Alpine Artist Open Studio Tour

 Its been awhile since I have posted.  Fall is here and there is so much to do to get ready for winter!  We raise black angus cattle, so there is that, and cutting fire wood, and yes, the Markleeville  (Alpine County) Artists Open Studio Tour.  I became a part of this this year, and it was held Oct 3 and 4th.  Advertisment  was handled by the founders of the organization. They printed brocheres, post cards ,maps and had it all ready early so there was enough time to get it out.  I used the old garage on the Home ranch, as this is where I did most of my work,  I love using an easal, standing so I can walk back and forth to see my work.  Also, I spent a lot of time here with the senior member of the family as he lived his last years, Me with him , so he could remain in his own home.  He passed this spring at age 95.  He was very encouraging of my efforts, and even drew with me one day as we sat in the sun outside the garage door.  So This is where I exibited what I had done so far.  Some were watercolors, which I began doing in 01, then went to pastel as its something you can walk away from and back to, and its the same!  This is door, with a friend peeking out!

This is the first group that arrived on Saturday.  We had people all day.  They were interested, nice, and really asked questions about how each painting was done.  Fun for me!  I had cards made of the paintings, and I did sell a lot of cards.This is my sister helping the set up. We also had a huge pot of coffee, and cookies she , her granddaughter and I made. I did sell 4 paintings as well as the cards.  Good for a beginner!And Here is my sister, helping some folks as questions were always asked.  It was fun to do all this.And this is my most recent Pastel, on Black paper, mulit-media board,  Great fun, But I was worried about the black paper fading with time and light, so I mixed Mars Black arcylic paint with Golden fine pumice and rolled that on with a foam roller. It made it nice and black, with tooth. The reference photo was a black and white taken in '84 of a cat who would come to visit.  I Knick-named her "Leo"--and she was enjoying the last sun-light of the day. Black is very fun to work on, the colors just are brilliant. I used a lot of greys in this,(nuetrals)-- and no white at all.

We finished the workshop in Hope Valley

 The Week went fast, we had a great day in Faith Valley learning to do notans from nature, always working on design. It was a beautiful spot. Every one of the ladies did well. (yes, there were no men! Whats with that?)   The last day, the weather was warm and beautiful.  Aspens were beginning to go yellow, and the day was a nice one.  Lorenzo ended the day with this really nice demo.   It was like magic watching him make sence out of the brush in front of him.   A great week .

One day in the Yellow sage--Chimesa.

 It was a cold start to a wonderful week of art with a very giving teacher.  Lorenzo Chavez really tries to give you ALL the information he can, spends time at your easal, and tries hard to get across to you what he thinks is important about plein-air painting. You can ask him anything, he is very knowledgable.  When explaining shadows, he was able to actually show us with actual sunlite and shadow the color shadow is as it falls on the land. It was amazing. We had driven down to where I live, lower in elevation, as it was a bit warmer that day.  We spent the day much warmer trying to design paintings that began with large shapes, interesting lines leading you around the design, and contrast.

A little about the Chavez workshop in Hope Valley

 Lorenzo chavez gave an excellant workshop in Hope Valley Californa Oct 5 thru the 9th.  I was lucky enough to go. I believe the Sierra Pastel society was behind this, it was beautifully arranged.  The fall color hadn't quite made an appearance, and the weather did get a bit cold.  It snowed the weekend before. I live 20 min. from the workshop site area.  To start the workshop, Lorenzo had copies for everyone of a booklet he put together about the contruction of art, in plein-air. He gave a great lecture, with slides to point out what he ment--wonderful art by other artists as well---all about design. Maynard Dixon was refered to many times with his strong design in evidence. It was so cold outside that day, we did not mind the art talk and slide show. He explained the use of notans, and using the element of art for strong design.  In the late afternoon, we went outdoors to watch a demo.
This was the start of the demo, it finnished quite nicely, but I don't have that shot.