Shetland Ram

This spring I had decided I wanted to paint a different subject than the landscapes I was concentrating on. I began a painting of a marvelous Shetland Ram who lives at Chaffin Orchards off of highway 70 not too far from Paradise. I had not painted an stately animal like this one, and found its long tresses and wonderful curved horns to be a great challenge to recreate in pastel.  I sent a  picture I took while the painting was nearing completion to the Chris Kerston at Chaffin Orchards to let him know I had chosen the ram as my subject.

Chris wrote me back and asked if he could purchase a framed print when it was completed. He wanted to give it as a gift to his partner that raises the Shetland sheep. I explained to Chris that I do not make prints of my artwork, but that I am sure we could work out a trade with part cash and some barter for some of the fine products the farm sells. Chris liked that idea, and so once the painting was completed I began looking around for an appropriate frame. I decided that the best frame would be old barn wood, because it would fit the Ram and go well with the painting.

I found a large barn wood frame at Hobby Lobby for $30.00 and managed to carefully cut it down to a 23" square frame to fit the format of the square picture. Once matted and placed behind protective glass, the painting was ready for delivery.  I hope you enjoy it as much as Chris and his partner did when he and his wife surprised him with the painting.

Richard McKinley, Pastel Laureate of the Pastel Society of the West Coast

Yesterday the Pastel Society of the West Coast honored Richard McKinley, a celebrated pastel artist, teacher and author as a Pastel Laureate at the Placer Arts Gallery on Lincoln Way in Auburn.  As an added attraction and backdrop, the Society’s fall membership show was on display.  The opportunity to see hear and possibly speak with Richard McKinley was an event I did not want to miss. I have bought Richard’s DVD’s and one of his books, Pastel Pointers and learned so much from this positive, good-humored soft spoken man.  

When I walked into the gallery, I recognized Richard as he was speaking with a couple he obviously knew, sharing stories and conversation with easy comfortableness one has with long-time friends.  I did not know what time the presentation would begin so I put my things on a chair to claim a spot.  I just took some time to enjoy the many high quality pastel paintings from the 59 artists represented in the gallery.  As a member of PSWC, I was proud that one of my paintings was among that group. 

I noticed Richard was on his own as I came back around the gallery and so I took the opportunity to speak with him. I commented that I had read his blog on the new Blue Pastels, and noticed he had purchased a set and arranged them by value in a small Dakota pastel carrying case.

 

Richard was pleased to talk about them and said, “I have quite a collection of pastels, and just have to try out new ones when I see them.” I found the Blue Pastels to be very soft, they are meticulously made, each is numbered and they are a perfect size to paint with. They have a good edge and are easy to hold and there is no need to break them. He mentioned that the only short coming is there were no mixed color sticks in the set, they are raw colors designed just like the old oil system by value.  He said, “I prefer to mix in a few colors I like that are not there.  I will probably add some hard pastels to the set.” I recalled, you have a preference for Cretacolor hard pastels don’t you?  “Yes” he said, “Unfortunately Nu-Pastels have out-sourced  their manufacturing  to Mexico and there has been quite a buzz in the art community that their quality is not as good as it was and some of the colors do not hold and fade. “

Richard carried on a conversation with me for some time, about pastels and art, and I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to speak with this genuine man.

Shortly after the meeting was called to order and Richard was presented a plaque by PSWC President Tina Moore, recognizing him as the seventh Pastel Laureate to be honored by the PSWC. This honor is equivalent to being a member of the Pastel USA Hall of Fame. It is given to artists who win ten awards in Pastels USA competitions.  This award recognizes Richard’s tremendous contribution to the advancement of the pastel medium through his teaching, his blogs, and articles and his books on pastel painting. 

Pastel Laureate Margo Schultzke was asked to make some comments about Richard and she was very generous in extolling his contributions in the Pastel Art medium. She recalled a painting Richard submitted to a show so many years ago, that was just prefect without unnecessary detail. She said he has mastered the ability to refrain from unnecessary detail in his paintings. She said also said how important his contribution was for encouraging other painters and bolstering their confidence.     

After the presentation, we all had the opportunity to ask questions of Richard and get his viewpoint on many different subjects from pastels he likes versus those he is not too fond of. The likes list was very long and included Rembrandt’s, Sennelier, Girault, Schminke, Unison, Great American, Terry Ludwig, and the New Blue Pastels, and the dislike list was very short with Yarka being the only one he mentioned that were inconsistent in their manufacture and color stability.

Richard said, "I know that I am known for preaching about, simultaneous contrast, more luminosity, a higher value scale that comes from the personality of the pastel set.”  Richard said the gratuitous use, of dark pastels in a landscape painting are to be avoided because it is about light! When someone asked him how long it took to select his choices for a set of Terry Ludwig pastels, he said it took him a whole day to narrow his choices down and make his selections from Terry’s pastels to make a set. And yes, he made sure to put that eggplant stick in the set.  

