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.