Just back from a week's vacation in Colorado -- which promises to provide fodder for more upcoming blog posts -- and was so inspired by the landscape east of the Rockies that I couldn't wait to get back into the studio and try my hand at a landscape in pastel. Actually, that's not entirely true. Part of me couldn't wait, but another part of me was really quite afraid to take this on. Luckily, the muse is pushy and will not shut up, so today I gave it a try.I'm working at staying looser in my style and not worrying so much about each specific rock and tree. Many years ago, at the Georgia O'Keefe museum in Santa Fe, I saw an exhibit of her landscape paintings of the area displayed next to photos of the actual landscape. It was eye opening and inspiring to see how she both captured and transformed the landscape in her paintings. I've never forgotten it.
While working on this piece today of Garden of the Gods, I just kept asking myself, what would Georgia do?
