Winter Thawing

Winter is thawing, I promise. The temperature was 33 degrees when I went out to do this drawing of "Dogwood Creek Winter Thaw." See the little turfs of green sticking through the snow! 

As I set up to work the sky was still overcast and the scene was flat but I've drawn this spot before and knew it would have good color if the sun would shine for just a short time. So I worked in the initial drawing with my purple conte pastel pencil and also started adding the shapes and basic colors.

Then the sun shone for just the right amount of time to help me determine the blues, purples and cream colors as the late afternoon sun illuminated the scene.

I'll have this piece framed as a 16" x 20" at Kentucky Crafted the Market at the Louisville Fair and Expo Center March 6 & 7. Come see me in booth #310.

Redbud Festival Spring Art Fair

Winter is a good time to work in the studio while keeping an eye on the falling snow flakes. If the sun comes out this afternoon I'll be headed outside for some plein air pastelling, but in the mean time I work in my studio.

"Rocker and Quilt" was created for the Redbud Festival at Union College in Barboursville, KY April 9 & 10 which I'll be the "Feature Artist."

In anticipation of all the beautiful quilts that will be exhibited at the show I added a design from one of the quilt artist to my grandmother's quilt pattern and draped it over a handmade rocker that I bought at Cincinnati's Summerfair.

I'm also trying a new blog design in an effort to keep the copy coordinated with the images. Technology is not my thing anymore. I left my middle management position in the promotion department at the herald-leader in 2001 and I still miss the day to day contact with the really good graphic designers in our department.