This is totally different from the previous picture. Instead of impressionist I wanted to go very realistic and I started on the grapes but very quickly realized that the crystal bowl they were sitting in was completely beyond my ability to paint..... so I had to find another bowl, but the only one I could find that seemed the least bit suitable was this one, which was a long distance view on a table with other things. However, I used it and then had to find a suitable surface to put the bowl and the grapes on!!! So I used this table and cloth from another picture, but had to guess at where the shadow would go! So, to sum up, this is from three different photographs, but I was reasonably happy with the end result.

I recently bought DVD by an artist that I admire and after watching it several times I decided to try his technique which is more impressionistic than I normally do. This is the result....... it looks similar to the painting that he demonstrated but I actually got the reference image from the Wet Canvas web site and made a few adjustments to make it more pleasing to my eye. I was happy with the result and plan to frame it and give it as a gift this Christmas.

Well, neither of my two pictures that I did for the library show got selected for the floral arrangements but...................I sold one!!!!!! I just heard today that someone bought the picture of the birdhouse which I called "No one Home" I'm absolutely thrilled, this is so totally unexpected, it's the first time I have sold anything. It has really encouraged me to keep entering into shows.

This is something really different for me. I was sitting watching TV and I picked up a pencil and decided to draw these Christmas ornaments. It prompted me to go out a buy a set of sketching pencils in various hardness levels, so I might be trying more of this type of thing. We'll see!!

I've been working on this during the past week. My husband was keen for me to do it even though it's not my usual choice of subjects, and I did enjoy the process although it wasn't without it's challenges. I took the photo on a day trip to Maine in September. I think I'm going to frame this one and put it in our bathroom.

These are two pictures I've been working on lately to be hung in a show at our local library. Some of the pictures in the show will be chosen to be part of a floral arrangement design so that was the reason for these two subjects. I thought they would fit in with flowers, we'll see whether the floral arrangers think so! However, even if they don't get selected, I enjoyed the process of painting them - it was a change to do something different from landscapes and trees.

I have just finished this picture which is from a photograph I took of a maple tree at the bottom of our yard. It was fun to do and such a change from painting green trees all the time. I call this one Autumn Glory.

I had a disappointment recently when I entered two pictures into a juried art show in Concord, but sadly neither of them was considered worthy of a place in the show. I was crushed - but when I saw the other paintings that hadn't been selected I didn't feel so bad - there were some beautiful pieces of work that were not deemed suitable either.

On Tuesday this week I got together with a friend I met on line at Wet Canvas.com and we had planned to paint together at a local Wildlife Refuge. However, when we got there it was so cold that we decided instead to go to her home which was nearby, and paint in her studio. She has a great set-up and an enviable collection of pastels, I thought I had a lot, but now I feel deprived!! She gave me some photos to choose from and this is the one I selected. It was quite a change for me and not without it's difficulties, but I was quite pleased with the end result.

Now that our visitors have departed I got back to my studio today and worked on this picture from a photograph I took while we were in Maine for Columbus Day weekend. I'm not sure exactly where it is but I really enjoyed painting this. For so long everything has been green, green and more green! I have been longing for the Fall colors to start appearing and this is the first one I have done.

I was supposed to start a Portrait in Pastel class but sadly there weren't enough people signed up and the class had to be cancelled. I was really disappointed. Although portraits are not my strong suit I was looking forward to learning more and had even bought special pastel sticks for the class. I had planned on doing a portrait of my little granddaughter Sarah, but it was not to be. I'm hoping that the class will be offered again sometime.

This is a photo of a painting I did for some dear friends who invited us to stay with them in a family cottage on Cape Cod. It also happened to coincide with their upcoming 40th Wedding Anniversary, so I painted this for them to remind them of their favorite spot on the Cape and somewhere we have all walked often. They were both thrilled with the picture which pleased me.

The photo is not particularly good because the picture was already framed when I took it, and that always presents problems when trying to take a photograph.

