Last Decade a la Maggie Stiefvater

Looking over my blog reader today (I use NetNewsWire) I found Maggie Stiefvater's Decade.  Wow, she is amazing and awesome.  (Awesome is a word that Gene really doesn't want to hear.  It is so overused and the meaning has deteriorated.  He said I can use it in the original way for Maggie.)

http://maggiestiefvater.com/a-bullet-point-decade/

She has accomplished so much.

I first started noticing Maggie on wetcanvas and did my first blog about her in 2007.  She was an inspiration then .....and still is.  She started her art blog in 2006.

You can see my blog posts here.
https://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/search?q=maggie+stiefvater

Maggie is mainly an author now.  She is an incredible artist and her art blog, which she doesn't update now is full of super info on drawing, painting, business end, time management and so much more.  You should check it out, here:
http://greywarenart.blogspot.com/

I wonder about my decade, hmmm.

2010 was one of my most productive years with 43 paintings posted on my website.

All Washed Up

Pastel on Pastelbord, 7 x 5 inches

This is one of my all time favorite paintings and from 2010.  You know it would be apples, right?

Maybe I'll highlight more of my decade a bit later....

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie

Last Saturday was a great day. Joanna and I met up in Austin to go to the Texas Book Festival. We went to "A Conversation With Maggie Stiefvater and Maureen Johnson," authors. Their writing is classified as young adult, but this old gal has enjoyed reading Maggie's books.

Joanna and I enjoyed the conversation and then went to their book signing. Joanna took a photo of Maggie and me.

I was excited to finally meet Maggie. I first met Maggie on-line, probably on wetcanvas.com. She was painting with pastels, mostly horses. I began following her blog. This was several years ago.

We bought books of course.   I bought "The Raven Boys" for a Christmas present (can't say for who) and she drew a little raven in it as a tribute of me knowing her when she was a painter. Cool!  I also bought Maureen's book, "The Name of the Star, Shades of London", which has the ghost of Jack the Ripper show up. Sounds good to me. It is for my Christmas stocking, if I can wait.  Maggie's books are fantasy which is not my favorite genre.  However, her writing is excellent and keeps you turning the pages. Gene and I listened to "Shiver" a while back on one of our trips and he enjoyed it, too.  (I won that audio book on her blog, she often has give away items!)

Maggie inspired and encouraged many artists on her journey in painting. Her dedication and ability to organize and focus is amazing. Her art blog is filled with "how tos" and instruction. She wrote about how she manages her time. She has two children and back then they were toddlers and her husband was a policeman. Not easy to fit in a full time art career. Maggie wrote excellent posts, kicking our butts for being procrastinators.

I urge you to visit Maggie's old art blog,  and discover this super artist.  Plan to spend some time and search the archives for time management, butt kicking, and inspiration.  She researched so much and explained the process she used with samples.  You will learn a lot.

Greywaren Art, Maggie Stiefvater Author and Artist

If instead, you are an aspirining writer, she now has a couple of blogs to help you out in that field. Her books have been on the best seller list for a few years. That doesn't stop her from sharing her creative expertise and encouraging all of us. Links to her blog for writing and more there.

Maggie Stiefvater

I didn't mention that she is a car nut and very funny. She plays the bag pipes and harp, composes music and more. She is only about 30. You can easily find your smile for the day visiting with Maggie. Oh, and learn a lot!!

Thanks, Maggie, for continuing to inspire! And thanks, Joanna, for sharing the day.

Still Blocked! Flower Photos.

I'm still not painting.  Who knows why?  So I have been surfing and working on paper work.  We walked nine holes of golf.  I took some flower photos, hoping, just hoping for a cure.  Sigh.

In my previous post I mentioned a butt kicking needed by Maggie.  I decided today to read blogs on my reader, which I haven't been doing, and as I scrolled down, guess what?   I ran into Maggie Stiefvater's old blog again with a nice post about being "blocked".  She quit posting about art, so I don't imagine you have seen this in a while.   So go check it out.  (You will find more links to her blogs in my previous post.)

And, is this drooling over other artists' fine art helping?  Not so much. 

It will come back.  At least I'm pretty sure it will.

