Sunday, July 31, 2011

Pastel Landscape Variation Demo


We just completed this video. With the help of our son Kevin and a little trial and error! Hope you like it and share it with friends!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Alternative Shipping Method for Pastels

It's quite a task to ship any framed pastel. I usually ship them with glass unless the show has specified plexi-glass. Thanks to an artist we met in Winter Park, Florida, I've found an less expensive alternative to the Airfloat boxes. This is especially good for larger pieces. Those Airfloat boxes are great, but when you get up there even a little bit in size they are pretty pricey.

So here's what I've done; First purchase a box that is approximately 4 inches all around larger than your framed piece and about six inches in width or whatever width will accommodate your piece and two, two inch pieces of the foamular. You want it to be snug in the box. Wrap the framed piece in the thinner bubble. Bunch up some bubble on each corner to give extra protection to the corners.


Go to home depot and purchase Foamular insulation material. It comes in 4'x8' sheets. Have them cut it so you can get it in your vehicle. When you have it home, you can easily cut it with a utility knife to the size you need to fit your box. You want to have two pieces that fill the box and you can slide your pastel in between. The beauty of this material is that it's rigid, will make the pastel snug in the box, protect it, yet not be a mess on the other end. When you ship a piece to a show, like a PSA show, the shipping agent does NOT want to deal with nurdles or anything messy that is hard to repack.


Make sure you put your name and the name of the show on the box for the shipping agent. Not necessary if it's going to a buyer or gallery, but if you want the box and materials back, always a good idea anyway.


I've had good sucess with this method and plan on using it for the larger pieces I have to ship. You can usually find a box company locally that has some standard art boxes that have thicker cardboard. I also try to save boxes from ready made frames or anything that comes that seems like it could work for me. This of course takes up space! Yikes! Good luck with shows and shipping. Feel free to email me for more info!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Workshops, Figures, Summer

 I find summer an especially hard time to settle into a routine, (fewer blog posts...sorry). My schedule is so crazy, I'm yearning for summer weather, my boys are about and still need a bit of attention and I'm more restless. Finding studio time is all the more challenging.

I just returned from teaching a two session workshop in Ann Arbor, MI to a wonderful, engaged group. We painting outside for two days and then spent three days in the studio. Students could take either or both sessions. Here are some pics. It was beautiful there, but pretty hot! I had a day off in between sessions, so I even had a day of painting for myself. Sweet!!
Plein air at Parkers Mill Park. HOT!!

 3-day Studio Session



I've been anxious to get back to work in the studio. I continue to be engaged by the figure and so I'm working on several figurative pieces.  Yesterday, I got a boost as I heard from the Pastel Society of America that my piece "Closing" was accepted into their annual show. I'm so pleased that this new direction is already being well received! Only 180 pieces where chosen from over 1000 entries. I can't wait to send it to NY!!

"Closing" 9x12




This piece has a watercolor under-painting with pastel on top. Let me know what you think! It's very exciting to move in yet another direction for a bit.