"Rainbows Rising" Captures Power of the River

"Rainbows Rising" (now available) is from my fall hike up Icicle River above Leavenworth, Washington. Our mom used to take us four kids up to this river and Peshastin Creek off Blewett Pass highway, to fish, wade, and pan for gold. Some of the best times of my life were spent along these creeks and rivers. The title comes from Rainbow trout rising to the surface to hit your fly! This summer, my daughter and 2 year old granddaughter visited our favorite fishing hole, a small piece of land/creek frontage that are still in the family. My granddaughter, Brooke, loved it, throwing stones for almost an hour, and wading in the creek - passing the love of the outdoors on to the next generation! This painting is 12x16" unframed pastel on archival UArt and is available at $725.

ICICLE RIVER HIKE

ICICLE RIVER JUST PAST LEAVENWORTH

I feel at home painting these waters... I grew up fishing and panning for gold in this area... wonderful memories... we'd catch good-size rainbow trout... clean them, build a camp fire, cook and eat them as the sun went down and then roast marshmallows... the good old days! I love sitting beside the creek daydreaming about those good 'ol days when life was carefree and simple. I am striving to capture the nuance of sunlight filtering through the trees, outlining rocks and turning the fall leaves into bits of fire! And to capture the motion of tumbling water as it cascades over multi-colored rocks, sculpted by centuries of whitewater ...

 "Icicle Thunder"  Pastel  9x12"   SOLD

 "October Medley"   Pastel  9x12  SOLD

"A Gentle Midday"    Pastel  6x12   NFS

"Silently, Falling"     Pastel    9x12    $350

Jen Evenhus, IAPS-MC, PSA-MP, NPS-DP, PSWC

“The Beauty of Imperfection”

 2017 Pastel Workshops

My 2017 Pastel Workshops are now listed. Check them out by

clicking on 'Evenhus Workshops' above.

"Cerulean On Mars"

 "Cerulean On Mars" 8x8 oil on panel... playing with lost edges and texture. A couple things I see that need adjusting but it's almost there...  love painting used paint tubes. They have such fun character - the shapes and colors are infinite. I've done quite a few in pastels but only a few in oils - this is my newest ... spent a while mixing paint, so didn't start painting until about 11:30pm ...and despite my droopy eyes, I kept at it until 2:30am! I was on a roll and didn't want to quit. I've since made a few minor changes ...

FINAL WORKSHOP OF 2016

TIME TO SIGN UP FOR MY
FINAL WORKSHOP OF 2016
Invest in yourself and your art!

There are just a few spots open in this fun, intense pastel painting workshop.
We'll have new exercises and work on moving from mundane to masterpiece!
Visit their website www.emeraldartcenter.org or call 541-726-8595.

"Your workshop was a huge turning point for me in terms of really understanding mark making. It was an ah-ha moment really and it has stayed - that plus the multiple timed works was excellent. Thank you! And a few weeks later I got into a juried show and won best pastel!
Do hope we meet again and we may if we move to the West Coast!
Many thanks - loved the article on you too!" - Patti B.

EVENHUS ART ON COVER

The July/August 2016 issue of The Pastel Journal features
my daisy painting "Golden Reign" and look inside
for a 10-page article "The Power of the Flower"

I am honored to be the cover artist for the upcoming Pastel Journal magazine.
Be sure to pick up your copy soon and read my article on painting florals.

They did an excellent job weaving my words together with
others that describe my work beautifully!

Sweet Honey Crisp

"Sweet Honey Crisp" is 6x6" - perfect for a kitchen or dining room - or anywhere
in a "Tiny Home" - small but large on impact!  Oil on Panel. 
$150. Click on the button to purchase with credit card.

Evenhus Featured in Blog

I AM THE FEATURED Blogger/Artist on Gail Sibley's great site: "How to Pastel".  Check out the article I wrote about "Leave It and Love It!" I think you'll like the article. Thanks for the invitation Gail. 

