The Pastel Journals Top 100 Competition, I made it!

My painting, Cara Cara, was chosen as one of the top 100 Paintings in the Pastel Journals magazine! I never dreamed my painting would ever make it into this prestigious competition! Who would have known that the 25lb bag of oranges that Randy bought last year to share with the plein aire painters, and inspired this painting, would have gone so far! These beautiful oranges are grown locally and are delicious. One morning as I was cutting one up to eat I was compelled to paint it instead. The ruby colors were on fire from the morning sun illuminating them on the cutting board. The challenge for me was to capture the intense colors, the wet juicy inside as well as the textured skin. This may be my 15 minutes of fame and I wanted to share it with all of my friends! The magazine will hit the shelves on March 12 and is available for preorder here! 

Marta Gonzales came out to photograph my painting again as they were considering it for the cover and needed a higher resolution, thanks Marta!