This morning I went to a Pastel Portrait demonstration put on by the Concord Art Association. I loved it and came away enthused to give portraits another go. I am also signed up to do a 6 week class in Portraits in pastel and I'm looking forward to that.

I haven't had a great deal of spare time lately to spend on my art, but I did manage to go out with a fellow artist last week and spend some time at the Old North Bridge in Concord where we spent three hours painting. I have always been nervous to paint outdoors because I was concerned about people watching me. Well, I'm over that! If you don't want people to watch, it's not a good idea to paint at a National Historic Site - there were busloads of people coming through, and often when I turned around there would be two or three people over my shoulder! I've never had my photo taken so often by so many people that I don't know!!

I'm still working on the picture I did and eventually I will put it up here, but I don't expect to get much done in the next three weeks because my sister and her husband will be visiting us from England and I want to spend time with them.

This is a field of Purple Loosestrife near where we live. I know it's an invasive menace but it's just so pretty that I was looking forward to it being in bloom so that I could do a painting of it. this is from a photograph taken from the side of the road. I call it Purple Haze.

UPDATE: On reflection and after taking some instruction I changed this picture and the new version if shown here on the left.

This is from a photograph I took when we went to Springfield, Ma for the weekend so that John could attend a conference. While he was busy I got together with some of the other wives and we went to Sturbridge Village, a replica of a Pioneer Village. It was very interesting and I have to say I was impressed with the way they tried to recreate the way life was at the time. It was a hot day though and I have to believe that the "Pioneer's" were extremely hot in their heavy wool garments.

I have been working on this picture for about a week on and off. It's done in a variety of pastels, on a new surface that I have been wanting to try called Pastelmat.

These are a couple of pictures that I have done recently.

The one on the left is of a meadow that we passed while out driving a couple of weekends ago and I loved all the long grasses that lead up to the field and trees beyond. I call it Bobolink Meadow because it is just the sort of field that Bobolinks love - though sadly there were none there that day.

The picture on the right is of some of the outbuildings of Shaw Farm which is a local Ice Cream Stand that we were actually driving to when we passed the Bobolink Meadow. They have the most wonderful ice cream. I did take a little artistic licence in that I changed the height of the trees a little to make it a more interesting composition.

All my frames that I recently ordered have arrived and they seem to be pretty good. I also ordered backing boards as well, so I'm all set for a while.

On Saturday last week we went down to Boston to a gallery on Newbury Street, to see an exhibit of pastel paintings done by my art instructor in Maine. Then we went to Blick's art store and picked up some framing necessities. After we left there we went for Ice Cream!!

I have done a couple of new pictures since my last entry, but I forgot to photograph them before they were framed. It's difficult to get a decent photo once they are framed because of the reflections of the flash and other things in the vicinity. One of them I may try and take out, because I also forgot to sign it.

This week I picked up my three paintings that were in the art show in town and have been hanging in the library for the month of July. I'm running out of wall space here. I'm going to have to be more selective.

This is a painting I've spent the last few days on. When I first started on it, I was convinced that I wasn't going to be able to do it, but as I got more and more into the work it all started to come together and I'm quite pleased with the result. I think I may enter this one in a juried art show later this year.

This is from a photo I took of a typical doorway in New Mexico. It looks out onto the "most photographed church in the State". It is typical of the look of the entrances to houses in New Mexico - adobe walls and colorful doors. When I took the photo there was a man there with a far more sophisticated camera taking pictures from all angles - including laying on the ground. In fact, his foot was actually in the bottom right of my photo and I had to edit it out when I was painting. I think this is actually a door into a small addition, or maybe a courtyard, as it was attached to a larger building on the left.

I just sent off an order for some frames this morning. Framing is a big concern because it can be very expensive and as yet I am not selling my art, but in order to exhibit in shows I really need to have the pictures decently framed. Presentation is really important for sales. I have found some frames on-line that seem reasonable so I'm anxious to see them.

