I'd like to be those flowers...
"Open to Everything", pastel, 11x14" "I smell the flowers blooming, opening for spring I’d like to be those flowers, open to everything" from "Bird Song" by the Wailin' Jennys I was surprised to learn that I won an award at the Vermont Pastel Society 's juried show this past week. The Judge was Doug Dawson, an important and revered contemporary pastel artist. I was just happy to get in! This painting, "Open to Everything" won the Pastel Society of Cape Cod Award and I am very honored. Mr. Dawson said that he liked "the simple direct strokes and the way the artist exploited the surface quality of the board." Did he know that this was a disaster painting that I washed off and re-surfaced with clear gesso and repainted ? Sometimes I think these master pastelists are wizards! He was right, I was responding to the rougher quality of the surface and because I had already failed at my first attempt, I al