I did sketch day before yesterday.  Out on the porch again in the brown paper, Ultrecht, sketchbook with the Faber-Castell pen.  I did not break my ankle ... argh.  I just started out sketching one shoe and realized the list said "shoes" so crossed my feet and added the other.  Not the best idea when sketching in ink.  But hey, I did some sketching.

 

 

 

Number 4, drink - my coffee in a Texas cup because there was a baseball game.  Number 5, good eats - my rice cake with peanut butter and cream cheese with Number 6, fruit - raisins on top. 

Number 7, good find - not sure what that meant, but I found these on the rail of the porch:  a pottery candle holder, an old lamp, 2 copper cans and 2 rocks.  Different, anyway.

Number 8, shoes - my shoes I had on.

These little white flowers were at the golf course. They are about 6 inches high and 2 inches in diameter??  It is so dry still, but we had a little over an inch of rain the other day and these popped up.  I think they are rain lilies.  So beautiful, but not enough rain to produce many leaves.  Wow.

The lilies and a bird, but don't know what.  Not big enough for a crow.

Close up of the rain lilies.

Get Started Painting

I found an interesting article by Eric Rhoads  in Outdoor Painter about jumping into painting with oil paints.  Good info.

What medium do you like best and why?  I prefer pastels because it is painting and drawing all at once.  No clean up or waiting to dry.

I do like to smoosh around paint with a brush though.  Oil painting is fun, just takes a while to dry and the linseed oil gives me a headache.  The oils that clean with water smell, too, but not as much.  Maybe I will get out the oils tomorrow!  I have been using Winsor-Newton Artisan paints.  They are not too offensive, but I put the painting outside on the porch to dry.   I was reading that they make some brushes that they recommend for the paints.  Sounds interesting.

I sure hope that this gets me out of this funk.  I haven't painted in ages!

Where is Maggie Stiefvater to give a good butt kicking (link to her old blog about art) when you need it?    Ah, she is off writing books and being famous. (link to her writing blog)  Check her old blog to find several .. or more .. posts about how to apply yourself, stop procrastinating, etc.  Maggie is an inspiration for all of us.  She is amazing.  Oh, I've told you that many times before.  It is true!!!

Along the Rio Grande, Oil on Canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Maggie Stiefvater Amazes Me Again

I was going to leave my computer and go upstairs to bed when I came across Maggie Stiefvater's post, Maggie and the Astronauts.  Go read her post and watch the video of her speech.  You will be amazed, too.  She is an inspiration.

Maggie is an artist, writer (she would probably put writer before artist), musician, composer, wife and mother and so much more -- and she is only 28 years old.  Check her out.

Now I can go to bed.  I had my smile for the night.   Good night!

A Friendly Butt-Kicking a la Maggie

Maggie Stiefvater is an amazing artist and author, and she is oh-so-young.  She inspires me and I know she can inspire you.  I have posted about her many times.  She is good at butt-kicking and this is her latest.  Great advice -- as always.  It can apply to art, writing or any of your goals.

Thank you, Maggie.

Time Management

I am the worst manager of time. I was checking the weather to see if I could open the house tonight and decided to look at Facebook to see about son David (He is traveling for work.) and saw a post by Maggie Stiefvater and read that. I did check the weather and need to open the house!

In the meantime, go read Maggie's post. She manages her time so well and it is not easy for her either. Great advice. She has a link to a post she wrote when she was an artist and not so much a writer. I have gotten away from some of the things she advises. For a while I only checked my e-mail twice a day. I need to do that again and put a timer on my web browsing, etc. If I do well, I will paint more and still have time to post and read blogs. Good luck to you, too!

Maggie is Amazing

If you haven't been a long time follower here, you may not have heard about Maggie Stiefvater. She is one amazing artist, writer, musician, mother, etc....... I discovered her a few years ago, maybe on wetcanvas. She can do anything she puts her mind to. She is an amazing artist and put that sort of to the side to become an amazing author.

She is so sharing with advice and how she accomplishes so much. Please check out her writing above and then look at her old art blog. She doesn't work on it anymore, but if you look through it you will learn so much and be motivated to do more and more. I have posted about her a few times before, well a bunch of times. Just not lately. Let me know what you think.

