Get something going!

I am trying to get organized a very special workshop involving 4 instructors.  It will take place at our home in Angels Camp, CA and the instructors will be Ray Roberts, Al Tofanelli, Carole Grey-Weihman and myself.  End of this July!!  Right around the corner.  For more information go to the Plein Aire Liason website.  I wish I knew how to post the link so you could just "click" on it.  Oh well.  

This workshop should be incredible.  Together we will cover all the fundamentals focusing on teaching our individual strengths.  You will have so much to choose from as subject matter.  My yard will be beautiful with the flowers and manicured lawn.  Trees and views looking out to our pastures available all day.  Plenty of shade to stand under.  We'll have chickens roaming! We will have costumed models and lovely still life set ups.  The whole workshop will be set off with a Sunday evening meet and greet with beverages and snacks and a slide show/lecture with all 4 teachers.  I really hope to make this a once a year event creating a community of painting and sharing.  

Late afternoon model backlit with glowing light.

Costumed models with props and settings.

The arbor in our front yard with a view of the front pasture and rolling hills, mature trees, glowing light.

Settings to inspire.

We have lots of nice views on 20 acres to scout.

Lots of colorful still life set ups with flowers and dishes and linens to work from. 

Meet the team. From left Al Tofanelli,  Ray Roberts, Carole Gray-Weihman and me behind Carole.

One view with the lawn coming in.

There will be flowers blooming.  If you'd like to know more contact Carole Gray-Weihman at Plein Air Liaison.  Feel free to email me also.  peggi@krollroberts.com

There will many opportunities for wonderful picture making during the four days with us. 

On a roll, making a living.

Am still spending time going back and forth from our home and the hotel in Pacific Grove.  Am taking my oils this time.  Maybe to try some paintings of the darling houses and gardens that make up this beautiful community.  The downtown is charming.  Monterey is a hop skip.  In the meantime I have a blast doing my drawings.  It keeps me going, keeps me stimulated.  And my mother once said to me, 

"Peggi, there are more people with $20 than there are with $200. Follow your heart." And with the market being flooded with "mechanical ink on paper" I hope to fill a niche with affordable ORIGINAL art.  This is my hand mixing the paint and applying it in a way that feeds my soul.    

"Dance Moment"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

"In the Zone"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

"Dream Team"

Gouache

5 1/2" x 8"

$23

SOLD

"Chiffon Dream"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2

$23

SOLD

Out of Town

We've had to spend some time from home and it can be overwhelming for me to think about taking all my gear.  Also knowing that I need to stay in the hotel room for periods of time can be stifling.  I have my Mijello Palette, which is fantastic for gouache and acrylic and a few sables.  And then with a few good pads of papers I can get to work at my make shift studio table and what a wonder it is for my mood.  I am addicted to being creative!!  Seriously.  I am compelled to get something on paper, canvas or create in clay!  Otherwise I am doubling up on my Prozac.  Bummer.  Here are some new drawings.  These and a couple of walks a day are my feel good "everything's going to be alright" remedy.

"Two Blues"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

"Look at me"

Gouache

8" x 51/2"

$23

SOLD

"Smooth Moves"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

"Summer Stripes"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

"Blue Dream"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

"Two Minis"

Gouache

8" x 5 1/2"

$23

SOLD

Note Cards.

I produced a set of note cards.  I love to send a handwritten message.  It's so important in this day and age of instant messaging, emailing, all the electronic stuff that gets lost or tossed.  It feels good to find something in the mailbox that is not a bill!  And it doesn't at all have to be a long wordsy letter.  I had a friend scold me onetime for not keeping in better touch than I had been.  She said, "it would mean so much to me if you just dropped a note telling me you are thinking of me along with the date."  

That really stuck with me.  

This is a full size image of one of the cards.  I used 8 different images and the box of note cards contains one of each along with 8 envelopes.  I am selling them on our website.

www.krollroberts.com

$20 per box

These are the images of the cards. Thanks so much for looking! 

                                                                               

After teaching.