This picture is another beach scene, the same as the first one posted some time ago, but I did this one on better paper and I think it came out better.

I just took delivery yesterday of some new pastels that I ordered. They came really quick, I ordered the on the 12th July and they arrived on the 15th. These are Mount Visions and I love them. Of course getting 50 new pastels then meant that I had to spend an hour rearranging my pastel box which John made for me a couple of weeks ago. As you can see the box allows me to have all my colors set out according to value (by value I mean light to dark...not cost) and color regardless of brand, so that I can see at a glance what I have. It's much more convenient than having them all in different boxes.

I have started another picture. I'm going back to trying my hand at flowers again and so far it's coming along quite nicely. I'm enjoying it.

When we went to the 4th July festivities on the town common, we walked past a small pond behind the bank and there in the reeds was this bird's nest. I took the photo and thought I would like to have a go at doing a painting of it. Wasn't sure I could pull it off, but it was fun to do.

Everybody who exhibited at the Art Show is eligible to have their paintings hung in our town library for the month of July and this evening I am taking them down there. We are having some strong thunderstorms today but hopefully they will have stopped by the time I get there.

Went to pick up my award on the eve of 4th July. Very exciting! Interestingly, in both the Professional and Non-Professional "Art under Glass" classes at the Art Show, both the first prizes went to pastel paintings, even though there was some stiff competition from very good watercolors. Pastels are often regarded as the poor relation in terms of acceptance, so this was an encouraging sign.

Yesterday we went to a 4th July party at a house on a lake and I took a lot of photographs hoping that I will have captured something that will make a good subject for a painting.

Great News! I have just been informed that I won a First Prize for my Rocky Canyon picture that I entered in the Chelmsford 4th July art festival. I'm so pleased.

This is the beach scene I did yesterday.  I enjoyed using the Pan Pastels but I should have used a paper with more tooth because It was difficult to add more highlights to the clouds in the end.  I think I'll do this one again on a better paper.

Today I have to take my paintings down to the Town Hall in readiness for the 4th July Art Show.  I am putting in three this year, so we'll see what happens.  Last year I was fortunate to get a second place ribbon.  They don't have a category for Pastels so my work has to go in the Art under Glass Category, which means that I am competing against water colorists.

Today I have been giving myself an exercise in using my Pan Pastels which I have only used once since I bought them and I wasn't too thrilled with them at that time.  But they were very much in evidence in New Mexico at the Convention and recently there has been a lot of discussion about them, so I decided it was time to have another attempt.  I'm doing a beach scene, mainly because I was keen to try my hand at some distinctive cloud formations in the photograph.  So far I'm enjoying myself with them and will probably finish tomorrow and post the end result here then.

This bridge is over a river near the town of Pontsticill in Wales. It's one of the photographs presented on Wet Canvas for the June Landscape challenge.  This was fun, I enjoyed doing this a lot, I always like the challenge of painting water,  I find trees to be more difficult to paint.

I've finished my coastal painting but because I drenched it in fixative it has buckled slightly in the middle.  Not sure why,  because the surface I used will take being scrubbed with water usually.  However, this time it has suffered a little so it is presently laying flat with two heavy books  and a potted plant on top of it in the hope that the buckling will straighten out.  I'm going to leave it like that for a week or so and then take a look to see  if anything has changed.

In the meantime I have started another painting of a bridge over a river in Wales which so far is going well and I'm enjoying it a lot.  It's probably going to take me several days to finish this one.

I have spent the last two or three days working on a picture of the National Seashore on Cape Cod, but I'm struggling with it and not happy with the progress.  Every time I look at it I see things that need to be changed.  I'll go back to it again tomorrow and have another go.

Well I did a few finishing touches to my picture of the Merrimac River picture and it's now in it's frame and hanging on the wall.  In real life, the sky is not quite as pink as it appears in this photograph, but sometimes the camera does lie.

It rained all day today and my car was in the shop for repairs so I was confined to the house, which gave me the perfect excuse to spend pretty much all day in my studio.   I tweaked my Winter in the Park picture a bit,  by lowering the height of the snow on the far bank so that it wasn't in line with the top of the bridge.  It looks better now.

On Sunday we went on a harbor boat ride from Newburyport and I took several pictures while we were out, so today I have been working on a painting from one of those phtographs.  It's just about finished now, so I'll be posting it tomorrow.

I've been working on this for two days, and as my husband went fishing today I had time to head to my studio and put in the finishing touches.  This is a park in Plymouth, Massachusetts that we visited in February.  The sun was shining but there was still a lot of snow around.

I wanted to do this one because while I was at the Convention I took a class on Winter Landscapes and was anxious to try out some of the things I learned there.  Making the water look like ice was probably the most challenging thing in this piece

Frustrating day today.  I spent all morning looking through photographs searching for a suitable subject to paint.  Finally decided on one and couldn't wait to get to my new pastels and paper.  But, nothing went right and after an hour at my easel with half the painting done, I hated it and took it into the bathroom and washed it all off!!  This particular paper is washable but it did leave an outline of my work which I should be able to cover up with my next effort.  I don't know what was wrong, I just couldn't seem to find my stride.

Just got back from the IAPS Convention (International Association of Pastel Societies) in Albuquerque, New Mexico - what a great time.  Met several people that I previously only knew from being on-line on Wet Canvas.  We had a get-together in one of the member's rooms which was really good.  They are all very nice and friendly.  I took in a couple of demonstrations by well-known pastel artists and picked up a lot of useful information, now I just have to put it into practice!

I also bought so much stuff at the Trade Show that we had to buy another suitcase to carry everything home.  My pastel collection is growing by leaps and bounds!  I have spent all morning organizing my supplies in my studio.  I took loads of photos of New Mexico so I'm hoping that I have captured one or two pictures that will be worthy of painting.

This is my latest picture which I have been working on for several days now.  I found the foreground sand very difficult.  It's from a photo taken on Hatteras in the early evening.  (For British readers, Hatteras is a barrier island on the outer banks of North Carolina).  I didn't take the photo myself, it's one of the ones presented on Wet Canvas as part of the May Challenge.

I started a new picture today.  It's a Cape Hatteras beach scene taken in the early evening with the sun just starting to decline.  Not sure how I'm going to get on with the sand and the shadows created by the late-day sun, but I'll give it a go!  It's one of the photos selected for the May Pastel Strokes on Wet Canvas.  Two people have already done this one, I only hope I can do it half as well.

This is my latest painting.  I took the photo during a visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.  This particular cemetery is a long time favorite with bird watchers and 90% of the people seen have binoculars slung around their necks or cameras with 2 foot long lens attachments.  It's beautiful there with lakes and blossom trees everywhere and lots of walking paths.  An oasis in the middle of suburbia, and a regular stopover for migrating birds at this time of year.

I took a little licence with the painting as I didn't want to include grave stones, so apart from the tree itself, everything else is pretty much from my imagination.

Today the weather is a bit iffy and I can't get out to work in the yard, so was able to spend some time at my easel and finish this picture which has been ongoing for about a week. 

I have really tried to amp-up the color this time, but of course a Fall picture is always going to have a lot of color anyway.  This is from a photograph taken about 24 years ago when we first arrived in America.  We lived in Buffalo, New York at the time and were excited to explore the surrounding area and took a trip out to the Finger Lakes.  This scene is a beautiful place called Letchworth State Park and I have called it "Following the Falls"

I painted for a couple of hours today and this time I'm trying to inject more color into my work.  My last picture was critiqued as having too many mid tones, and I have to say that I agree with this assessment.   It looks flat and uninteresting.  I'm liking what I have done so far on the current project, we'll see how the finished article looks!

Well I finished my bridge over the river today.  I took the photograph while we were visiting family in England but I can't remember exactly where we were at the time.  I'm sure I made a note of the place at the time but I seem to have mislaid the note!

