Arizona Sky

Arizona Sky

6x6, soft pastel

On our way to Phoenix we were delighted to view this gorgeous sunset near Kingman, Az.   I especially loved seeing the stars twinkling in the deep dark blue of the early evening.  

Lakeside Sunset

Lakeside Sunset

6x6, soft pastel

Lakeside Sunset is another in a series of sunrises and sunsets I'm working on...practice, practice, paractice!

Sunrise On The Farm

Sunrise On The Farm

6x6, soft pastel

Everytime I visit my daughter, son-in-law, and wonderful grandkids I take sunrise photos.  Why?  Because the land is wide open with few buildings between huge wheatfield farms and the sunrises and sunsets are almost always spectacular!  I have mostly sunrise photos since I'm an early riser...for me, that's the most magical time of day.  That, and I almost always get a chance to visit with my very hardworking son-in-law before his long day begins.

Evening Sky

Evening Sky

6x6, soft pastel

I hope to dig through all my sunset and sunrise pictures to do a few more sky pieces.  I absolutely love this time of year when we seem to get the best sunrises and sunsets.  In the Boise area, we seldom have rain during the summer months so clouds are at a premium...but soon, we'll see more clouds and hopefully a few rain drops too.  Until then, I'll resort to digging up old photos.  

Interrogation

Interrogation
6x6, soft pastel

Hmmmm, this painting made me crazy.  I abandoned it...then decided it post it anyway.  I like the subject matter and the composition but I was sooooo distracted doing other things as I painted that the little bugger completely got away from me!  

While painting, I was dialing (and redialed 156 times no less) to make hotel reservations for the International Association of Pastel Society's 2017 convention next year.  I was persistent and redialed repeatedly because the rooms are snatched up really really fast for that particular convention.  I feel very lucky to have gotten one of the last rooms available.  

In addition to that, I was listening to the Senate Banking Committee members grill Mr. John Stumpf (Wells Fargo) for well over 2 hours regarding the recent banking "scandal" at Wells.  I won't even go into my feelings about that....but given the intensity of their interrogation, my painting took on an intense life of it's own.  

Maddie's Bowl of Lemons

Maddie's Bowl of Lemons

6x6, soft pastel

I've owned this bowl of lemons for years (yes, they are fake lemons).   Over the years, setting "fake fruit" out in a bowl as part of a savvy decor item became passé.   So of course, I eventually quarantined my beautiful fake fruit to the pantry where they've sat gathering dust for many years.  I've discarded or "donated" most of the fruit except the lemons.   

These three lemons are actually priceless to me.  Not because they are realistic (which they are).  But they're priceless because one day, when my adorable grand-daughter Maddie was quite small (probably 1 1/2 yrs. old), she climbed up onto the breakfast table when I wasn't looking and decided she'd help herself to a lemon...or two.  I imagine she was quite surprised when she tried to bite into a couple of them without success.  If you look closely you can actually see the teeth marks she left behind.  Oh, Maddie...you still make me smile!!!

Winged Royal Coachman

Winged Royal Coachman

5x7, soft pastel

This is another popular Western fly, the Royal Coachman winged version.  He almost got away from me because my initial sketch wasn't the best in regards to proportions.  My husband kindly reminded me though that it's a common problem even with fly fishermen/women who tie their own flies.  The materials they use can be cumbersome to handle making proper proportions a bugger to achieve.