INVEST in YOURSELF

PUT YOURSELF FIRST this year! SIGN UP FOR A WORKSHOP
My first of 2016 will be in Portland, Oregon - April 1, 2, 3 at The Roaming Studio, hosted by Leah Kohlenberg. "The Beauty of Imperfection - What If . . ." is the theme and the workshop is sponsored by UArt Pastel Paper - every student receives UArt paper to use.

We begin with learning about underpainting on the UArt and then proceed right into doing thumbnails with ink pens and pastel - focusing on composition and values. We'll use these thumbnail exercises to move into color work and then have fun with some speed painting - a great way to loose up.

Each day we will do exercises, painting, watch demos, have discussions, and paint, paint, paint! You'll be pushed out of your paint box into a new world of exaggeration, bold color tempered by neutral color, experimentation, and visualization.

Learn more by visiting www.uartpastelpaper.com  to see a description, a map of the location of the venue, cost and registration form HERE. Class is filling up so don't delay!

Below are photos from some of my recent workshops . . .

Jen doing a demo

Student work

Student work

Student work

Student work

Student work

IT'S OFFICIAL! I received my letter from IAPS informing me I have achieved MASTER CIRCLE status in IAPS! This painting, Ebey's Wild Lace, is the painting that gave me point #5 in the 27th IAPS Online WebShow. I am looking forward to standing up with other artists at the 2017 IAPS Pastel Convention in 2017 to receive my gold medallion! Thank you IAPS for this wonderful honor!

FINAL GASP OF WINTER

THE CHICKENS are laying again. SPRING is imminent. SAD in a way. I don't usually enjoy winter. It's a nuisance in many ways - boots, heavy coats, gray skies, icy roads, too much comfort food - but the snow pack is essential to Central Washington - AND it provides some of the best painting reference an artist could ask for . . . so because it was 40 something yesterday, I donned a jacket, boots, gloves and headed out for a walk with my trusty cell phone - hoping to capture the last of the snow among the sagebrush. I was soon rewarded. Here is just one shot and a thumbnail of a possible future painting. The thumbnail got a bit too detailed, but I will remedy that in the painting - I'm thinking of adding some quail or maybe even deer tracks - I saw the largest tracks I've ever seen - must have been a huge buck! The fun part of this type of reference is that you can change shapes easily - modify the shape of the snow - the wheatgrass can be modified by adding more color - or less. The distant ridge can be pushed back with a light purple and then punch in a dark sky to indicate an approaching storm . . . artistic license - I've renewed mine for the year, have you? (of course all my photos, thumbnails, and paintings are ©Jen Evenhus)

Winter Viewpoint

 "Lone Pine"  6x8" Pastel

"Sage Ablaze"  6x8" Pastel

Two of my most recent paintings use the same subject matter, from different points of view. "Lone Pine" shows a solitary pine tree that stands guard over our home, the pine tree which I walk by every day, one under which we pay homage to two beloved cats, one which shelters dozens of quail in winter, eating grain my husband tosses out. I gaze out our bedroom window at the constantly changing designs the melting snow and sunlight make. I often pull out my trusty cell phone and take snapshots of the light, hoping to capture a fleeting moment in time as reference to use later in the studio. If you think about it, it's incredible this small hillside offers such a variety of painting reference: winter cold blues and warm oranges, spring greens, summer sage blues, fall Indian yellow. Testimony that beauty is there, you just have to stop and recognize it.

"Midnight Magic" Wins Award

"Midnight Magic," 9x12 pastel, is another in my Sagebrush series - painting the wonderful designs surrounding our mini-ranch. On one of my walks I ran across this clump of grasses, and with the sagebrush in the background, it made a great composition. The smartphone snapshot I used as reference is a mundane, regular daytime shot. Using artistic license I changed the lighting and turned it into a night scene. I love the warm colors peeking through the cold snow, and the deep bluish green sky is the pièce de résistance as they say. Little bits of the underpainting show through as if stars twinkling, and the bright strip of snow pulls your eye upward along the grasses as you feast on the intricate mark-making. "Midnight Magic" received 2nd Place, Signature division, in the 2016 Pastel Society of the West Coast Online Members Exhibit!