A Day at Buttermilk Falls

11x14 

Buttermilk Falls is a serene place near Long Lake, New York. It's easy to get there, no big hike, very close to a road, so it's usually very busy in the summer months. At the bottom of the falls, kids can wade in the pool of water, so there are usually lots of kids climbing the rocks and parents yelling at them to keep away from the edge! It's not easy painting children from a distance with pastels and I hope I've done them justice. It wanted to just let people feel the falls and the fun kids have on those rocks

Autumn Birches on Blue Mountain Lake - Sold

Done recently from a photo taken at The Hedges. This is such a magical place. We used to spend two weeks every year here with our grandson. Families from all over would spend the same two weeks so Matt grew up knowing that every year he would see certain friends and they would be free to roam the place, kyack, fish, swim, canoe. A very Adirondack experience and one we're both happy to have given him.

Aspen Road 11x14

Here's another from Colorado. This was done plein aire - the house was there but the road wasn't. I just thought it would make a better composition with a road and it sure worked. This is also at the Cottage Gallery in Laguna Beach. I love those aspens!

At water's edge

16x20 $150.00 +s&h

This is actually one of the first pastels I ever did. Ever since going to the IAPS convention in Albuquerque last May, and taking an "art business" demonstration, I've been organizing all my work. It's unbelievable that I've done as much as I have and have actually sold as much as I have, considering the learning curve I've gone through. That two hour course was such a necessity, as far as record keeping is concerned and pricing your work. Now that I have pastels in a Laguna gallery and also will have them in a gallery this summer in Indian Lake, NY, it's so important to have very good records. It's taken me six months to finally organize myself. Now it's just upkeep and I can breathe a sigh of relief and just paint! Oh, btw, this tree sits at the side of Blue Mountain Lake at a place called The Hedges, a beautiful rustic Adirondack resort.

Solitute at Laguna 12x18

This pastel was done a few years ago (I'm still going through those older pastels). My aunt and I wanted to paint together in Boynton Beach, FL and I had this photo. I drove up to her house and we spent the afternoon both painting this scene. If you google Sarah Spina, I think you'll see her version. She put some other people on that beach and it's so amazing to me how each artist interprets the scene differently. I miss painting with her, now that we've moved, but we still critique each other's work via email and always have Skype!

Contemplation

Another older pastel - this one of my grandson, Matt, when he was only about six years old. We were at the Miami Zoo and he was munching on a sandwich and watching it intently as he ate it. This little girl walked over to look at something and I took the photo. I was just starting to paint using pastels at the time and just loved the photo, but decided to turn the sandwich into a flower. At the time, I was totally flabbergasted by the background, which was very busy, with lots of trees and a fence and didn't know how to approach that kind of background without taking from the kids. I still have this painting in New York and I keep thinking I'm going to change that green. This one is 20x30

Aspens

I'm trying to pull some older pastels to post and here's another one done plein aire in Colorado. It's also at The Cottage Gallery in Laguna Beach. I remember trying to get very impressionistic with this - also trying to impart how I felt that day - free, happy to be painting those gorgeous aspens in that gorgeous place. George Inness said that a work of art's "aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion." "the real beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment or emotion which it inspires. Its real greatness consists in the quality and the force of this emotion." He did this so beautifully - I keep practicing, with some success, but not as much as I'd like. 11x14