Great American Pastels

Since I became enamored with the pastel medium, I have been trying various pastels made in different countries of the world. There are many wonderful old names like Sennelier, Rembrandt, Schminke,Winsor Newton and of course many other brands that artists love and revere. I have quite a few softer pastels  by Rembrandt, Sennelier and Winsor Newton and even a few buttery soft by American pastel maker Terry Ludwig.  I have a full set of Prismacolor hard pastels that I use a lot for under colors but I did not have any Great American Art Works Pastels that I have heard so many positive things about. These wonderful pastels are made in the USA.

Since I am always griping about buying American products, I ordered a small selection of Great American pastels from Jerry's ArtArama.com a  few months ago, and really found them to be soft, and not subject to crumbling like some of my Winsor Newtons. I was very impressed with how smoothly they applied to my Wallis paper with a light stroke. They had one pastel I purchased that said silver and so had to check it out. It really was silver and I have used it on several paintings that required a touch of silver. I wanted to have more of these beauties! They have 468 different colors and are always adding more selections. They also have fun names, like, Church Mouse Grey, Zest, Paris, Atmosphere, Merlot, don't wine, you get the picture.

A few weeks ago I saw a Thunderstorm set on sale by FineArt.com for a low and impossible to refuse price. I have coveted this set for some time and so I ordered them. They came in the mail and I could not wait to use them on a pastel I was working on that had wonderful sky colors. How I wish I had them when I worked on my Desert Storm piece.

Last Saturday, I had attended a demonstration put on by Bob Strohsahl, Head Honcho of Great American Art Works pastel company, at University Art in Sacramento, California.  This was a reserve your seat event, and also the quarterly meeting for the Pastel Society of the West Coast. I had no idea that Bob would brings such a huge selection of wonderful wooden boxed selections of 78 pastels each by so many well known pastel artist like Margo Schultzke, Richard McKinley, Paul Murray, Judith Carducci and others, as well as 60 half stick sets. I think everyone in the room was salivating looking at the many colorful boxes that were saying take me home!

Bob made a delightful and informative presentation about the company and where they purchase many of the minerals used in their pastels. He showed many wonderful color pictures of places we all would love to visit and paint. Margo Schultzke was at that presentation and said that she has been delighted with the pastels and the variety of colors.  One very lucky member won a door prize in a drawing of 78 pastels of a set of his choosing. I know David, you are probably still smiling!  Many of us bought various sets of our choosing at that event because we were given a great price with no shipping charges. I purchased a Richard McKinley selection since I liked the color selection and know I do not have some of the colors in my palette.  I cannot wait to beak them out and incorporate them into my palette and enjoy using them.

I encourage you to buy some and test them out. I am sold on this companies wonderful pastels, and know that I don't need to look anywhere else to find what I want.  The best part is, like the Terry Ludwig Pastels,  they are made right here in America!

Catching Up

I cannot believe how many months have gone by since I posted any blogs. I have been busy and have painted quite a few new pieces. I have also been enjoying trying out under paintings beneath my pastels, and am still experimenting with the effects.

A month ago I had a rather disturbing and life shaking event occur that gave me cause to realize my mortality. It was a Saturday morning and I got up around 7:23 to put our old dog Chica outside. I walked her down the hall and into the kitchen. I usually give her treats in the morning and so I reached into a drawer and pulled out the bag of Duck strips. As I pulled them out and started to open the bag, I had an overwhelming feeling of being very nauseated, and felt terribly weak and disoriented. I realized I could not even open the bag to get the treats out and simply leaned back and slid open the sliding glass door and let Chica outside

The next thing I realized was I was lying on the kitchen floor, my head hurt and two of our kitchen chairs were lying on their sides. I thought, what on earth am I doing on the floor. I set one of the chairs upright and tried to get up and passed out again. The next thin I realized is my wife Cindy is slapping my face and saying stay awake, don't go out, stay with me. She had apparently called my daughter who was out running and told her I had passed out and then called 911.  My daughter made a beeline back home and was home before the ambulance arrived. My wife and daughter helped me into a chair and I felt very disoriented and was perpsiring profusely and shaking. When the paramedics arrived, they took my vital signs and put oxygen on me. They could apparently tell that my heart and was behaving erratically and my blood pressure was way out of wack. I was soon loaded into an ambulance and rushed to Auburn Faith hospital.

I had wonderful care and attention at the hospital and they hooked me up to monitors and did an EKG realizing that I was in a condition called atrial fibrillation, where the heart chambers get off sync and beat erratically depriving ones body of life giving oxygen. That is why I had passed out and become so disoriented. I was admitted into intensive care for a day and a half until the medication the doctors had given me brought my heart back in control, and it began beating normally once again. I was seen by a cardiologist and asked him whether anything I had been doing the day before had contributed to my situation. He said no, not at all. Your heart has performed well for 68 years and just decided it isn't going to continue to beat as it had. From now on, you will just need to take a prescription medication that will keep your heart on track. I remained there overnight for observation and tests and was released after lunch the following day to go home.  The doctor said I could resume my normal routine, but my wife was very concerned and did not want me doing much of anything until we could see the cardiologist we had been referred to.

We had planned on leaving on vacation for Pismo Beach the following day prior to this happening, and my son and his new wife Maria were planning on flying out from Lynchburg, Virginia to join us in Pismo Beach. First thing Monday morning, I called the Cardilologists office and asked if it was possible for them to squeeze me in that day. I explained our situation and they said they would see what they could do. Several hours later I received confirmation that Dr Berte could see us at 3:45 that afternoon. Once I arrived at the doctors office we were ushered into a room and his nurse Diana administered an EKG to let the doctor see how my heart was performing at that moment. When the doctor came in, he reviewed it and said we were free to go to Pismo Beach and he would see me when I got back to wear a monitor for 24 hours and also to take a stress test.   Cindy was concerned but the Doctor allied her fears and we went home to pack.

It was great to be hitting the road early in the morning and we had an uneventful and pleasant drive over Pacheco Pass and on down Highway 101 to Pismo Beach. We got there about an hour and a half after our son and his bride Maria. They had set the trailer up and then gone for a walk on the beach.  Unfortunately our trailer had leaked over the past two years and water had ruined the bedding and blankets and sleeping bags in the trailer. It was a mess to clean up and Cindy went to buy all new bedding and blankets. It was her birthday that day and we celebrated by going to dinner at the Old Port Inn on the pier in Avila Beach. We had a wonderful meal and afterwards went back to the trailer, made up fresh beds with the new linens and went to sleep for a good nights rest. Our week in Pismo was wonderful and relaxing. I started painting a scene of the lagoon in front of the sand dunes while we were there. I finished it this past week. I hope you like this one. It was started on a cool foggy morning and it was a joy to enjoy the solitude and see all of the waterfowl activity in the lagoon. 

Over a week ago I took my stress test and passed it with flying colors. Dr. Berte told me I have no restrictions and can do anything I want. He doesn't need to see me for six months. God is good, and I feel grateful and blessed to be alive to enjoy my family and continue to paint. Life is too short, so don't forget to do the things you really wan to and enjoy each and every day.