Gold and Blue

Some time ago I bought a large number of handmade cotton rag paper with the intent of using it for pastels.  It has an interesting texture, wonderfully torn edges and comes in 25 colors.  When I got caught up in oil painting this spring, the paper was forgotten.  It sat neglected in a drawer for many months until a studio clean up this summer brought it back to light.

At the time, the winter wheat was ripening and the contrast of golden yellow with bright blue skies was irresistible and this paper seemed perfect for it.  There are two of them right now, and since they seem to make a pair I mounted them together on a piece of matboard to show of the edges.  Both are currently available in my etsy shop.

Top: Through the Fields 8 1/2x11 pastel, copyright 2013

Bottom: Turning to Gold 8 1/2x11 pastel, copyright 2013

Back in the Saddle

My blog has been ignored lately, and for that I apologize.  It has been a crazy six months as I have a tendency to overcommit myself to non-art.  I've also been focusing on my Facebook page, since I am often on there anyway talking with geographically scattered friends and relatives.  And while Facebook has been attracting a lot of views, this blog seems to be attracting mostly spam.  But Facebook has its limitations; the biggest one being that it is difficult to "follow" if you are not on Facebook.  But I'm willing to try again for those loyal few who are legitimately following this blog and who justifiably have a dislike for social media.

Let's start with some more recent pastels, and then I'll work backwards a bit, interspersed with new works as they come along.

It's common for pastelists to mat their work, which means we often have scraps and bits of mat board just sitting around in a pile.  Another artist whose blog I follow, Karen Margulis, has said that she often uses scraps for quick studies and sketches, so I decided to give that a try.  I had two long narrow pieces in a warm dark grey that would work for panoramic scenes.  Here are the results:

Dormant 5x14 pastel, copyright 2013

End of Summer 6x16 pastel, copyright 2013

Turns out, this shape suits me quite well!  They ended up more as finished pieces than sketches but I am quite pleased with the results.  I'll admit to giving myself a little pat on the back for the snow scene in particular.  It can be a bit of a challenge to work out the composition on unusually shaped pieces, so I played around with cropping the reference photos first, then sketched them in charcoal and dark pastel until I was happy.  After that they almost painted themselves.

The Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors has an annual invitational for new members each December, I've decided that the snow scene will be one of my entries.  The next challenge will be getting a custom frame!

Waiting for spring

Waiting for Spring 9x12 pastel, copyright 2013

The weather has been volatile this past week - it is March after all - wrecking havoc on sinuses but making for excellent scenery.  The beginning of the week saw heavy clouds and patches of flurries, but there were holes in clouds allowing sunlight to stream through.  I spent more than hour chasing the sunlight down backroads new to me and somehow managed not to get lost.  There were a few times when I wasn't sure exactly where I was, but I did manage to find my way back without having to consult a map, so I can say I was never completely lost.

This little gem of a spot came up unexpectedly when the road took a sudden turn to the right and meandered along a creek.  Corn and soybeans are the most crops around here, but winter wheat is my favorite to paint, as it turns the most wonderful shade of gold when ripe.  Right now it is dormant and a sort greenish yellow as opposed to the brown earth in the other, fallow fields.  Though the darkening clouds foretold six inches of snow (and a day off from school for the kids) later in the week, the bright field predicts that spring is just around the corner.  I am certainly ready for it.

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!

Fresh eyes

Breaking Through the Clouds 9x12 pastel, copyright 2012

Sometime working in a home studio is a bit isolating.  Being surrounded by fellow artists can offer unexpected insights as well as lively discussion on color theory, perspective, art history... all the technical details of what goes into a painting.  But sometime the technicalities and techniques can bog you down, especially when the only insight you really need is, does it look right?

Despite his protestations of "I'm not an artist", I have managed to convince my husband that his insights are quite helpful.  With this painting, he pointed out that it looked much better when the large, closer tree was more defined.  There are reasons for this having to do with perspective and line and depth; the simple truth is, he was right and it does look better.  Sometimes all it takes is fresh eyes.

Autumn creek

Along the Creek, Late November 12x9 pastel, copyright 2012

Not surprisingly, it didn't take long before I returned to pastel landscapes.  This one wasn't really planned, but the weather was so perfect last week that I decided to wander down to the creek and see what I could see.  A couple of tree trunks that had piled up during last spring's flood served as both seat and easel.   It took about an hour to work it out and the details were finished later in the studio.  I might play with it a bit more, perhaps eliminating the grasses since they feel a bit distracting to me.  It can be difficult to filter out what's unnecessary when working plein air - there can be too much too look at sometimes, though I certainly can't complain about the view.

Rural route

Morning Mail 12x9 pastel, copyright 2012

In the weeks before the leaves started turning gold, there were dramatic swings in the temperature - cool nights and warm days - which meant foggy mornings.  Not far from our house there are old trees and carefully manicured lawns along one side of the road and brush and weeds on the other before it opens up to pasture.  The morning I took this reference photo the sun was just starting to break up the fog, filtering through the leaves along the road.  I haven't quite figured out how to capture fog in pastels without making a smudgy mess, but I think I caught the early morning light here.

A few weeks later there was a phenomenon I had never seen before.  Everything was covered in light frost, even the tops of the trees.  As the sun came up and evaporated the frost, it turned to fog at the tops of those trees, looking like smoke as wisps trailed into the clear blue sky.  Then slowly it sank down into the fields as the sun rose, becoming very dense at ground level and burning off in the sunlight after only half an hour.  It was beautiful sight, one that made me grateful to be living in the country.