I teach a lot.  I love to teach.  I consider myself an educator.  However, there's an old saying, "those who can, do. . . those who can't, teach."  Ridiculous.  One thing though, I feel I can "lose" my personal voice after teaching a few workshops in a row.  It doesn't take much.  It's that "voice" that lives in the "intuitive" part of the brain.  When one paints and paints and paints and paints, (earnestly) ones personality can't help but emerge. This is the place I need to get back to and there's nothing else to do but paint and put in the mileage!  It's really like riding a bike.  That point I want to reach of feeling like I can ride without holding onto the handle bars and weave back and forth, speed up, slow down.  So I came home and dove in.  These are 3 of 12

12" x 16" panels I painted to just try and find my voice again.     

"Center of Attention"

12" x 16"

Oil on Panel

"Range Free"

12" x 16"

Oil on Panel

"Wooden Pitcher"

12" x 16"

Oil on Panel

Planning a Workshop!

Blogging is a commitment if you want to generate a following.  I know I have certain blogs I follow because I love their content but also because I can count on an interesting post almost everyday.  Keeps me coming back.  Let me post a bit about our home and a few plans.  I want to host a workshop at our home in July.  We have it posted on our website with all the contact info.  It's going to be longer and covering  more information with still life, figure and landscape!  I usually only hold 2 or 3 weekend workshops during the winter.

This is a view of our home from the south part of our pasture.  I love to take the dogs for walks and there are lots of good smells for them!   We have 20 acres to roam and find some wonderful views for painting.  Hey, look at the wildlife!  Just want to give you an idea of some of the landscape.

We live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains just outside a small town called Angels Camp.  We came back to California 15 years ago and love it.  We are only about 2 1/2 hours from San Francisco, Los Gatos and the Sonoma area.  All easy days trips and gorgeous.  We are about 2 hours from the Sacramento Airport.  Now imagine a figure sitting at a table or the arbor in full bloom.

There will be so much to paint!

The flowering plum trees in our front yard are just bursting with pink blossoms.  They are buzzing with bees.  I worry about the state of the bee population.  They seem abundant and happy with the flowering fruit trees we have.  I plant a few trees every year.  

Another view of some or our oaks.  The seasonal creek meanders along.  You'll be able to paint landscape or a beautiful still life set up near our studio.

Yes!  We have six hens.  You can paint them if you want to.  I need to post a pic of them.  Will take a nice one on a sunnier day.  The gray days has its' beautiful qualities also.  We get six of these gorgeous eggs a day.  It's not a formal business but I give eggs to friends and when I pack them I put them in a paper bag with a drawing of a hen setting on a large egg.  They are called "Peg's Eggs" from Good Life Farm.

I am really excited to be planting the acorns from some of our oaks and starting these seedlings to nurture and plant in the front pasture when they get a little bigger.  I've got some small trees that are doing great and over a foot tall!

So this gives you a little idea of our surroundings.  Hope you think about joining us.

: - )

Mixing it up with subject!

I am mixing up the subject matter a bit with some interiors.  When I take walks I usually have my camera with me.  I LOVE to peek into interior design shops.  To look at my home you wouldn't think I had any interest but I do try (one needs a chair for every pet)  and I love a well appointed home and furnishings.  I just appreciate the effort it takes to create a lovely dwelling.  A great blog I found that I love to follow is SAVVY HOME.  It has amazing content.                                                                         So I found a shop in Easton, Maryland and loved the window settings.  These are a few drawings from my photos.  And hope you don't mind. I'm adding $3 to cover postage and handling.  It's still a great deal for ORIGINAL art.  Thanks so much for looking!

Peggi

"Interior with Green Table"

Gouache

6" x 8"

$23

SOLD

"So Chic"

Gouache

8" x 5"

$23

SOLD

"Interior with Pillow and Fish"

Gouache

6" x 8"

$23

SOLD

"Interior with Red Dot Pillow"

Gouache

6" x 8"

$23

SOLD

"A Night Out"

Gouache

8" x 6"

$23

SOLD

"Shifting Blue"

Gouache

8" x 6"

$23

SOLD

"Strong Attitude"

Gouache

8" x 6"

$23

SOLD