I wanted to try watercolor and had what I thought was a beautiful white begonia washed in with a pale yellow. I took it along to an orchestra rehearsal to show a friend who paints in watercolor and his response in the 15 seconds between numbers was he thought it was the most insipid watercolor he’d ever seen. It could have been because he was a brass player. I thought insipid be damed and started into it with pastel. The work may still be insipid in terms of pastel proficiency, however, at the time I was very happy with it. Thus began my love affair with pastel.
As Artist...
Some of you have asked to see my art…. this was done a few years ago and remains a favorite. Because of my affection for the subject the painting was so much fun to do. I was beginning to experiment with color in terms of value and discovered pastel at the same time. Using pastels is like having the color flow out the tips of my fingers. 
Richard, pastel , 20 x 24”.
There’s a great Guthrie song lyric ~ “Blow up the tv, throw away the paper…”
When people come to see me about faltering creative enthusiasm, I usually recommend a news fast for at least six weeks if not permanently. I tell them to turn off all media stimulus – tv, radio, and throw out the newspaper. My premise is that if we disconnect ourselves from the iron lung of the media telling us how to breathe we will take imaginative breath more freely on our own. We will begin to think for ourselves and find a center of peace from which to gift ourselves with inspired effort.
Read More