Richeson Pastel Surface

Central Valley, CA
5 x 7, Richeson Pastel Surface

Today I tried out a new (to me) product: Richeson's Pastel Surface. It is a textured surface on top of Gatorfoam. I liked the sturdiness of the panel but while the surface was textured, it did not seem to hold much pastel. I will try it again, another time and maybe use some of my softest pastels.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. At least that's what my grandmother always said. She also said that my tongue turned black when I told a lie. Boy, she would have thought I told a doozy after the bruising my tongue got at the dentist yesterday.

Getting a good photo of "The Palouse" is a challenge because of its size. This afternoon provided just the right brightness without direct sun for me to wrestle the monster outside my studio door and take the shot. I did a little more work on the sky today, but it is done now.

Blue skies and cloudy ones, too

It's just blocked in, but I like the intense blue sky in this painting already. I think it gives the landscape some breathing room and lets the land forms sing. More to do, but so far, it is promising. What do you think? (Click here to see the original painting.)

Not every day is a blue sky day and today's clouds created drama at the Refuge.

In just 8 days I will begin an exciting adventure. Tick tock tick tock. It's fast approaching! Hint: it involves water and travel ...

Using critique to improve a painting

I took this large painting to critique yesterday. I hadn't seen the painting in several months, and as soon as I looked at it with fresh eyes, I knew what was wrong. I still waited to hear what the group had to say about the piece. Pretty much what I already knew. The area of dark/dull green at the top of the painting does not read right.

So, I brushed off the pastel in the green area (outside, in the yard) and then sprayed it with water. As you see in the photo, I turned the painting upside down to preserve the parts I like and consider finished. I brought it inside to dry. Most of the tooth of the paper will be recovered and I can put in the right sky for this painting. I'm excited. At 36" x 48", it's one of the largest paintings I've ever attempted.

Countdown continues ... only 9 days to go!

Aerial perspective

Near Lower Granite Dam
11 x 14 on Bristol paper

When I first heard the art term "aerial perspective," I thought "I know just what they mean!"

Well, until I learned that it meant a technique of creating depth by depicting distant objects with less detail and contrast.

Hm. Live and learn, I guess. I thought it meant the perspective a person had from the vantage point of an airplane. I have lots of experience with that! My husband and both sons are pilots and I have logged plenty of hours in the right seat, holding the charts and looking out the windows at the landscape beneath.

This painting was inspired by a flight I took with my son, Nick, over the Snake River in Washington. Still in the Palouse, but from a slightly different perspective, an aerial perspective!

The Palouse, finished at long last

The Palouse

36 x 48

first layers of pastel

Guerra pigment in water dispersion under painting
January 2010

Eastern Washington state looks very different from my home in Western Washington. The softly rolling hills are planted with wheat and lentils and dotted with farm structures. While my sons were in college at Washington State University, I enjoyed many trips to the area known as "The Palouse."

This painting has been in progress since January. Not that I've been working on it all of these months, in fact, I have avoided working on it for some of that time. It's size has confounded me and I have done all kinds of gyrations to step back from it far enough to see what is going on. One day, I positioned the painting so that I could walk outside on the driveway to look at it from 20 feet.

I have given the marine crank on my easel a good workout! Crank up to reach the lower parts of the painting. Crank down to reach the trees and building. Up and down. Step back to look. I wish my arms were longer so that I could paint it with better perspective as I go along.

This painting, with all of my struggles and challenges (both physical and mental) to complete it, will be part of a solid foundation for a better painting in the future.

a big painting dominates every square foot
of the studio space surrounding it

Unfinished but promising

36 x 48 WIP

18 x 24 under painting

It takes quite a bit of space to get distance on my big painting (top photo). Before I turned out the lights in the studio yesterday, I positioned the painting on my big easel and turned it to face the door. That way, as soon as I turned on lights and entered the studio, I would have that delicious experience of a first impression with it.

As soon as I saw it, I knew that I needed to do something with the background trees. They were coming forward and too detailed for the recession I desired. I brushed pastel off first with a 4" Hake and then wet the brush and wiped it around to flatten the color and pull out the definition. I don't know if it's the right value yet, but it's better and it's going back a little more. I'm slowly working my way down the painting. The land forms are folding and curving the way they should. I like working BIG!

The bottom photo shows the under painting for my next beach scene. No pastel yet, just Guerra pigments in water dispersion, painted onto Wallis Museum paper. It has some nice movement that I hope to keep when I begin applying pastel tomorrow. It will dry on my board overnight.

Any day with time spent painting is a good day. Today was a good day, indeed.

Work in Progress

Three feet by four feet! This is by far the largest painting I have attempted! It's still early, but you can see the first steps of the underpainting (bottom photo) and the beginnings of pastel application.

Elizabeth Steinbaugh at Aurora Gallery mounted the Wallis paper onto Gatorboard for me (thank you, Elizabeth!) so that the wet underpainting would not cause any warping or distortions. It's the perfect solution!!

Stay tuned for more progress on this work!