Thursday & Friday - Pastel Workshop

Tejas Art Festival Workshop - “Pastel in Miniature”
Rita Kirkman - Instructor
March 1 & 2,   Thurs. & Fri. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
First Baptist Church Family Life Center, Rockdale, TX

This is going to be an exciting 2 days participating in Rita's workshop. I went to last year's 1 day workshop in  Rockdale and it was excellent. Rita is a very good teacher and great in  helping you develop your skill level and personal style.  The Rockdale Chamber is an excellent host of this event and it  is really fun.

Prickly Pears at Midnight

Prickly Pears at  Midnight  is done on Arches  cold press paper.  The "starry  night"  sky is  achieved dropping salt on very wet watercolor.

Prickly Pear in Bloom

Prickly Pear in Bloom done on Arches cold  press paper

SOLD - Phlox, Bluebonnets, Prickly Pear Cactus

SOLD  - Phlox, bluebonnets & prickly pear cactus  - typical Texas wildflower companions. This watercolor was done on  Arches cold pressed paper - lots of texture that compliments the texture and variety in the  flowers.  Hope we have a spring full of wildflowers!

Sailing at Dusk

SOLD - Sailing  at Dusk is done in watercolor with highlights and details done in water color pencil. Again an interesting texture in the water  has been done with salt over very wet paint which removes points of color as it dries and provides highlights. I am  not especially pleased with the final product (remember I said  I would post the good, the bad and the ugly!) but I learned  a lot with this effort done at an art class with Deb at the  Cordovan Art  School.

Seashore Creatures

Starfish and sand dollar done in watercolor  with  watercolor pencil  highlights. The background is a wash that has been salt sprinkled  giving it  an interesting texture. These were painted in February  2012.

Texas Wildflowers

Texas  sunflowers captured  in  watercolor on cold press paper  -  February  2012.

Texas Poppy  - close up  Georgia  O'Keeffe  style  - done in watercolor on  cold press paper - February  2012.

Wild Animal Studies

This watercolor is on Arches  cold press paper. This was  done  in  a watercolor  class at the Cordovan Art School at Jerry's Artarama  in  Austin, Texas in January  2012.

This painting is a water color base and  basic  painting  with highlights done in pastels. This also was done in a Cordovan  Art School class in  Austin, Texas  in February  2012  on arches cold press paper.

William's First Fish

This is my younger son, William, with the first fish he ever caught  -  a shiny, silver Spanish mackerel, in Port Aransas, Texas  in  1993.  The photograph was taken by me & entered  into the  Elgin  Western  Days  photo contest  where it took grand prize. I painted this watercolor as a birthday gift for my husband in  June 1995 on cold press rough textured paper.

Flower Studies

This study of Monet's lily pads in a pond was done on  postcard size watercolor paper from a note card with a Monet painting.

This  postcard watercolor paper captures a lovely little pot of summer geraniums that were on my front porch.

Cactus & Wildflowers

Watercolor  study  of  cactus &  wildflowers in a field.  Cold press rough texture paper.  This  cactus had a really appealing heart-shaped  pad.

Pick of the Crop

Water color study from a  magazine picture.  Rough cold press paper.

Peach Amaryllis

Watercolor of a lovely peach amaryllis still life.  Cold press rough texture paper. This painting was  done in a watercolor class at  Laguna  Gloria in Austin, Texas.

Studies of Bottles

Watercolor study -  this was  done looking  at the  bottle still life  and  not  at the  paper -getting the "feel" of the  shapes and  using a  jittery brush stroke to  capture  the shapes.
Laguna Gloria Watercolor Class

Watercolor study -  this was done in lights and darks,  capturing the  sizes,  shapes,  lightness and  darkness.
Laguna Gloria  Watercolor Class