Norma Holmes talks pastels with BBR Art Guild

"I was born in Carmel," Norma Holmes said. "My grandfather was an artist, which is one reason I probably paint today."

She sold her horse farm in Pescadero, California, which gave her the freedom to paint for the rest of her life. She then did what she describes as the best thing she has ever done: she moved to Sisters. The year was 1991.

On Monday, March 15, Holmes spoke at the monthly meeting of the Black Butte Ranch Art Guild, to show members and BBR residents how she creates her pastel paintings. Carrying with her several examples of her work, she also brought one of her grandfather's paintings, a landscape of the Three Sisters she received from a cousin only recently. She had not known her grandfather had painted it. Nearby was her own mountain landscape, also a painting of the Three Sisters.

A plein air painter, Holmes has been traveling throughout Oregon creating a series of paintings for her upcoming book about Oregon.

Holmes brought several studies, smaller versions of a finished work, painted on location, and displayed them next to their completed larger painting.

"I have a wall in my studio and two drawers full of studies," Holmes said. "Then I do larger paintings from the studies. Sometimes I take the larger piece on the location where I did the study."

Occasionally, she takes photographs of a site for work reference. One such example was a painting she later donated to the My Own Two Hands Art Auction. The painting depicts poppies grown in her yard. She took photographs of the poppies because the poppies kept dying.

For a painter, lighting is key and lighting changes quickly outdoors.

"I can only paint for an hour and a half to two hours, because the light changes," she said. "I am painting what's in front of me. So if the shadows change, and the light changes, I am not going to change my painting."

She can complete a study in 20 minutes. Holmes will stay out all day creating multiple studies and will return to a site for several days to capture the same lighting.

"How do you know when you're done?" a guest wanted to know.

"Pretty soon, there's nothing left to fix," she said. "Then you know you're done."

Holmes brought two pieces to demonstrate how she paints from a study. She will return to the Lodge later in the week to complete the project.

Like many artists, she went through a period of her life doing what felt like

production painting for five different galleries, pumping out work created from

photographs.

"When the economy fell, around the time of 9-11," Holmes said, "I pulled my work out of the galleries and kept just two: Mockingbird Gallery in Bend and a gallery in Newport, Oceanic Arts. Now I can just do what I want, so I'm doing my book and I'm having a good time."

Painting on location rather than in a studio provides an opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people.

"I was in Jackson Hole painting the Tetons," she said, "and a man came up to me and said: nice job."

"Nice job," she replied, "What about the office? Nice office."

A print of her painting of the Three Sisters Mountains, called "Faith Hope & Charity," was contributed as a door prize for the BBR Art Guild. It can be seen on her Web site,

http://www.normaholmes.com. The original was donated to the Deschutes Land Trust auction. BBR resident Pixie Carson won the drawing.