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!