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

Cold Outside!

18 x 8

pastel with water under painting

Temperatures in the 20s and 30s make me look for warm subject matter. This palm tree painted from a photo I took in Temecula, CA, along the Butterfield Trail.

I used a piece of Wallis paper that had a crease in it, making it the perfect support for a quick study. First, I did a gesture drawing with graphite. Then I lightly put in pastel in big blocks of color and value. I used a wet brush to push it into the paper and soften the edges. Once it was dry, I added a bit more pastel on top.

Baby, it's cold outside! Perhaps some snow in the forecast!