Pastel 134 - Across the Barbed Wire

Many hikes we take in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC present tantalizing views on the other side of barbed wire.  The feeling that something is just out of reach adds longing and magic.  Grass is greener.  More Great Spangled Fritillaries.

Pastel 133 - Mt Desert Island, Acadia, Maine

This was quite intentional, though placement of things was left to my hand to figure out on it's own (I watched and stayed out of the way).  What I recall most, from wading in the low tide off Acadia National Park, is the water breaking low between the rocks, the green bladdered sea weeds, the dungeness crabs, the distant sky, and the white dog winkles lying between so many beautifully polished stones.  While nothing in this pastel is from photos or exactly correct for colors or shapes, it captures my feeling and memory of the place.

And there is an echo of Gauguin in that breaker in the center, but I find that my memory of his wave is not actually in any of his paintings that I can find online.  Something else transformed by it's trip through my heart.

Pastel 132 - Jellybean the Tiger

My dearest told me about Jellybean, the white tiger, passing away recently.  The story of how he got his name and the sweet pictures of this large animal stuck with me, I guess.  I had drawn much of this piece, and had selected this color scheme for the cat before I realized it was my feelings about Jellybean (named for the tiny pink pads on his paws when he was small).

Read about Jellybean.

Pastel 129 - Autumn in the Mountains

This is what a late afternoon wander in the Blue Ridge mountains in autumn feels like to me.

Pastel 128 - "MY Sheep"

It's been over a month since I posted - a measure of how crazy our lives have been in October.  The first two weeks, however, were a vacation in the mountain, unplugged from electronic distractions.  We soak up autumn in multiple hikes/walks per day, and I try to kick my art to a new spot.  I got somewhere different this year, so that I can suddenly use the spontaneity of the Pastels for subjects I intend to paint.  I can now chose accident or intent.

This first one from the vacation was actually penned prior to the trip - the corgi simply showed up (his face was there exactly as shown here) and the rest was vaguely hinted.  I love black faced sheep, which I have only seen once or twice in real life, but fairly often in my drawings.  Of course, for me, they end up blue faced sheep...