Hit the Refresh Button - As Often as Possible

I was fortunate enough to have the time and the inclination to take a recent workshop with Rita Kirkman while I was visiting my Dad in KC.  If you are not familiar with Rita's beautiful works, you should visit her site HERE.  

Just as most any profession, being an artist - one always needs to keep fresh with new insights, new techniques, ideas, inspiration, and rekindling of the 'art brain' and mojo.  This particular workshop was just right for me. The timing was perfect.

I would like to share with you some of what I learned in the workshop in the posts ahead, but first things first.  I have a 'several drawer' piece of furniture in my studio,

within which I TRY to keep my many pastels organized.  

They are in a mess right now, as I packed my "Roz Box" with the pastels I thought I might need for the class.  Bottom line, I usually find what I need based on the organizing by COLOR.  As you can see that second open drawer has warm colors like red and yellow and orange in it.  The values of the color go from lightest on the top drawer to darkest (which you can't see) on the very bottom.

In the next few days, I am going to organize the total of my pastels in a complete VALUE range first  and TEMPERATURE range - second, like this...

This is Rita's traveling Heilman box nicely sorted from the lightest lights to the darkest darks, cool colors on top and warmer colors on bottom.

If I could get something close to this in my pastel organization, life at the easel would be

SO much easier.  I don't have a Heilman box, but I have a few ideas for something close to it.

I have tried MANY items in the past, from wooden trays, to my own 'pseudo Heilman' reinforced 'cut down' boxes.  Stay tuned - as I will share with you my finished arrangement soon!