Sketches for Hunting and Art House

It has quieted down here. Larry will be the last to leave tomorrow. It is already quiet as he is in his room downstairs. Joanna left yesterday and Jennie and the dogs today. It was a very nice Christmas.

For Scavenger Hunt 159 and for the Art House Sketchbook I managed a few. They are with a Micron 05 in the Art House sketchbook.

Number 1, gift. This is the book on CD from Maggie Stiefvater. I started it and decided to listen when I am painting this week, so haven't finished it. She is an excellent writer and artist. (Her art blog here, not updated but full of advice and inspiration.) An amazing young author, painter, musician, mother and so much more. You can buy her books on Amazon.com


Number 2, recycling. These are the envelopes and ads for the recycle basket.

Number 3, man made. This is a pottery keg from chile with cups hanging on it. It is man made and hand made both.

Maggie is Great with Advice

If you need some advice and encouragement, Maggie Stiefvater is dishing it out on her writing blog. It can certainly apply to art as well. Something to think about until I post again.

I'm off to lunch with my working buddies from Continental Airlines in the 60s. Wow! That is ages ago. We will see how much we can remember!

Maggie Stiefvater's New Book, "Ballad", Contest

This is a teaser from Maggie Stiefvater's BALLAD, a novel involving homicidal faeries and kissing that's coming out October 1st.

He turned towards me. For a long moment, he stood facing me. I was held, anchored to the ground – not by his music, which still called and pushed against the music already in my head and said grow rise follow – but by his strangeness. By his fingers, spread over the ground, holding something into the earth, by his shoulders, squared in a way that spoke of strength and unknowability, and most of all, by the great, thorny antlers that grew from his head, spanning the sky like branches.

Then he was gone, and I missed his going in the instant that the sun fell off the edge of the hill, abandoning the world to twilight.

Buy it here. Enter the contest at Maggie's blog here




Boy, does Maggie make it easy to enter a contest! You just copy and paste and comment on her blog. You can win a copy of her book or a CD of the music she wrote. You all know she is so amazing. If you are one of the few that don't know about her, be sure and take a look at this author, artist, musician, composer, butt kicker, and the future Queen.

You artists can visit Maggies "old" blog and learn sooooo much about art, motivation, procrastination and the business side of art.

Winner of Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

Can you believe it? I won a signed audio book, Maggie Stiefvater's new "Shiver". Pretty darned cool. Joanna is jealous, but I will get her a copy, too. (Because I want to and Gene said to!)

Maggie is one of the hardest working procrastinators that I know! She has been an inspiration as an artist and reminded us all that organization and hard work pay off.

You can read her old blog, Greywaren Art, Maggie Stiefvater - Author & Artist, and find all the wonderful "how to" articles on painting and information about organization and motivation. She is living proof that it works. Maggie is young, a mother with small kiddies and a hardworking policeman for a husband. She cooks from scratch and cares for her animals, too. She was also on dial-up internet for ages, don't know about now. She is a muscian and writes music. Oh my, I can go on and on.

You can learn all about her career as an author on her new page (new to us that followed her as an artist).

Please check out this wonderful author/artist .. you will not be dissapointed in any way. I thouroughly enjoyed her first book, Lament. I bought it because it was by Maggie and enjoyed it because it was good! It is geared toward young readers so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much .. I tend to read mysteries and police stories.

This is NOT A PAID ANNOUNCEMENT!!

Congratulations to Maggie!!

Maggie Stiefvater and Shiver

You probably thought I had forgotten about Maggie. She is such an inspiration, super artist, author, mother, wife, etc. I haven't kept up with her writing blog like her art blog, but I still check once in a while to see how she is doing and have a smile for the evening. She is such an entertaining writer..... The books are aimed towards teenagers, but very entertaining. They keep you riveted.

Here is the trailor she made for her new book.




This is amazing in itself. You can win lots of things connected with the book. Just hop over to Maggie's blog or live journal and check it out.

