Picture of the Month for June 2024 is Conversation 2 by Rebecca Mendoza. It was chosen from the Members Gallery by Michael Garaway.

I frequently worked with pastel and other drawing media in the earlier part of my career, so I’m always interested to see how other artists handle it. Rebecca’s work caught my eye because I’ve also approached skyscapes as a subject in the past.

At first glance it might be easy to assume that skies are straightforward or mundane to deal with, when they most decidedly are not. I can well appreciate the subtle gradations of blue in this and other work on Rebecca’s gallery page that require careful control, especially at edges that need to maintain the relative purity of cloud forms. Rebecca’s observation, experience and confidence with the medium is evident in a well understood and interpreted tonality, giving the viewer an uplifting sense of bright sunlight interacting with cloud, while faithfully conveying the heavier grey portions.

In addition I very much identify with the rationale of this work, encouraging contemplative engagement with the world beyond our typically limited concerns, and with the inclusion of artificial interruptions in the visual field.

A visit to Rebecca’s website provides a still deeper appreciation of her accomplishments.

Michael Garaway