This picture is actually 11" x 11" square which is a change for me, but I had a frame and mat that I wanted to use, so I did the picture to fit.  Because of that it was a bit difficult to photograph and shows the mat at the top and bottom but not at the sides.

Update:  I have now found the note I made, and it seems that the location of this bridge is in Bourne, Lincolnshire.

This weekend I didn't get any painting done, but we did drive down to Plymouth to go to the gallery opening of the artist that I have taken a couple of weekend workshops with.  It was a bit of a rush because we were already committed to driving some friends to Manchester airport which is 20 miles in the other direction.  However, we managed it and were glad that we did.  Her art is wonderful and I think the gallery opening was quite successful.

Today I have been working on a piece that I started last week.  It's a river scene from a photo taken during a visit to England.  I may get it finished tomorrow and post it here then.

I competed this today.  I don't like it at all, I couldn't seem to get the effect I was looking for, not sure why, though it could be because I was using a light grey Sansfix paper which is totally different from anything I have used before and I didn't care for it.   Now I guess I can be accused of being a bad worker who blames her tools!!

The scene itself is from a photo taken over 25 years ago when my husband and I were first married.  It's in Derbyshire, England which was a favorite hiking area for us at that time.  In the actual photo I am crossing the stones with our dog Ria, and I did attempt to include us in the pastel painting but I didn't like it and went back and erased us.

Well, I finished my picture of the Luhan House in Taos, New Mexico.  I didn't take this photograph myself, so I have to assume that this is the driveway leading up to the house.  I really struggled with this one, the shadows gave me so much trouble. I completely erased the driveway twice and restarted, but I'm still not happy with the result.

I have spent most of this afternoon working on a picture taken in Taos, New Mexico of an adobe building.  It's quite a way from being finished and I'm struggling with it because it has lots of shadows.  However, I am persevering. 

Today I have ordered some more art supplies from Dick Blick my preferred source, mostly sanded paper and a few more pastels.  Sanded paper is wonderful to work on, it takes so many layers of pastel.

I just finished this one this morning.  It's one of the selected pictures for the April Landscape Challenge on Wet Canvas.  I was attracted to it because of the colors and I love doing water and reflections.  It's the River Wenatchee in Washington State.

It's a beautiful day outside, so I think I'll put my painting aside for today and get out in the yard and potter about in the dirt.  

I finished this picture today which I worked on for two days.  It was challenging for me because it is done in Pan Pastels which are a different type of pastel.  They consist of pastel which is in a cake form and contained in small round containers which lock together for storage.  They are used with special tools, reminiscent of make up sponges, but more durable. It is fun to work with Pan's but a very different technique and the resulting picture tends to have a softer appearance. (this may not be true for experts, but it's certainly true for me!)

The photo reference was taken at Cadover Bridge, which is a spot in on the edge of Dartmoor in England which we went to as a family when I was a child.  This particular snapshot was taken with the bridge itself behind me and I took it on a trip there with my sister in more recent years.

I have spent two days working on this picture.  I thought it was finished after the first day but then I went back in the changed several things.  I was trying to work in a more loose fashion, but the more I tweaked it, the more detailed it became.   It's still probably the least detailed of all the art I have done to date.  

It's a photo reference from the March Landscape challenge on Wet Canvas  - several other people have done the same picture and it's always interesting to see how others interpret the same photograph.  

Update:  I worked on this some more after receiving some constructive suggestions from people  I consider to be experts.  The feeling was that the bush in the middle got in the way and stopped the eye from moving on into the picture, so I have changed it slightly, removed the bush and suggested the continuation of the stream on to a small pond at its end.  

I have been working on this picture for the past three days.  It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated and I'm not altogether happy with it. 

The reference photo was taken by my brother in law at a place called Dockey Wood in Hertfordshire in England during bluebell season (obviously!), and it's really true that the woods are just a carpet of blue at that time of year.