Richard gave some wonderful quotes he has heard, for example, Albert Handel said,” I learned to paint in therapy when I learned to trust myself. Albert says he has this crazy friend Richard that doesn’t know when he is done.”  Richard said, it is always difficult to determine when we are finished.  “The conscious mind says you can’t be done, and yet there is this other voice one hears that says, I like it fine the way it is.  Then there is this evil voice on the other side that says, you aren’t going to leave it like that are you?  Those are the kinds of battles all artists go through when determining when a painting is done.”

Many different topics were discussed from under painting to framing decisions and the use of fixatives and Richard provided tremendous insight to the assembled group of artists that had gathered to honor him and to hear him address their questions on his take on things.  Most importantly, Richard said that our job as artists is to tell people who are looking at our paintings our vision so they can see what we see. He closed his talk with the words find the technological ability to make it work and follow your heart.  

There were so many excellent artists present at the gallery and so it was a pleasure to speak with different people I have come to know and also to meet and speak with some new ones I just met in person. One such person was Margot Schultzke another celebrated pastel artist and also a Pastel Laureate. Margot is the founder of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. Margot has traveled the world painting and has also given workshops and written an excellent book on pastel painting entitled, “A Painters Guide to Design and Composition.”  I had an opportunity to also speak with Margo and compliment her on the value of her book that my chiropractor friend Gary Robinson had loaned me.  Margot has written many articles for the Pastel Journal and is also the editor of the Pastel Society of the West Coast’s newsletter. 

Later, I had an opportunity to talk some more with Richard as he circulated around the gallery. I told him how much his book Pastel Pointers had provided me with valuable information and thanked him for sharing his technique and knowledge so freely with many artists and students.  He thanked me for the feedback and asked to see the painting I had in the show and I showed him where it was.  He was very complimentary and said he had told some friends that it was a beautiful well done landscape. I was flattered to hear that from a man that I respect and look up to and have learned so much from.  This was a special day among many artists I have had the pleasure to meet and get to know, but made even more special with the opportunity to dialog with Richard McKinley, one on one.

Out of Dormancy

Perhaps my blog was missed, and perhaps it wasn't, but for me, it has been far too long since I sat down to write about what is going on in our household. I accepted a job with the University of California Davis in May of this year. I signed on for a six month stint to help the campus police department reconstruct itself after the disastrous viral pepper spray incident on campus last November 19th. 2011. That singular incident cost the Chief and several of the command structure their jobs and others discipline or demotion. It thoroughly demoralized the department with the constant negative news coverage, and the loss of staff persons some of whom were liked and respected.

My decision to come out of retirement, and give up painting for six months was based on knowing I could do the job, because I had the background and experience needed. I knew that I could help fix the department's policy and work with the chief to re-organize the department. I also knew that for six months of hard work, I would be able to earn enough money to build myself a new studio and have a good environment to paint in. That was a goal worth going back to work for, as well as the opportunity to be involved in helping to restore the department and its image.

My task was to completely rewrite the police department's policy manual, using an excellent software from a company called Lexipol that specializes in automated police policy online. One of the founders of the company, Gordon Graham, was a California Highway Patrol Captain and also an attorney.  He is very respected in the law enforcement field, and he and his partners have built a company that serves law enforcement needs all over the state with up to date policy, written in best practice language, and citing California and Federal law. The policy is continually updated in accordance with Legislative changes to California's laws.

I was familiar with the software, and had to conform the various policies to the UC Davis Police Department's practices and in accordance with the University Policy system. I was given six months to accomplish this task, and set to work quickly interviewing various officers, supervisors and new command staff persons on the police department in order to get the policy in sync with the departments operations.  The new Chief Matthew Carmichael, was a tremendous positive change agent for the department and he was driving himself with long hours to rebuild the department and bolster its sagging morale. He was a pleasure to work with and often told me that I was the reason he could sleep nights, with the work I was doing crafting the new policy for the department.

Police department staff accepted me as one of their own, and I enjoyed the camaraderie with the men and women of this progressive university police department that really do take their jobs seriously. It has taken me a little over three months to learn what I needed to complete the task I was assigned. We are now going through every section I have edited and rewritten to make sure that it is accurate and there are no typos. It will be reviewed by the University's Provost as well as the police union before it is adopted. 

Just as I finished the final chapter of the manual, I had a life changing event occur again, with a recurrence of my Atrial Fibrillation on a Sunday morning. Once again I was taken to hospital in an ambulance because of my erratic heart. I was released after five days and am on leave for a while in order to get my health back and my heart fixed. The medication I am on in the meantime may keep my heart in line, but it is detrimental to my energy and sense of well-being. I praise my God for saving me, and am thankful for the care I received not only at the hospital, but from my wife when I came home. It is great to be alive, and I am going to enjoy painting again!

Twilight at Pismo Lagoon

Pismo has been a getaway place for our family for a number of years. When our children were in their teens we used to go camping at Pismo Dunes RV park or Pismo Dunes State Beach. For the past five years we have had our trailer permanently stored in Pismo, and whenever we want to go down we make a reservation at the Pismo Dunes RV park. It usually takes a six month in advance reservation to make that a week in summer. We try to go down several times a year especially during the hot months.

