Last Light

Last Light 11x14 pastel, copyright 2013

After I had so much fun with the little 6x6 pastels on claybord, I decided to try again with a larger one.   It works!  I am really loving this surface.  It doesn't take as many layers as the paper, but that's a good thing.  I tend to try to correct mistakes by adding more color and end up with "mud".  It takes some effort to fix when it's on paper and I've ruined a few erasers (and some paper) in the attempt.  But with this surface I can just wipe it down with a wet rag, paint on a little more primer and go back to work.  Perfect!

This scene is from a series of photos I took this fall while my husband drove me around the backroads near our house.  I've gotten a lot of inspiration from those photos, so don't be surprised if you see even more of them in the future.

Evening Glow

Evening Glow 6x6 pastel, copyright 2013

available for purchase $75 in my etsy shop

Two years ago I was experimenting with a new (to me) surface for oil paintings: 6x6 clayboard.   Designed for water based media, the clay coated surface soaked up the oils.  I coated it with pastel primer to make it less absorbant and also gave it a bit of texture.

Lately I've been thinking about surfaces for my pastels, something a little more sturdy but not outrageously expensive.  Some artists use gatorboard, but it isn't acid free.  Suddenly it occurred to me that clayboard would do the trick.  There were only two pieces left.  The first was covered in red acrylic, then pastel primer was applied with a very soft bristle brush.  On the second I used pink.

The results?  It's perfect!  The first one turned out quite well, the clayboard works just as well as any sanded paper, plus when framed it needs no backing board for support.  It looks great in the gold frame I had bought for the oil paintings.  The second one turned into a wiper, but that's okay - I just took it to the kitchen sink and sprayed it down - now it's good to go.  The other nice thing about clayboard is that it can be purchased in large sheets and cut down to size.  I think I'm going to have fun with this!

Playing with paper

Fields at Dusk, 8 1/2x11 pastel, copyright 2012

Dairy Barn, Evening Sky 8 1/2x11 pastel, copyright 2012

Thanks to a post by pastelist Karen Margulis (check out her work - she's very good!) I have discovered a new pastel paper called Shizan.  It's handmade 100% cotton rag made from recycled material and is quite reasonably priced.  The texture is irregular, as are the edges and sometimes the size.  

With the first one I quickly discovered that it won't hold many layers, and vine charcoal does not work at all.  That was a bit frustrating, although it does make for a sort of vague, sketchy painting.  On the second one I added a single thin layer of pastel primer, which gave it enough tooth to hold more layers.  The texture and color of the paper still come through and force looser, sketchier images.  That's a good thing since I usually feel that my looser paintings are better.

Both of these paintings are from reference photos taken a few weeks ago when my husband was kind enough to drive me around just before sunset.  A native of the area, he chose the route down a winding, quiet road that ended at closed bridge (and haunted) bridge.   It was a beautiful drive, and I was able to get plenty of good photos that will hopefully find their way onto this new paper.