I am much happier with the work I did during a two-day workshop with Maggie Price in Albuquerque, on the heels of the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) convention. Besides being a wonderful painter, Maggie, who co-founded the seminal Pastel Journal - a constant source of knowledge and inspiration to pastel painters everywhere - is a terrific teacher and coach. She had us working on the Belgian Mist Wallis paper, which was perfect for the high desert terrain outside the city. For the first time in 2 years I did not start with an underpainting but jumped right in with pastels, and it worked very well. Of the five pieces I did over the two days, I consider four of them frame-able – an unprecedented success rate for me. I’ve posted one here: “Juniper & Scrub”.