Ritual , lost and Found

I woke this morning to read a post from my friend and fellow artist Jeanne Echternach http://jeanneechternachfineart.com/blog/80391/day-1-of-30. Ah it inspired me for my own personal challenge. 

I am a pastellist, sometime blogger, always wife, mother, sister, daughter, grandmother!, gardener, reader, traveler-- you get the idea!! Now I thought I will do a painting a day this month. Great challenge, --but I won't be around my stuff every day this month. I will be thinking about and building my art practice and I thought I can take that challenge and post that.

So yesterday I finished a pastel and spent the day trying to take my best photo of it. Some say photo it in the bright shade- some say NEVER in the bright shade but always in the bright light.

 Some say with white behind it. So if you were walking by my garden yesterday , you might have seen me leaning  a 19 by 29 inch painting up against chairs, hanging it on walls, in the sun and shade and shooting the pastel with several different settings.
Finally I got one I liked.

This piece is about the Colorado Capitol Dome which has just been re gold- leafed. The gold came from the Cripple Creek mine and then was sent to Italy where it was made into gold leaf.  Most of last year or rather the past 2 years the dome has been shrouded in plastic and fabric as the gold was applied. Now it is on view in all of its glory. Rather perfect for  a state which largely came about for the gold found in its hills about 100 years ago.
Check out more of my pastels at cbuschmannart.com
Hopefully my new ritual will be reporting daily on my art practice, ideas, thoughts and adventures!!
Posting Ritual #1