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Jefferson Memorial and Cherry Blossoms

Created plein air, this painting was put together quickly with serious parking constraints and hoards of people around. Cherry blossom season in DC is thrilling.

Jefferson Memorial and Cherry Blossoms
Wallis Belgian Mist
10x8:

The Season for Cherry Blossoms

Today I fought the crowds and the parking situation to do two paintings en plein air. With only an hour to paint or be towed, I worked much more quickly than usual.

Spring Cherry Blossoms

Wallis Belgian Mist

7x5

Hillsborough Silo

This is from the vantage of Hillsborough Vineyards; it's a small, charming farm with both a treeline and a fence line next door.

Hillsborough Silo
9x12 on Uart
soft pastel

Shoals at Boka Ascencion, Curacao

Located at an inlet from the Caribbean Sea, Boka Ascencion is known for turtle watching from the walled cliffs bordering it. Boka Ascencion is also the name of a plantation in this area of Curacao.

Shoals of Boka Ascencion, Curacao
soft pastel on Uart 500
12x16

Associates Gallery, Workhouse Building W-9

Join us for our regular Second Saturday opening reception on Saturday!

King George Farm

This is painted from an image I took on the way to Colonial Beach, Virginia. It is of a sprawling farm in King George County. The land was as vivid at the deep sky. Much of the foreground leaves the watercolor underpainting exposed.

King George Farm

soft pastel with watercolor underpainting on Pastelbord

14x11"

Lancaster Silos, Winter

In this part of Lancaster County, much of the snow was just a memory. These silos popped against beautiful cloud formations, full of movement.

Lancaster Farm
soft pastel and charcoal on Uart 500
5x7"

Lancaster Snow 2

I am going to try a bit of Marla Bagetta's style these days and do some repeation. While the first looks frigid, this one looks harsh due to its greater contrast. I especially like the deep turquoise sky and how it made parts of the snow look greenish.

Lancaster Snow 2
soft pastel and charcoal on Uart 500
5x7"

Collector's Showcase at the Workhouse

Tickets are available now for the lottery-style fundraiser at the Workhouse Arts Center February 28.

My contribution for this year is Haybales & Lavender, a 12x9 soft pastel of Seven Oaks Lavender Farm in Catlett, Virginia, created with a watercolor underpainting.

Signature Membership, MPS!

I brought in the year with some fabulous news! I was juried to receive Signature Membership status with Maryland Pastel Society! This is a great honor from a long-established and respected society. I am very grateful. Here's my page at the MPS site - please take a look and "Like" it for me:

Lancaster Snow

I begin another 30 paintings in 30 days challenge this month with a series that will come from our trip to Lancaster PA over Thanksgiving. Painting snow is unusual for me, because I generally prefer sunny climes. I think I will also try repeating from within the series for additional insight and looseness. 

Lancaster Snow
pastel on Wallis
5x7

Watch for it! 30 in 30 in January!

Soon, I am going to participate in my second 30 paintings in 30 days challenge!

Here's September's collage of 30 paintings:

I will be also posting on my Facebook page, facebook.com/BonnieFergusonButler, so please go "Like" it now.

Ciao and Happy New Year!

20% off at Workhouse Arts Center this weekend

Run, don't walk, to the Workhouse Building W-9 this weekend! We're having a 20% reduction off on artwork sales over $100. I have many suggestions, if you need any. Plenty of my miniatures, crocheted scarves, photography, and fine art are just waiting on you and your last minute holiday gifting.

Rt 123 at Lorton Road

9518 Workhouse Way
Lorton, VA 22079

Building 9 Hours 
Wednesday - Saturday: 11:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday: 12:00 - 5:00pm

“Westpunt, Curaçao” wins a People's Choice award

“Westpunt, Curaçao” is a pastel painting by Bonnie Ferguson Butler of the westernmost community of this Dutch Antilles island near Venezuela. It won a People's Choice award in December at Workhouse Building W-9. Based on a photograph taken by the artist in Summer 2014, this piece depicts a colorful jumble of architecture across Westpuntbaai, which is an expanse of turquoise water dotted with fishing boats. These buildings cling to the edge of an eroding cliff over the Caribbean Sea with an uplifting Caribbean flair that can only be found in this region. “Westpunt, Curaçao” is 12x16".

Bonnie Ferguson Butler is an award-winning painter and photographer, who exhibits in W-9 at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton and in many other regional exhibits. Her primary loves are painting outdoors and travel photography; she is Founder and President of the Pastel Society of Virginia. Butler's painting style is representational expressive, which is simultaneously loose and painterly. Keep up with her art activities and view her online gallery at bfbutler.blogspot.com. 

Workhouse Building W-9 has all your shopping needs covered!

The Associates in Building W-9 have a group Featured Artist exhibit with its theme, "Festive Lights."

 

See the Christmas Tree and our Small Works alcove for reasonably priced gifts - for your friends, your family, or yourself!

Our Gallery 902 exhibit shows our larger artwork and photography.

Our Second Saturday Opening Reception is December 13 from 6-9pm.

(Please click to enlarge the images. Thanks to Kathy Strauss for the photos.)

Online Workhouse Gallery : Bonnie Ferguson Butler

See my updated Workhouse Artist Page here!

Westpunt, Curacao

My trip to Curacao over the summer will provide endless painting material over the winter, which won't be a bad thing at all.

This painting is based on a photo I took at Westpunt, which is Westpoint in Dutch. I was located at a restaurant across this bay, where a popular past time is jumping off a cliff into the blue water, below. (No, I didn't do it!)

Westpunt, Curacao
pastel on prepared pumice surface
12x16

Black Friday at the Workhouse

Spend your Black Friday at the Workhouse Arts Center in Building W-9 from 10am to 7pm. We will have live dulcimer music in the afternoon. The museum will be open all day, too. We will have small works and ornaments, plus snacks and hot cider.