That's one of the things I miss about England, the abundance of bluebells and primroses that grow wild in the woods and hedgerows during the Spring.  In this part of the United States we don't get them at all, though I have managed to keep some English primroses going through our bitterly cold winters by covering them with leaves in the Fall to protect them.  But bluebells seem to be non-existent, though I have seen them in the Northwest part of the country where the climate is similar to England.

I wish I could do portraits successfully.  I spent about four hours yesterday trying to capture the image of my very sweet four year old granddaughter from a recent photo.  I was working in charcoal which I like to do occasionally, but the end result was an image that definitely bears a passing resemblance to her, but is really more like how I imagine she will look when she's about 25 years old!  Portraiture is definitely a skill I don't possess.  This is my third attempt at getting an image of Sarah on paper and each one looks different!

I guess it's a case of "If at first you don't succeed....try, try and try again!"

There hasn't been much activity on this page for a while, mainly because I was in Florida for almost 2 weeks on vacation.  This picture was on my easel went I went away and I have just managed to get back to it to finish it and tweak it in a few places.  I'm reasonably happy with it now, but as always it's hard to know when to stop.

The photo reference is a public park near Buffalo, New York where I used to live, but as we left that area almost 20 years ago, the photo is at least that old and the park has probably changed since then.  I remember it as a very pleasant place to take a walk and have memories of going there with my now deceased parents when they came to visit once.

I haven't got any painting done this weekend, but I did find time to frame my Rushing Stream in the "amazing deal frame" that I picked up last week.  I matted it with a dark green mat which I already had and must say I like the look against the gold frame.

I do have a picture on my easel at the moment, but it's going quite slowly.

Thankfully, I didn't get picked to serve on the jury - but I did get as far as the courtroom and it was interesting to see the process of selecting the jury.

Only got a little painting done today, just the sky - because there have been tree men here most of the day taking down two trees.  But after they had gone I went out to the local second-hand store looking for picture frames.  Nothing took my eye, but I did go back to the local arts and crafts store and pick up a frame I had seen there on clearance.  Even better....when I got to the checkout, she took an additional 50% off the already reduced price.  I brought it home, sprayed it gold and now it looks awesome.  I just have to produce a painting now that will do it justice.

Haven't got anything on the easel at the moment, but I did spend some time today going through old photographs looking for inspiration.  I think I've settled on a picture taken during a visit to a park when we lived in Buffalo.  I've sketched it out in charcoal on my sketch pad and I think I'm ready to get started on it.  However, tomorrow I have to report for Jury Service so most of the day will be spent at the courthouse.

This picture is one I did a few weeks ago, from a photo reference I found on Wet Canvas in the reference image library.  I have no idea where it is, but I wanted to practice doing water.

I've spent a lot of time at my easel over the last couple of days and my Rushing Stream picture is now finished.  This was very challenging for me...running water is very difficult to capture (for me at least).  I'll be looking for a somewhat easier subject for my next project.  My husband has put his stamp of approval on this one and thinks I should frame it.  I don't frame all of my work but I think I will do this time as I put so much blood sweat and tears into it.

Well, the Rocky Canyon is now framed and hanging on the wall in our hallway.  I was going to frame it without a mat, but didn't like the look, so it ended up in a different frame with a mat.

I have begun another one in the February challenge on Wet Canvas.  This is a stream running over rocks with lots of trees.  Very difficult!  So far I don't like it at all, but I'm going to persevere.  Often the mid point of a painting looks terrible and then it magically all comes together.  I hope that will happen with this one.

I spent most of the day today in my studio working on this picture.  I tried something new on this one - did a rough hard pastel sketch, just blocking in the main color areas, then washed the whole thing with alcohol.  This dried very quickly and then I did my pastel painting as usual on top of the underpainting.  I love this method, and plan to do it again.  I think I may have to be careful about the type of paper I use though, some paper might buckle. 

This was part of the February challenge that I posted about earlier.  I'm interested to see if other people have chosen this particular picture to paint and how they have interpreted it.  It was fun to do.

