From Land to Bay

Butterflies at the Biltmore 9x12 Pastel

I had something entirely different planned for the painting above, but in the end, a butterfly garden called out to me. This is one of the many gardens found around the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC.  Love it there! Ashville, I mean.  The views are simply spectacular!


Since I'm behind a day or two posting, I decided to post another painting that I completed about a month ago- a little before I had the blog up and running.

Just Waiting 9x12 Pastel SOLD

This is from a photo I took at Terrapin Park - minus the blue heron.  I first did the painting on Strathmore pastel paper and really hated it! I really struggled to get the pastel to adhere to the paper.  So I found out that Strathmore is not my favorite of choices for pastel paper, but they had really intriging colors that I wanted to try -- live and learn.  I decided to give it another go, but felt it really needed something more. Voila! A blue heron.  I found the heron picture on the Wet Canvas website and  placed him dead center.  After all, they are such a majestic bird and they deserve to be front and center.  They are very common here on the Shore. I've even had them wading in the stream of my backyard.

I still have an itch to paint some more so I think I will get back to it and hopefully post a third painting before the nights end.