Pacific

Pacific
18 x 24
pastel on recycled Wallis paper

"... these are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang."

Herman Melville

New oil palette

Surfside
18 x 24
oil on board

above: aircraft windows doing duty as palettes below: window/palette in action

Conversation last night at my house ...

Me (to my husband): Do you think Home Depot sells Plexiglas?

Husband: Why do you need Plexiglas?

Me: Does Home Depot sell it, do you think?

Husband: I don't know, depends on how big a piece you need.

Me: Well, something thick enough to not bend when I lift it, and something like 18" x 24".

Husband: What do you need it for?

Me: I need a bigger palette and I've heard that some artists use plexi.

Husband: I might have something you could use.

Me: What?

Husband: A window. An airplane window.

Me: What?!

Husband: I'll let you look at it.

.............................. some time passes ................................

Husband comes to the studio with two windows from an airplane. One about 18" x 24" (the smaller one in the photo above) and the other about 18" x 30".

Me: These are PERFECT! I love them! Thank you so much!!

Husband: I guess not every artist has a Cessna 210 window for her palette, right?

You can see the bigger window/palette with paint on it in the last photo. It is exactly what I hoped for, but didn't know I could just ask and have it magically appear like that!

What a guy! I'm keeping him, for sure!!

(Any other artists using airplane windows for palettes?)

A new painting

Here's the painting I worked on for the rest of today. On the left is the under painting, done with Createx Pure Pigments on Wallis Sanded paper. The under painting gives a structure under the pastel for the building up of the entire piece.

The second photo shows you how far I took this painting today. I was pooping out by the end of the session, but I like some of what is happening here.

The painting is done from a photo I took at Kalaloch Beach on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.