Well, over the weekend I downloaded the lighthouse picture onto Wet Canvas and got a variety of opinions on it's merits.  I asked for helpful criticism and got it!  The general concensus was that the cloud on the left was competing with the lighthouse and that the picture would be better without it.  So today I removed it, and played with the other two clouds a bit.  I think they were right - it does look better.  I'm not going to repost the picture though.

Now I have started another project.  I'm taking part in the February Landscape challenge in the Landscape section of Wet Canvas- so I've got all month to finish.  There were three reference photographs to choose from and I have chosen to do a rocky canyon picture.  It'll be interesting to see how my picture compares to the same picture done by other people.

Well I finally finished my lighthouse.  I'm reasonably happy with it.  I spent about an hour this afternoon putting the finishing touches to the clouds.  Not sure where I am going to sign it, because the color at the bottom is too dark to allow a signature to show.  I have a white pastel pencil, so I might try that.

For those that are interested I will tell you that it's done on 9" x 12" Wallis pro board, using mostly Terry Ludwigs, Unisons and some Great American grays.

Went into my studio at about 11:00 am and got so lost in what I was doing that I missed lunch and didn't come down until gone 3:00 pm!  My lighthouse is almost finished - at one point I thought it was finished but then decided to redo the sky, which entailed erasing some completed work.  I have been trying to get away from blending, but couldn't get the sky to a point where I was happy with how it looked. Now I have to go back and do my clouds again!  

I'm so mad at myself because I dropped one of my new Maggie Price Values pastels, and of course it didn't land on the padded area under my easel, it hit the hardwood floor and broke into little pieces, then to add to the confusion, I knocked over the little plastic container that I keep the tiny little broken pieces in!  What a mess!

Worked some more on my lighthouse today.  I'm finding that the full spectrum light I bought a while back is a great help, now it doesn't matter if the light fades early, I hardly notice.

For some time now I have been lurking on a website called Wet Canvas and today I plucked up the courage to join in.  There is a section devoted solely to Soft Pastels which is full of great information.  They are all so talented and I have learned a lot just by hanging out there.  

This picture is from a photo taken in Cornwall, England when we were there in the summer.  This is done on Fabriano Tiziano which I bought to try.  I didn't care for it at all, though it did work well for the trees.  

Today it's snowing and will be for most of the day.  This is a picture that I did back in early December when I was thinking of winter scenes.  Since I did this I have acquired a lot more pastels, and I think I could actually do a better job now, but I thought I would post this anyway to give a flavor of what we are experiencing today!

I had fun working on my latest picture today, it's coming along nicely, but still has a way to go yet.

I've finally managed to get back to my artwork.  I felt as if I'd forgotten all I've learned over the last year, but as I get going it's all coming back to me.  I've decided to do a picture of a lighthouse near where we stayed in Maine some years ago, and I'm using some Wallis Pro Board that I received over Christmas.  My husband gave me two sample packs of all different pastel surfaces, many of which I've not used before, so it'll be interesting to see which ones I prefer.  Probably the most expensive!  That's usually the way it goes!  This picture shows my pastel set up, or at least some of it, there's also a complete set of Nupastel off to the side and some Rembrandt's that are not shown.

I did manage to get the Washington State picture framed and am very happy with the way it looks.  Very grand in it's gold frame.  I am going to Florida for a week tomorrow so today has been a bit hectic and this blog will most likely be silent for the next week.  Maybe I'll come back with photographs that will give me inspiration for my next picture.  Not sure I want to do the orchid I spoke of in an earlier post. 

Now that Halloween and Thanksgiving are over I guess it's time to take down the Pumpkin picture.  Tried to photograph this in it's frame at first but the glass reflections were just too much, so in the end I had to unframe? it, photograph it, then reframe it again.  A bit of a chore but the resulting photo is much better.  Went to the frame store and had them cut me a piece of picture glass this morning in order to frame my Washington state picture in the frame which I recently gilded.  Maybe get round to that this afternoon.

