August is such a slow month sometimes and it is soooo hot! I taught a plein air class in the evening for 4 mondays . During the first two we did drawings followed by  pastel and the last evening we did oil. Since my students were more interested in watching me, I spent the last class doing a demo. I was trying to show them  how one goes about starting and developing a painting outside. it is A bit different  from working in the studio. I usually work on carton which is a kind of cardboard and use fastmatte paints . These set up fast so you can continue with regular oils after and get the piece more finished.

I  really liked the way the sky turned out but wasn't too happy with the water . I will be going back to the scene to finish up. I copied it on wood however and preferred this format better since my area of interest was the sky which was magnificent and it usually is here at Lake Higgins

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This is not yet finished and it is a lot crisper in reality so I will have to take a better picture. before I post it as finished.

I have also been creating some small pastels One of which was accepted into Pure Color an international online show. I must say I was pleased to be accepted since it was out of such a large pool of entrants. Here is my painting:

I had fun doing this one. This is the first time I did a pomegranate in pastel. Usually I use oils so it was a nice change of medium. 

Our open House is coming up In September but more about that in my next blog.