dakota Art has bonded to a back board.  The colors just explode and drip when you spray them and you can even spray your piece enough to wash off overly dark areas.  When you do this to a failed one and it all dries you have an underpainting that you can use to try again

When they build better mousetraps they just create smarter mice.

I am doing a happy dance because a piece I treasured found a wonderful home at the Billings West Rotary auction recently.  It is always so encouraging when I am privileged to see a sale myself to someone who is truly enamored with the piece they bought.  As an artist we are always appreciative of the sales we make but may be distanced from them when they are through a gallery.   However when circumstances lend themselves to some direct knowledge it most frequently is happy dance time for me.  It is so rewarding to see work find its way to the homes and businesses of those who are so enthused about their purchases.