My new lamp has arrived and I think it will be great, I may combine it with a regular incandescent spotlight that I used when I did embroidery many years ago.  I have a number of pieces of art that I have yet to photograph, so now that I have the daylight lamp I'll probably get round to doing that and post them here.  I spent a good deal of time today looking through all my old photographs trying to find a subject matter for my next picture. In the end I decided to do a picture of some orchids that I had while we lived in Florida.

I finally finished my picture today.  The trees gave me so much trouble, but I think the end result is as good as I can achieve.  I putzed around with the clouds some more until I was more satisfied.  Then I took this photograph while it was still on the easel but it doesn't really do it justice.    Now I am looking around for another subject, but I don't think I want to do another landscape yet.

Spent a couple of hours working on my picture today.  As usual for me I am getting bogged down in detail.  The photo reference is from Washington State when we were driving in the mountains, but there is a pine forest involved and I am spending more time than I like trying to get a realistic representation of the trees.  I wish I could loosen up my style a bit and become a bit more impressionistic.  I like the look, but seem to be incapable of achieving it.  

I ordered a full spectrum lamp today.  It'll take about a week to get here, but will be a big help when the light begins to fade at about 4.00 pm every day.

Finally managed to get back to my easel this afternoon.  I worked for about an hour but then I lost the light and had to stop.  I really have to get some better lighting for my studio - I am looking at getting a full spectrum light because I find that I can't work with regular incandescent light, the color is all wrong.  I took a trip to our Blick store in Boston yesterday but they had almost no lights in stock.  They have several on their web site, so I think I'll have to go that route. If I get some decent light it will also help with photographing my pictures.

  

I also bought some gold paint today and spray-painted a frame I had picked up in a thrift store. It's looking quite good now.  I was also planning on framing my picture titled "What lies Within" and bought a frame for it today, but didn't get round to it.  Maybe tomorrow.

Today we decided to drive down to Plymouth, Ma to visit the art gallery of Anne Heywood a pastel artist from Maine, but unfortunately when we got there it was closed.  Anne is a very good pastelist and I've taken two weekend workshops with her which taught me a lot.  I also spent some time today sorting through my paintings that I have yet to photograph and put on this blog.  I hope to do that soon but it's easier to photograph them outdoors on a sunny day, and the weather isn't co-operating yet.

Two exciting things happened today!  

We totally finished the crown molding and are very satisfied with the result.  We figure for amateurs we did a pretty good job.

The other exciting event is that I have signed up for the International Pastel Society Convention, so John and I will be going to Albuquerque at the end of May for that.  I have always wanted to go to New Mexico and it's a plus that the IAPS is there.  I have also signed up to belong to the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, it's a long way from Chelmsford, but is the only one in Massachusetts.  I don't imagine I'll get to any meetings or take part in their events but by being a member I get a slightly reduced convention fee, but it will be good to belong to the society and get newsletters and information.

The crown molding is done!  It looks great and now we just have to go round and fill a thousand nail holes.  I love the way it looks.  Just spent the last hour cleaning up all the resulting sawdust from every surface in the kitchen.  We decided that using the mitre saw in the kitchen was preferable to suffering the bitterly cold temperatures out in the garage, but it did make a bit of a mess.  We had to go to Lowes and get an extra length of molding probably due to the number of practice cuts we had to do while we were figuring out how to make the joints.  Had lunch while we were out but got right back to work as soon as we got home again.  Looking forward to relaxing this evening.

Very cold today.  Here in the Boston area it was 4 degrees F when we got up this morning.  We are keeping warm though wrestling with the intracacies of installing crown molding in our family room.  We finally got the corner miters figured out but then couldn't figure out which way up to install.  A search on the internet revealed that it depends on the "rise and the run" which on our molding appears to be the same, so I guess we can put it whichever way we prefer.

My sister called from England this morning to wish us a Happy New Year, so it was nice to speak with her and catch up with all the news there.