Here is a link to her oooolllllddddd art blog. You will find inspirations, how to's, WIPs and so much more. Even a kick in the butt to get you motivated. Just search in the box at the top of the blog. I cannot imagine the energy this one person has combined with talent and good sense. Well, maybe not that part about sense! She writes to me, after all. Heh, heh. She can budget time like no one else and still is a procrastinator, too.

I so wish her well in her work. She is a musician, music writer/composer, too. Whew!! Congratulations, Maggie!

The Hunting Sketches are on......

I have been doing paperwork and business art stuff today. Also Austin Pastel Society business, too. Never a favorite when you feel you should be painting. I planned to paint today, maybe tonight ..

For Scavenger Hunt 116 here are a few more sketches drawn over a couple of nights.


#6, Something that shows my character and one of the challenges to draw something continuous line (not lifting the pen from the paper) - my sneakers always show my character. These are especially scruffy and worn like me. Drawn with a Pilot ball point pen, 10 minutes or so in my sketchbook half page. I think an ink pen would have been pretty messy when I stopped the line to think and look. Globs of ink, right? #7, color of my hair, a silver gray pewter bowl or vase from Bolivia. We were commenting on wetcanvas.com about how photos emphasize mistakes. The bowl looks very crooked and I thought it was good, now I see the sketch in a photo and notice the weird shape.

That is a good painting tip, to take photos of your painting as you go along. Look at them on the computer and also switch them to black and white to check value. I find this better than turning the actual painting upside down or looking at it in a mirror.


#8, Book I'm reading or impressed by - Lament by Maggie Stiefvater. Maggie is a wonderful artist and now famous author. She is sharing and inspiring as I mentioned in several posts. #9, heirloom - an old murphy bed in my studio, oak with a mirror on the front, it is a double bed. This bed was made in 1836 and caused a few arguments in the family over ownership. It has been used all through the years and we still use it. These sketches were done with the Lamy pen and colored pencil about 15 and 30 minutes respectufully.



#10, Favorite art supply - all of them, right? I like pastels the best until I feel like using a brush, then until I feel like drawing, and ..... This is one end of my tabletop in my studio. Cluttered as always. Boxes are pastels. about 25 minutes with Lamy pen in sketchbook.

Managing Time a la Maggie Stiefvater

In the painting world, we miss Maggie Stiefvater. She is now a famous author and not updating her artist blog. We are all happy for and proud of her, but I miss the regular but-kicking posts to get us inspired and keep us working hard. You can still go read her posts that are full of humor, honest and inspiring. You can learn from her research on artists and her painting techniques.

I always think I don't have time to exercise, paint, cook, work on my blog, etc. Because some of us still haven't worked on our goals for this new year, I thought I would look up a few posts that really can show us that we have more time than we think. Maggie has gone from artist to author. She is a full time mother and more as well. Following are three great posts. The last idea on the last one is probably the best one of all for me. See if you don't agree!

These are on Maggie's blog:

Maggie on Time Management, Part 1

Maggie on Time Management, Part 2

Three Tips on Finding Time

Reference Photo Hints a la Maggie

You probably know that "our" Maggie Stiefvater is now a famous author and pulling back somewhat from her painting and drawing. She is offering up some helpful hints on Sundays so as not to abandon us, the faithful followers. Today's post is about using photo software to help you use a photo reference in painting.

I often use her ideas and should use the check for value by changing the image to black and white more often. You can immediately see the areas that need work. You can see in this painting a good variety of values. This painting is a mid value painting with touches of highlights and dark values.

San Miguel Church
Colored Pencil, 8 x 10 inches

Try taking snapshots of your WIPs (Work in Progress) and looking at them in black and white to see how the painting is coming along. You may be surprised. Take a look at this post about value on my painting, Pears on Red, for a little more insight.

Butt Kicking Award

I was distracted and doing my usual procrastination day before yesterday and spent too much time doing "nothing worthwhile". Although, I do think that a break from routine is good .. we haven't really started a routine here. We are getting there, slowly. I do think reaching Medicare age has slowed us down somewhat. Because we are retired and I do not want a "full time job" there is a fine line between wanting to be an artist and wanting to be retired. Most of the time it works out.

