Organizing.....

No painting today....nor will there be for a while. I am organizing and cleaning...company is coming. Nothing to stifle your creative urges like the trepidation of company. Joking...I am looking forward to their coming. The postings on here during the next 3 weeks will be very few since I will be going away twice and having two sets of company. I am quite looking forward to it all...although I will miss painting and doing the markets. The cats will be upset of course..they don't do well with change in their routine. I bought a French Easel a few days ago so I will enjoy Plein aire painting better. Hard to enjoy plein aire painting when I am tiring myself out hauling things around. And this is British Columbia...so there are hills everywhere to climb carry things up and down. I am tired before I even start painting. Now I can set up easily and concentrate on the painting. The photo is tilted...but this is the new easel.

En Plein Aire

Something I haven't done for years is Plein aire paint. In fact I have only plein aire painted once....with the same friend I painted with again today. It was fun but I am not set up for outdoors painting so there was stuff to haul. But we did it and got set up and painted...so much fun. Nice friend too! Here is the painting. Not done but it was a good start. I will touch it up in the studio. 8" x 10" oil on gessoed hardboard.

Took the Day Off and Painted a Pastel

I have been working hard with my natural beauty products. The market sales are going well and, as a result, I have been making more products. Made 2 batches of soap yesterday and meant to make a batch of moisturizing cream today. However....I was minding my own business when the VPON people abducted me to join their pastel lesson. Sure I said...I like pastels but of course I am too busy..don't have time. So I watched. I had no intentions at all of painting but after 10 minutes of watching I grabbed a paper, sketched out the ref photo, and began to paint. Piper is fantastic, I was inspired to death. She showed us how to mount the paper onto the board and transfer the drawing to the pastel paper. She did the painting along with us but there was so much freedom. We weren't constrained to using any specific colours but she did make some suggestions and she guided a few of us along the way if necessary.The entire group was so inspirational and funny. I had a great afternoon, learned a lot and finished a painting. Did I tell you I was a die hard oil pinter? This is only my 4th pastel attempt. Thanks to the VPON people for a great afternoon and thanks Piper for the great lesson.

Fun at the Market.....

I am so enjoying the Farmer's Markets. The venue is beautiful, a luscious park with grass and trees. It went by too fast last week. LOL. I have been taking a few pics with my camera too. Not many because I have been so busy but here is one.