Red, White & Blue

The crimson clover was fabulous this year and just begged to be painted. You'll find these two paintings at Aurora Gallery in Vancouver, Washington.


Crimson Morning I, 12"x9", pastel


Crimson Morning II, pastel, 12"x9"

California Poppies at the Vineyards

Poppies & Vines, pastel, 9"x12"






I'm 'way overdue to post something so here it is. My painting buddy, Brenda Boylan, and I've been out painting several times in the past two weeks and here's a pastel painting I did at the base of the road up to Tualatin Estate Vineyards. We found a cool spot in the shade to work at the side of the road...a perfect location for a warm spring day of painting.

New Skies Over Beaverton

Beaverton Evening Sky I, pastel, 6"x9"


Beaverton Evening Sky II, pastel, 6"x9"

After being down and out with a mean winter cold for about a week, I finally put pastel to paper last night and did a couple of fun sky pieces. I don't usually work from photos because I love plein air painting so well but just had to try my hand at these. Again I used only my handmade pastels so my color options are limited but I think the colors hold their own. I'll add these to my stash of unframed work in the bin at next month's Beaverton Visual Arts Showcase.

Artists' Party & Painting Exchange

South Sister From Hosmer Lake, pastel, 6"x8"





This is the painting I made for our Paint-Out Group's winter party and small painting exchange. Although this was not a plein air piece, it was painted from a photo my husband took at one of our favorite places to canoe camp. And just for fun, I used only the handmade pastels in my kit. (Several of those gorgeous colors were made by my painting buddy Brenda Boylan.)

This was the group's first real party and it was a lot of fun to see all the paintings as they were opened and shown to the partygoers. Everyone did a stellar job and brought a beautiful piece to give away. I am proud to be associated with such a fine group of artists.

Tagged - I'm it!

I've been tagged by TWO of my plein air painting pals. Thanks you two!

Here are the rules for being tagged:

A. In your own blog, place a link to your tagger's weblog. Check out the blogs of my taggers Celeste Bergin and Brenda Boylan.
B. Mention the rules
C. List 6 or 7 unusual things about yourself, or quirky but boring, unspectacular details about yourself
D. Tag 6 or 7 other bloggers at the end of your post and make a comment on their blogs to let them know that they too have been tagged. This is a great way to let others know about you and your work through blogging.

I don't know if these are considered unusual but here are a few things about me...

I've always thought of myself as an artist, even when very young, although I didn't always have the nerve to mention it.

While in high school, I received my first commission. It was a portrait for a family friend. I cringe now to think back on how bad it must have been because I was working from a photograph with a heavy shadow over much of the face. I thought shadows had to be a grey made from black and white. Yikes.

For a couple of years I thought I wanted to be an interpreter and work at the United Nations. But that idea went away when I learned I could become a graphic designer.

During college I spent one summer as a forest fire look-out on Grass Mountain in Washington, in the Cascade mountain range. What a view I had of Mount Rainier!

My future husband-to-be and I met while scuba diving out of Port Angeles, Washington. Well, we actually met on the dive boat, not while under water.

After driving my beloved 1968 Mustang for 22 years, I sold it and moved up to the world of the 90's to a car that had seat belts with shoulder straps, TWO outside mirrors, rear window defroster, and air conditioning!

I am proud of my Swedish heritage and have embraced it in many ways such as participating in a Scandinavian performing dance group for 18 years, painting in the traditional Swedish dalamålning or kurbits style, and traveling to Scandinavia.

To begin, I am tagging the following with more names to come:


Craig Stephens

Karen Phipps

Recent Works at Aurora Gallery

Fellow pastellist Barb Szkutnik and I have a show of pastel art at Aurora Gallery at 1004 Main Street in Vancouver, Washington. It'll be up until November 29th and we invite you to stop by to see it while you can. Included in the show are a couple of new waterfall pieces painted this summer en plein air, or on location.

Thanks to our collectors, friends and other artist buddies who turned out for the First Friday Artists' Reception. It was great to see all of you.

'Best Use of Color' Award

I missed the Artist Reception of the Paint-Out Group's October show "In Living Color" at the ArtReach Gallery as I was at Camille Przewodek's workshop. However I received a message that my painting "Frankly Scarlet" won the award for Best Use of Color. That made up for missing the party with my painting buddies!