I decided to pop over to Maggie Stiefvater's blog to review some of her blogs on how she manages her time and left her a comment about the reason for my visit. You will fine posts about goals, finding your style, business and much more. She has found a colorful style and her writing is so entertaining. Thanks Maggie, for all you do.

Maggie's Butt Kicking Award

Well, Maggie in her entertaining but sincere desire to help, let me have my Butt Kicking. Please check it out. There are some serious and well thought out seeds of inspiration there. More posts under her labels, Motivation. She continued her art education on wetcanvas.com and has developed her art and writing business in just a few hard working years. Well, it seems like a few years to me, not so few to her as she is much younger. :) She is so generous in sharing her expertise, both on visual art and her writing. Her first book comes out in the fall.

Cosmos in Colored Pencil

Colored pencil, to persist or not?

Colored pencil pieces move along very slow in normal use. The artist needs to layer and layer with a light touch to begin. On paper the artist can mark the paper by pressing too hard and leave an indentation. For some artists this layering is attune to coloring and is very relaxing and soothing. Colored pencil can be erased but the paper is easily damaged. Colored pencil artists get fine detail and beautiful colors. Colored pencil paintings/drawings are usually matted and framed under glass.

You can determine from this that I have not been eager to do colored pencil. Leslie and Regina both do beautiful work with the pencils and have encouraged me to try. I have not been pleased with my attempts at colored pencil. It may be that I never had good paper or pencils. For me it is labor intensive. With a pastel stick or brush in oils or acrylics I can put down a line and there it is. You can leave it except to blend or add a different color. I am not a patient person. :)

I keep thinking it would be great medium for traveling and I usually have a fistful of pencils with me. I have been reading Nicole Caulfied's blog. She uses Pastelbord for her surface and then sprays/varnishes her work so that it doesn't have to be framed under glass. What a great idea! It is faster to cover the surface as well and you can add highlights easily. Maggie Stiefvater also uses a similar technique in painting.

Mom's Cosmos
Colored Pencil, 5 x 7 inches, Pastelbord

I did these cosmos from a photo taken a few years ago at Gene's mom's house. I have always liked Cosmos and have tried painting them, but they always look heavy. I find it interesting that they have different numbers of petals on different flowers. I could never tell, maybe they are supposed to have eight and some have fallen off. At any rate, I like to watch them in the breeze.

I liked the speed of doing this piece, it only took me a couple of hours to complete. It can be spray varnished and framed with no glass. I am ready to try a landscape, now. What do you think about it?? Yes or no??

An Artist I Admire, Tom Christopher

**Note (Monday, May 19, 2008) I'm posting this again to say that Maggie will have all the artists that we admire posted on Wednesday. Then you can check her post to see all the artists that were suggested by us. You may want to check back. :) Maggie has already reviewed several other artists for May, Hubert von Herkomer and Doug Dawson among others. You can pick up some pointers there.

I took up Maggie Stiefvater's challenge for today. Here is the challenge:

• Find one artist you admire. Safely Dead is easiest, but Not Safely Dead is fine as long as you secure permission from them to feature their work on your blog.
• Identify their strengths and the tricks and techniques you'd like to use in your painting
• Blog about it on Monday, May 19th
• Comment on this blog post with a link to your post.

(One artist, tania ,commented on that post and said she was calling the "Not Safely Dead Artists" the "Dangerously Alive Artists". Hmmmm.)

I am not a history buff and do not enjoy studying from books so I have never really studied art history .. and never had art in school.

I like paintings from life and outdoor paintings, therefore, I decided to post about a "Not Safely Dead", or as Tania says, "Dangerously Alive" artist I discovered on wetcanvas.com, Tom Christopher. He is in Iowa. Tom paints mostly in pastels (some oils) and posts in the Pastel, Landscape and Plein Air Forums. This is one of his latest posts in the Pastel Forum. If you sign up or are signed up to wetcanvas.com, you can find all the threads (posts and continuing conversations) that Tom has started in a pull down menu under his name at the beginning of this and his other posts. It is wonderful to see all of his paintings. I do admire this artist. Thank you, Tom, for sharing your photos of your paintings and your expertise in painting.

