One cold and windy morning...

Lee's pan pastel painting...a long way to go.

Linda

Linda's lovely first watercolor on Yupo...in progress.

Chris working in pastel...great color choices.

Gerri (off camera) working in colored pencil.

Gerri's colored pencil painting in progress...how cute is this?.

Betty's vibrant pastel... in progress.

Gerri

Donna's stunning colored pencil painting...looks finished to me!

Gerri, Chris, and Linda...very focused.

Helga's beautiful and detailed graphite drawing...early in the process.

Lee working with pan pastels.

A few brave souls ventured out yesterday morning, determined not to let the weather interfere with painting.  Although not in the photos, but definitely present, were Betty and Pat.  We got a lot accomplished in the time allotted and look forward to getting together next month to see where our imaginations and creativity might take us.

Realistic Abstract...an oxymoron?

by Donna

Our Inspiration

The whole gang (almost)

Helga

Creating art and ideas.

Gerri's beginning

Donna's beginning...

Lee's beginning...

Uh-oh!  Karen, Mary Ann, and Nancy!

Betty's beginning...

Pat's beginning...

Gerri, Chris, Linda, Karen, Pat, and Mary Ann

Judy's beginning...

by Pat

by Gerri

Paula, Pat, Linda, Chris (all from behind)

Lee putting on finishing touches???

WELCOME to all of today's first timers.  How much fun was this?!  The project today was to create paintings inspired by the book Realistic Abstracts...and others pictured above.  There was a lot of energy in the room and everyone seemed to be in the groove.  It's really exciting to see what everyone comes up with.  Thanks to all of you for being here today!

A very special thank you to Betty for providing our inspiration and for her most interesting and thorough lesson!

One of the things I love about this group is that we learn from one another.  Each of us comes to the group with his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and by working together, we are able to perhaps see different, creative ways of approaching a subject, or a new way to use a medium.  We are all students and teachers...at the same time.

Pastels prevail...and, colored pencils, watercolors, and acrylics too!

Betty's fabulous pastel experiment!

Pat and Gerri.

Lee, Donna, and Chris.

Chris's beginning.

Donna's landscape.

Lee's in early stage.

Pan Pastels are FUN!

Lee trying...trying...trying.

Pat busy studying.

Pat's lovely still life.

Betty working.

What a fun day!  Betty, inspired by painter Ken Elliott, created a beautiful rendering based on one of his paintings.  Some are in the very early stages, and others are more complete, but everyone was success in their attempts today.