I have been accepted to the Oklahoma City Community College Arts Festival which will be on September 3rd, 4th and 5th.  Their address is 7777 S. May Ave, Oklahoma City.  There is a $5.00 parking fee to enter.  The thing is, I entered primarily as a pastel artist which is fine, I’ve worked in pastel for many years and found it a joyous medium with gorgeous pure pigments and pure colours.  For the last 6 months or so I’ve been working mainly in oils and seem to have lost my pastel touch.  There is definitely a specific set of skills and technique to be applied when using pastels.  Anyway, I’ve produced a few lemons lately and just wasn’t feeling it.

Looking for inspiration, I turned to my daughter’s photos of her son and dog.  I saw this photo of my Grandson Calan and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I didn’t just see Calan, I saw something else.  It was in the way his little right hand was up in the air.  At first glance we would assume it was for balance as he was just beginning to walk when this photo was taken about a month or so ago.  Or was it?

Calan was born in June 2010.  I lost my Father to cancer in August and Calan’s Daddy lost his Grandfather in December of the same year.  So you see, Calan has two truly wonderful men as his guardian Angels.  It’s hard to put into words the emotion that swept over me once I saw the image of the man standing next to Calan helping him on his journey.

The Guardian

My new 12 x 9 pastel painting today is titled “The Guardian.”  We all have them, even if we don’t see them.