Pan Pastels:Working With a New Twist on an Old Medium

I have recently returned to pastel painting after taking several years away from it. I loved the colors, the immediacy of the strokes and the texture but hated the excess dust which seemed to be everywhere in my studio. Storage of pastels always seemed to be a problem and the matting and framing (and making sure that no stray pieces of pastel were sitting on the matt) was such a pain. So I switched to acrylic painting and watercolor, but missed the effects that I was able to get with pastels.

Now that I am teaching Pastels again, I find myself reaching more and more for my pastels. I still hate the dust though.

SO…I decided to try pan pastels and now I am enjoying their soft ethereal quality, as well as their lack of dust. Yesterday I attended the pan pastel workshop at the The Arts Store in Syracuse and learned a few new tricks to teach to my Monday night pastel class at the Y.

I'm currently working on a series of images from Ireland, trying to capture the quality of light and dewy atmosphere. Pan pastels might just be what I've been searching for. Stay tuned…...

North Country Arts Council Fall Show Has Something For Everyone!

Yesterday I was gallery sitting at the North Country Arts Council Fall Show in Watertown, NY. This is the second time I have participated in this show, and the first time I have actually seen the show installed. I was unprepared for the variety of artwork. The show features an array of paintings, drawings, sculptures, mixed media, pottery, jewelry and graphics, from artists living throughout the North Country. My husband and I have a camp in the Indian River Lakes, so I consider myself a North Country artist too, and I felt like I was in good company.

The show consists primarily of juried art from North Country artists, but there were a few invitational artists and groups represented in the exhibit. Stone carvings by David Marangle, sculptures by Chris Belven and classical portraits and still life by Paul Pedersen were all part of the invitational group. In addition, the River Community Wellness Program in conjunction with Fort Drum presented the Soldiers Art Show and Better Arts, a division of Better Farm contributed a selection of work from their visiting artist program.

There is also a section of pottery for sale benefitting Dragonfly Pottery Studio which suffered a devastating fire back in the early part of the fall. I'm happy to report that Dragonfly is re-building and "in-progress" pictures on their Facebook page look great.

And one more pic….I love this one done by a soldier during his deployment in Afghanistan. 113 small paintings, 1 each day, done for his daughter (hearts) and son (suns)… a promise he made and kept each day.

The North Country Arts Council Fall Show is on display at the Dulles State Office Building in Watertown, NY, through November 22. Hours: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm.
Go see it!

Is this Any Way to Spend Halloween????

Wow, what a busy night here at Windy Hill Studio. In between greeting trick-or-treaters at the door I have been getting a few things ready to bring up to Bay House Artisans. We are still open and will be till at least Black Friday.  Hours: Friday - Sunday, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.

The latest pieces are in the Art-to-Wear category. Two velvet embossed scarves (Grape leave and Celtic) and a Rootin' Tootin' Super Cute Bag with a raspberry colored velvet square embossed with a sun pattern on a hand-painted fabric bag.

And… a truly fun experimental piece: A hand-painted fabric Christmas table runner. I call this one "Dancing Trees".   My two cats Tony and Ziva "helped" with the project. My entire kitchen was filled bits and pieces of red and green fabric. I think I will be picking thread off of every horizontal surface till February!

Gotta go now…trick-or-treaters at the door! Happy Halloween!!!!

Click on the blog post to open up the other two pictures.

What Should I Do……FIRST?????

More News From Windy Hill Studio

This is the "in-between" time for me. The 2-3 weeks in between sessions at the Y Art Studio and my first thought is What Should I Do…... FIRST???? We usually have a couple of weeks in between sessions so we can prep for our next group of classes and also try to catch up on everything we were too busy to do when we were teaching. I always have a few pieces that I really want to finish, but I feel the pull toward the new pieces which need to be done in preparation for the next session. So my "in-between" time becomes a race to see how much I can accomplish in preparation for teaching and still please myself as an artist.

Whenever I am teaching a painting class my demo pieces usually coincide with themes for upcoming shows or sales in specific areas. So, I am currently putting finishing touches on a couple of watercolors for my Ireland show scheduled for March 2015 at Sparkytown. Both pieces started as demo pieces for the Watercolor class. (Yes I believe in multi tasking). And in the next session my Wednesday morning Watercolor class will continue and the students will progress to more advanced techniques…at least that is the plan! And most likely I will continue with the Ireland theme in my own work. Students obviously will be painting other things.

But my Monday night Drawing class will be changed to an Intro to Pastels class, so that means I have to get a few pastels ready to go before class begins in November. I used to work extensively in pastel so I'm not worried about teaching it, but I do want a few new pieces. I will be working on pastels in the Arts Studio for the next couple of weeks so you might catch my act as you are walking through the Y. Or hey, just sign up for the class! It starts on Monday November 3, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm and runs for 6 consecutive Mondays.

