Time goes poof!

Really it's all about prioritizing time. The pastelfish.blogspot.com site was updated today because news is news.

My work earned me a membership into the Pastel Society of America and that was the catalyst. Posting is delightful and acts like a journal of thought which can be useful for prioritizing and ordering. However, it can also displace painting. That'd be bad so I have put a spread sheet in place to keep a little more balance.

So much to do and really, I'm only here for the art.

:)

More soon.

Sandy

The mitties and frozen gouache!

There is more detail on Sandy's blog about the nice mittens and a few pictures of frozen gouache application ... this week I moved indoors and am working on pieces for a new gallery.

The post I meant to duplicate and didn't is here:
http://pastelfish.blogspot.com

Dandy painting gear makes all the difference...

Well I didn't photograph them yet, but a friend made a pair of wonderful fingerless mittens for me. These Indian Summer days haven't warranted getting them covered with weed seeds yet, but tomorrow promises to make an excellent argument to wear them since I'm going out early, it's wet and will be frosty.

Photos tomorrow of them in action!

Last night, windy still, but the clouds broke and the beauty was sweet ... with shelter

Staying small for the fourth painting at the end of a windy, changeable day, Sara carefully picks a composition that can be done before the dark horizon clouds settle dusk a couple of hours early and force us to exit in the dark.

The group technology is roughly divided between Soltek and more traditional easels. This is one of the things I like about working with other pros, the opportunity to compare tools.

This creek offered shelter from the wind and cold, however I found that my own habits of gouache under pastel wouldn't dry. I was a chance to walk around and discover that on the other side of this creek bend it was even more gorgeous. Next time we hit that spot.

The cold and wind continue, and we painted anyway.

She looks comfortable, but this day the wind peaked around 35 mpg and temps were in the 40s, but the clouds were terrific at times. Kathy paints the roadside tree going for form and tweaking the harmony to work out some of the blue overcast day.

Wet, wet, cold and windy ... painters paint anyway.

October 16th, the first morning was rainy, rainy, rainy.

I didn't even set up but walked around the spit of land that jutted into the marshy open wetness. Joni painting without an umbrella. Sara digging around in her bag and Kathie parked like an elf benefiting from the close shelter of her toadstool.

October in Door County, WI

Just got back from a great painting trip in Door County WI with some wonderful artists, painting companions and fellow foodies. We painted in the cold, the rain and the wind, and tramped through the woods at dawn to catch the sunrise over lake Michigan. Got in some good sketches, and had inspiring conversations over some great meals. Looking forward to our next rendesvous.

And we begin...

Greetings and thank you for visiting this collection of paintings and stories from painters working in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. We are a limited group of artists working mostly en plein air or in the studio with a strong landscape focus. The group has an affection for a region of the Midwest called the Driftless Area which is a geologically unique area in SE Minn. and Southern WI. This region was not scraped by the last Ice Age moving south and exhibits unique land forms because of this.

Click here for what Wikipedia says: