A very special "commission" for a very special painting buddy. This is from a photo taken at Hilton Head Island last November. We spend a wonderful week there celebrating our anniversary and my birthday. Knowing how much Kay loves the beach, when she asked all the girls in our open studio to do a painting for her kitchen, I immediately chose a beach scene.

"Kay's Beach" acrylic on stretched canvas 5x7 inches

After tweaking "Poppy Field" I submitted it to a juried show. It was one of 65 pieces chosen by juror Bruce Bobick from 176 entries. It is currently hanging in the Atlanta Artists Center Gallery. Has this changed my attitude toward pastels? That remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

began a long time ago - first the hate as a framer, then the love as a collector. So imagine my shock when I found myself enrolled in a pastel class and buying pastels and sanded papers! All because of an artist, Karen Margulis, who has the most wonderful blog that I had been following. Check her out at kemstudios.blogspot.com

This painting is the result of just two pastel classes. The first one was a marsh scene which willl not be seen in this blog! This painting, also the first poppy I've ever painted, was done over a watercolor underpainting on Uart 600 paper. 

Am I hooked? Well, I can list many reasons not to be: I don't need another medium to spend a ton of money on; I don't like framing pastels; I don't like getting my hands dirty and I can't do it around my husband for health reasons. BUT . . . I feel something pulling me. MAYBE . . . I'll be a closet pastelist!

This is a test blog from my ipad. I'm anxious to begin sharing the "Art of a Twinkle".