We are still going strong at Bay Hose Artisans (probably will be till Black Friday), so that means I'm keeping my cards, prints and art-to-wear stocked. The paintings are still there too and also a few at The Lyric Coffeehouse in Clayton. The North Country Arts Council will soon be announcing the accepted pieces for their Fall Show. I hope to hear from them soon.

And tomorrow is the launch party for The Healing Muse, a literary and visual journal from SUNY Upstate Medical which I am pleased to be associated with for 14 years.

Whew, my "in between" time fills up fast. It's time to get back to painting.

Updates From Windy Hill Studio…Thousand Islands, Snowy Splendor, Ireland

This has been one of the busiest seasons for me. By "season" I mean the Spring, Summer, Fall time of year when I show and sell my work in the seasonal galleries throughout the Thousand Islands and the North Country. I also was accepted into 3 juried shows here in Central New York and was featured artist at Arts on The Square in Watertown, so that kept me busy too. And I was teaching in a variety of places near home and near camp, so life got hectic and things like blogging went by the wayside. It's actually been more than a month since my last post! I am still painting though and that's what counts.

Although Fall is here my "season" is not completely over. I will be exhibiting a group of paintings at the Lyric Coffee House during the month of October. The Lyric is located at 246 James St. in Clayton and open from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm.

And we are still going strong at Bay House Artisans in Alexandria Bay, where I am one of the members of the co-op. People say we are the most unique shop in that town and I agree. You can find us right smack in the middle of A-Bay….white house, white picket fence…lots of signs that say "OPEN" (we had a contest where people voted on their favorite sign).

Here in Syracuse the "Snowy Splendor: Winter Scenes from Onondaga County" show will be opening soon at the Onondaga Historical Association. I don't have the date yet for the opening, but will post it when I know. I have two paintings in that show: a watercolor and an acrylic.

And, last but not least Ireland: I have booked a date for my Ireland show (haven't really come up with a title for that one yet). The show is scheduled for March 2015 at Sparkytown, opening reception March 8. More details on that as we get closer to the date.

That's all for now from Windy Hill Studio.

Reflections

Sunken Rock Lighthouse in Alexandria Bay is my favorite of all the Thousand Island Lighthouses. There is something about the green top of the squat little lighthouse and the stark simplicity of the small building which appeals to me. I guess it's a combination of an Edward Hopper style of loneliness and the clear simple lines of an Edward Weston photograph. The white lighthouse and its' accompanying building reflect light and color all day long as the sun shifts in the sky, and the water changes as the sky does.  I love capturing the color of the sky and water at this time of day as the sun sets and the land becomes nearly a silhouette. The last golden rays of the day are reflected in the two buildings and bounce across the ripples in the water. Purple shadows creep across the surface of the lighthouse and join the golden flecks riding on the watery ripples.

This painting was done in as a demo piece when I was teaching an Acrylic Painting class at The Thousand Islands Arts Center. I had started the painting at camp and would bring it into class each day to use for instruction. The week was rainy and cold and the headlines were dismal; a large fire in TI Park, two young Amish girls were abducted, Robin Williams died, so many parts of the world in a turmoil. It was good to lose myself in the painting, at least for a few days. And good to have the squat little lighthouse as a kind of beacon of hope.

Art Show in Watertown

Time Stands Still : Images Inspired by the North Country opens on Saturday at Arts on the Square in Watertown. The exhibit is sponsored by the North Country Arts Council. I will be sharing the spotlight with ceramic artist Tonya Murdie. The reception is from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Refreshments and live music by classical guitarist Gary Walts are all on the agenda.
Stop by if you are in the area.
Arts on the Square is located at 52 Public Square in Watertown.

Artist Statement

The paintings in this exhibit all deal with nature. The places we return to year after year where time seems to have stood still: the lakes, the rivers, the mountains and the woods. The much needed refuges from modern life. Here we are provided with a sense of peace and tranquility. The daily pressures disappear and we stop moving long enough to feel the heartbeat of nature and the cycle of the seasons. We find that indeed time has not stood still, but finally we have.

In 2007, my husband and I bought a camp on Grass Lake in the Indian River Lakes Region. Time spent at camp and in the nearby Thousand Islands has provided an endless source of inspiration for my artwork. It has also provided a sense of ownership and responsibility for the resources in the region. And I realize what a privilege it is to be part of this beautiful countryside. We are so lucky to have this privilege. But with this privilege comes a responsibility to insure that it will be there for future generations. Does the land belong to us or do we belong to the land? Does the lake belong to us, or do we belong to the lake? When we first bought our camp, I felt that the lake belonged to us. Right now I feel that we belong to the lake. 

And each morning that I wake up at the lake the privilege is renewed.

It is my hope that in each of these paintings I have captured a moment when time has stood still, at least long enough for us to appreciate the natural beauty of our area and to work to insure that it remains as beautiful for future generations.