Pine Lake Park, Pastel 24 x 36 inches

copyright Artist Tom Christopher

Spring Along Highway 175
Pastel 24 x 36 inches, with frame

copyright Tom Christopher


Winter Light, pastel, 22x28 inches
This piece is the 2007, 4th place winner in the Pastel Journal 100 competition.
It will be featured in the Pastel Journal magazine in the Spring of 2008
copyright Tom Christopher, artist

I really like color and find that Tom uses color to great advantage. He makes great use of values and variation in temperature of colors. He has great design, using varying amounts of contrast as you see in this black and white version.

Winter Light, changed to black and white for this post.

copyright Tom Christopher, artist.

Tom experiments on different supports with different pastels or oil paint. He has a great touch with his pastels varying his strokes, creating hard and soft edges. The gesture in his trees, ground cover and water are very intriguing.

He generously shares this information with other artists. He paints and posts very often. I hope some of his technique and dedication rubs off on me. Check out his work and see if you don't find inspiration in his paintings as well.

I did do some research, I include this post from "Outdoor Painting", with history and links to some other famous and Safely Dead artists that you might find interesting or posted by other participants in this challenge. :)

Helpful Sites for Artists

**Note updating 5/31/2008 to add to the fun and interesting:
Dan - Check in his profile, he has several blogs with all you will ever want to know about trees with beautiful photos: http://tree-species.blogspot.com/

Original Post, May 1, 2008

Aside from the regular links on the sidebar of my blog, I have been thinking of helpful sites that I visit or that were recommended to me. I would be happy to add any that you know about as well, suggestions appreciated. (If I have skipped yours, let me know .. I'm forgetful!)

They are not in any special order. I follow some through wetcanvas.com that I don't have on my blog reader. I will add them on later. I will also make a link to this post on the sidebar so you can check these once in a while for new entries.

Some of the artists on my sidebar have helpful hints and good info, but do not regularly post advice. They do have beautiful art. So, be sure and check them out as well. For example, Leslie D'Allesandro Hawes, has some great 'how to' posts with colored pencil. Start here with links to her other posts. She doesn't do 'how to' posts regularly but these are great.

Places to get a web site and/or sell your work:

• Fine Art America, free and sell prints: http://www.fineartamerica.com/
• FineArtStudioOnline, easy site and marketing help (free newsletter): http://www.fineartstudioonline.com/
  
• Sitekreator, web page only, free: http://sitekreator.com/
• Imagekind, selling prints, free: http://www.imagekind.com/

How to:

• WetCanvas, All media: http://www.wetcanvas.com
• ScribbleTalk, pencil: http://scribbletalk.com/index.php?
• ArtandArtistry, all media: http://www.artandartistry.com/
• How to Draw and Paint: http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/
• Creative Spotlite: http://www.artinstructionblog.com/
• Sixty Minute Artist: http://sixtyminuteartist.blogspot.com/
• The Grand View w/Stephen Baumann (he has a blog with hints, too): http://www.thegrandview.org/

My demos: :)

• Jo's pastel demos: http://jocastilloartblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Pastel%20Demo
• Jo's pastel demo red apples: http://www.jocastilloart.com/demoapples.html

Artistic and Business Advice:
Some of these have great "how to" advice as well.

• Robert Genn's, The Painters Keys, twice a week newsletter: http://clicks.robertgenn.com/
• Empty Easel, how to and business advice and more (free newsletter): http://emptyeasel.com/
• The Artists Magazine, Watercolor Magic, The Pastel Journal and more: http://www.artistsnetwork.com//GeneralMenu/
• Pastels, Resources for Artists, by Katherine Tyrrell: http://www.squidoo.com/pastels
• Katherine Tyrrell's blog about art in general (Jo's encyclopedia): http://makingamark.blogspot.com/
• Richard McKinley Pastel Painter: http://pastelpointersblog.artistsnetwork.com/ and http://www.RichardMcKinley.com
• American Artist: http://www.myamericanartist.com/
• Paul Dorrell, Gallery Owner: http://pauldorrell.com/blog/

Information, Resources

• Art Renewal .org - Museum, history, discussion http://www.artrenewal.org/

Artists with informative/instruction blogs:

• Susan Carlin - oil, pastel, portraits: http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com/
  
