When I lived in the SkyBox, (9th floor overlooking I395) I would sit with a nice glass of wine and watch the rush hour traffic, always bumper to bumper, both directions. It was an endless river of tiny internal combustion explosions.
I'm very pleased that this pastel painting was juried into the Maryland Pastel Society's National Exhibition. Always an honor.

​Ellicott City Plein Air continued:
"Greens for Lunch"
Saturday morning was the Quick Draw competition. We all (62 artists) got two hours to complete a painting, then we all gathered for an immediate judging and prizes. I decided to paint the festive umbrellas outside the little cafes. It was a fabulous sunny morning, I had a nice shady spot, a large iced coffee, and a big macaroon dipped in chocolate to inspire me. I wasn't worried about the time constraints, since I was using pastels. Life was good! After the closing buzzer, we all packed up and took our entries to be juried. I was quite surprised to see most of the juried artists had already framed their pieces! Next year. There was a big crowd, and a number of pieces were sold in the first 20 minutes, including mine. There were some very good artist there.
Then, much to my astonishment, I won first prize! The judge said he liked it because it was so happy and friendly. The nice lady who bought it was even more pleased than I was.

​I'm trying to catch up on some posts...starting with the weekend. 

Ellicott City Plein Air competition event

What a wonderful weekend! First of all. the weather, which is usually hideously hot in July, was quite congenial ... blue skies with fluffy white clouds, a nice breeze, not too hot, not too humid, no rain ... perfect for painting outdoors. There were 30 "official" artist that were juried in, with lots of prizes and a month long group exhibition. There were also maybe 60 more "Open Paint" artists, including a few children, who could just come paint at the same time. They got a few prizes, too, and an opening night exhibition. As you wandered around, there were artists scattered all over the place. It was very festive. Most people worked in oils, but there were a number of watercolor artists, three other pastelists, and a smattering of other media (including wood block prints!). We had to get our canvases and paper stamped in the morning.

"Through the Arch"

Friday I did a painting of an old stone arch that is still holding up the train track. A train even came through at one point! I was using an experimental surface, which fought back hard, but it looks good from a distance. I might try that one again next year with a more congenial surface. I was so grateful for the shade, and for my ice water.

"Quick Sketch, Aspens" -
Pastel on Tobacco Brown canson paper, about 6 x 12. This was a class demo, and took about 20 -25 minutes. I love doing landscapes on this brown color, (which has subtle speckles) - It really makes the blues and green sing!
Makes me happy.
The row of colors along the bottom are the various individual pastels that I used.

"Trees of Asilomar",
At ten feet wide, this digital work is one of the largest artworks I've done. I often use the grid structures because I like how each piece is it's own abstract compositions, yet contributes to the whole.