Wow! What a great workshop! If you’re not familiar with Terri Ford’s work, check out her website, http://www.terrifordart.com and you’ll be smitten. Strong design, luscious color, and bravura pastel application make her paintings among my very favorites. As I noted in one of my 2010 posts, I feel kind of like I’ve been producing pretty much the same plein air painting every week for 2 years now, and I was in serious need of a wake-up call. This workshop was it! Terri is a genuinely nice person and an excellent instructor, and it was marvelous to be able to learn and see her working method. Moreover, it is a method that closely aligns with my own style and approach and that, combined with a minor overhaul of my pastel box, will help me bring a freshness to my outdoor work that has been missing for some time. We painted for 5 days, and I thought I had 5 keepers, but back in the studio, I’ve decided only 3 are really frame-worthy. I’ve posted one of them here, a piece called “Collapsed,” which was done at an unoccupied farm outside Chadd’s Ford. What a great week! If any of you pastelists out there have a chance to take a workshop with Terri, I can heartily recommend it.