This past August we had a full week and were joined by our Son Colin and his new wife Maria. They flew out from Virginia to be with us on Cindy's birthday. That was her present this year. Having our son and his wife with us made the week special.  It is a cool respite from summers heat inland, and its beaches are a source of wonder from morning to night. Waking early in the morning and making a fresh pot of coffee always sets the day off the right way. It is usually col and foggy in the early hours, and a perfect time to walk up on the top of the barrier dune and survey the lagoon that is usually filled with both sea birds and marsh dwellers.

It is relaxing to enjoy the antics of the duck's bobbing up and down for breakfast on the bottom of the lagoon, or see pelicans dive down and grab a snack of fresh fish. Shore birds such as the Great White Egret and the Lesser Egret, as well as Blue Herons wade along the marshy sides spearing anything that comes within reach. Cormorants sit on floating logs washed down by winters rains, spreading their wings to dry them in the air. It is a bird sanctuary, a natural wonder of natures bounty for beach lovers and birders to enjoy.

I got up early as I have many times, only this time I took my sketch book along with my cup of coffee, and began drawing some notans for a painting of the lagoon with the somber morning fog. I decided on a painting, and went back to the campsite to break out my pastels. I began that painting while I had the low natural light and also took a few photos so I could have the right lighting in case the weather changed before I finished. I did end up finishing that painting at home sitting on our deck a week later.

Since my Colin and Maria were with us and it was her first time to California, there was not a lot of time to just sit and ponder the beauty and sketch or paint. We did need to show her the area and some of the beautiful places that are so near. I did take quite a few photos though, and one special evening my son and his wife  and I all sat on the top of the dune, overlooking the lagoon, and watched the sun go down. It was a beautiful evening, with wonderful clouds and lots of color. Unfortunately my camera battery died at the time when the sun was providing such a beautiful palette of color. Fortunately my son reminded me I still had a camera in my I-Phone and I took several pictures of the beautiful twilight sunset that dappled the sand and lagoon in pinks, and shades of purple. The light was mesmerizing and very beautiful. I wanted to paint this wonderful scene. I sent them to my Gmail address so I could look at them on my computer.

With family emergencies requiring several trips south and a full calendar of work for my old employer, it was not possible to paint that scene until this month. I selected a piece of Kitty Wallis Belgian sanded paper that was 12" X 18" and taped it to a board and placed it on my easel. I began the painting with a sketch of the lagoon, and then used Prismacolor pastels to block in the different color masses. Once I had that done, I brushed the colored areas with Turpenoid to provide a good base. I followed up with soft pastels from my palette of Rembrands, Sennelier, Winsor and Newton and Great American Art pastels.  The painting gradually came to life on my easel but the lighting in the room I use as a studio is terrible. When I took the painting outside to get a sense of the balance and color, I was disappointed, and not at all happy with the way it looked.  The colors were just not right at all. The warmth was not there.

Today, there was no rain and it was bright and a cool 51 degrees. Since there was a breeze, I decided to put on a warm coat and I took my table top easel outside and put it on the patio table. It was there on the deck in natural light that I finished the painting. The light on this cloudy day allowed me to get the right hues on the sand and capture the reflections in the water. I hope you enjoy the final product which is called, "Twilight on Pismo Lagoon".

A Gift From Gifted Pastel Artist Deborah Secor

Deborah Secor is an amazing accomplished pastel artist. I believe her greatest attribute however; is her strong faith and commitment to her Lord Jesus Christ, whom she credits unabashedly as her personal savior. Her faith is strong, clear and lived daily, shared by and with her husband. 

Perhaps it is her faith that gives Deborah the ability to see beauty so clearly and capture and transmit the beauty to her Wallis sanded paper for others to enjoy. Her strong sense of well being and completeness also makes her a fine teacher. She seems to enjoy sharing her gifts and insights from years of painting with her students. Her reward comes from seeing students become better artists as they soak in her demonstrated techniques to achieve paintings that catch the eye of the viewer.  We are very fortunate to have some outstanding pastel artists who are also amazing teachers. In my book, she is right there with Richard McKinley, Margot Schulzke and Maggie Price in her ability to clearly state how she accomplishes various techniques she has learned over the years through trial and error.

She has no smugness, or snobbery about her work, she is genuine and wants to share her God given gifts and what she has learned through trial and error. A good case in point is the book she has taken a long time to write, "Landscape Painting in Pastels." She is giving it to any who wants to read it free. She has published it on the web at http://landscapesinpastel.blogspot.com/ where it can be read or downloaded by anyone interested in bettering their knowledge of pastel painting.  So much knowledge that goes beyond just knowing how to use pastels, or what process to use, but a greater understanding of how to use color and how too determine the values of that color. Her book is an invaluable resource for any serious artist. I thank her for her generously sharing her talent and knowledge.

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.