• My Fine Art Friends on the Sidebar:
  
• Kasie Sallee: http://kasiesallee.blogspot.com/,
  
• Belinda Lindhardt: http://belindalindhardt.blogspot.com/index.html,
  
• Valerie Jones: http://valjoneswithin.blogspot.com/,
  
• Rose Welty - research, sketching, drawing: http://rosesartlines.blogspot.com/
• Maggie Stiefvater - colored pencil, pastel, author, research: http://greywarenart.blogspot.com/
  
• Nicole Caulfield - colored pencil: http://nicolecaulfieldfineart.blogspot.com/l
• Nancy Moskovitz - pastels, teaching: http://blog.nancymoskovitz.com/
  
• Kelly Borsheim - sculptor and painter, more info on her web site: http://artbyborsheim.blogspot.com/
  
• Linda Blondheim - oil, acrylic, plein air (her second blog has recipies, too): http://linda-blondheim.blogspot.com/
  
• Ed Terpening - oil, plein air: http://edterpening.com/blog/
• Larry Seiler - oil, acrylic, instructor(many demos on wetcanvas.com): http://larryseiler.blogspot.com/
  
• Duane Keiser - oil and original daily painting: http://keiseronpainting.blogspot.com/
  
• Michael Chesley Johnson - plein air, oil, pastel, instructor: http://wheezard.blogspot.com/
• Jeanette Jobson - Drawing and instruction http://illustratedlife.blogspot.com/
• James Gurney - Studio tips, insights to dinatopia books http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/
• Holly Bedrosian - Colored pencil, techniques http://hollybedrosian.com/blog
  
  

Some of the other artists I follow but are not on my sidebar:

• Lou Baggett - watercolor teacher, general blog: http://bagwag.blogspot.com/
• Carol Marine - painting a day: http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/
• Chuck Law - oil, plein air: http://chucklaw.blogspot.com/
• Jamie Williams Grossman - plein air, sketching: http://www.hudsonvalleypainter.com/
• Karin Jurik - oil, painting a day: http://karinjurick.blogspot.com/
• Karen Margulis - pastel, painting a day: http://kemstudios.blogspot.com/
• Karen Winter - watercolor, oil: http://karenwinters.com/kblog/
• Marie-Dom - sketching, watercolor: http://doodleaddict.blogspot.com/
• Paula A. Ford - pastels: http://pafordpastelist.blogspot.com/
• Rhonda Hurwitz - pastels: http://rhondasart.blogspot.com/
• Rick Lee - photographer: http://rickleephoto.blogspot.com/
• Jennifer Rae Atkins - drawing a mammal a day: http://dailymammal.blogspot.com/
• Rebecca Finch - oils: http://rebeccafinch.blogspot.com/
• Michael Naples - oils, painting a day: http://michaelnaples.blogspot.com/
• Mick McGinty - oils, twice a week: http://twiceaweek.blogspot.com/
• Tom Bradshaw - oils: http://valley-views.blogspot.com/
• Richard Rudnicki - Sketching and painting, met in Nova Scotia http://sketch-of-the-week.blogspot.com/
• Michelle Himes - Watercolor, sketching http://mhwatercolornotes.blogspot.com/

Fun and interesting, not on the sidebar

• fishing guy (in Ohio) - Notes on fishing, photography and fun http://thefishingguy.blogspot.com/
• Dan (in Spain) - Check in his profile, he has several blogs with all you will ever want to know about trees with beautiful photos: http://tree-species.blogspot.com/

Organizations:

• International Association of Pastel Societies: http://www.pastelinternational.com/
• Pastel Society of America: http://www.pastelsocietyofamerica.org/main/
• ArtBlogs4U: http://artblogs4u.blogspot.com/
  

Organizations near Bastrop, Texas:

• Austin Pastel Society: http://www.austinpastelsociety.org
• Art League of Smithville: 512-360-5066, 301 Burleson St., Smithville, Texas 78957
• Lost Pines Artisans Alliance, Smithville: http://www.lostpinesartisansalliance.org/
  
• Art in Elgin: http://www.artinelgin.com/
• Bastrop Fine Arts Guild: http://www.bastropfineartsguild.com