552 Westmoreland Park

Westmoreland Park plein air

18 x 24, pastel

I was determined to keep my painting grayed down today. I quickly realized how many pure pastels I have and how few grayed ones. That made my self-imposed task more difficult.

I always say that I learn a lot from every plein air painting. With this painting I learned that just because I am enamored of a certain portion of the painting, I should not ignore the problems with value. The lower left portion of the painting turned out so beautiful with the under painting, it looked just like water. However, it was too light to make sense in the painting. Next time ...

Overall, I had a great experience in a park with plentiful subject matter, good people, and I came home with a pretty good painting.

Plein air painting at Westmoreland Park

Portland Plein Air and Studio Painters

It was great to paint with my art group today. The Portland Plein Air and Studio Painters are a large group of artists, some of whom meet regularly for art discussion and (when the weather is good) for plein air painting. Today we painted at Westmoreland Park in Portland.

I love painting with a group of other artists. We set up our easels where the subject interests us and mostly are quietly intense when painting. But, we also wander around a look at what each other is doing, and sometimes talk about the method, the subject, the value. We always ooh and ahh over new easels, new pochade boxes, a new brush, a better handcart.

We share our thoughts about how much work it is to paint outdoors. And then, grudgingly, admit that we learn more than imaginable with each plein air painting. When the painting turns out well. When the painting doesn't turn out well. No matter. The learning curve is steep en plein air.

Today I just felt happy to be painting with my painting friends.

Columbia River Gorge

Columbia River Gorge View
12 x 16, pastel

Buildings

practice painting buildings
24 x 30, watercolor

On the 38 Bus to Union Square

"38 Bus to Union Square"
18 x 17, pastel

A Sense of Place

Quiet

Quiet
16 x 12, pastel

Dealing with Disappointment

Under painting

"On the Side (Lori's Diner)"
9 x 12, pastel

Here's how I handled some disappointing news yesterday: I went out to the studio and painted.

The news? That two of my paintings were not accepted into a show. Ouch. That hurt my ego a bit.

I suppose that there are stages of handling rejection just like any other thing. Elisabeth Kubler Ross introduced her famed stages of grief in 1969.

They are:

1. denial
   
2. anger
3. bargaining
4. depression
5. acceptance

I think that my stages were more like this:

1. surprise
2. upset
3. talk to a few friends
4. make some disparaging comments about the juror
5. turn the music up louder and paint something new

I think that I could avoid the risk of ever having work rejected again by never entering another show or contest. But, that would be an overreaction. Foolish or not, I think I'll just go on putting my work out there and seeing what happens.

In the meantime, I think I'll listen to some more LOUD music. Hmm. Queen or Bartok?

Walk!

"Walk!"
24 x 18, pastel

Inspired by my San Francisco trip last month. I'm still thinking about that beautiful Bay Area light and the tall buildings and all of the people out and about.

As I observed this couple, it seemed to me that the man was trying very hard to get the woman to respond to him. He held her in his arms, he leaned toward her, he took off his sunglasses to look into her eyes. She, on the other hand, held her arms at her sides, leaned back just a bit, and kept her sunglasses covering her eyes. When the light changed, I could help but think, "She's going to walk away from him and not come back."

Plein air at Elk Rock Island

I practiced painting water today at Elk Rock Island with my friend, Celeste Bergin.

Water presents a lot of challenges for a painter and today had the added challenge of shifting flotsam on the water's surface.

That, and the ducks who disturbed the reflections by splashing and making ripples while doing their duck dance.

Oh, and my subject, the fisherman, kept walking away.

Sigh.

I was happy to use my newly cleaned pastel box today. It took about two hours yesterday to take everything out of the box, vacuum all of the dust off the foam inserts, clean the pastels with corn meal and put it all away again. Wow! Everything looked so bright and pretty when I was done. The dust accumulation in the box had made everything look brownish gray. It was kind of fun to discover what color was beneath the dusty outside every time I made a stroke, but the clean box and clean pastels were a joy to use today.

There are so many excuses to not get out there and paint. Today it was nice to just go and do it. Even better to go with a friend.