Painting Challenge

A dramatic soccer season has come to an end, just in time for a round of birthdays and the holidays, all while starting a new job at the arts center.  I did manage to finish a pastel last weekend.  I follow a number of blogs of artists I admire, and one of them is Bonnie Griffith.  Bonnie lives in the Northwest and her pastel landscapes have a wonderful depth and vibrancy to them that I am always aiming for.  She recently issued a challenge on her blog to paint a photo she had taken while on vacation in Montana.  We don't get outcrops like this in western Ohio and I decided I needed the practice, so I took her up on that challenge.  This pastel is the result:

Outcrop with Juniper 12x14 pastel, copyright 2010

photo from SE Montana, copyright Bonnie Griffith 2101

It's interesting to me to look at the two images side by side.  I see lots of changes I can make, but I think it might be best to leave it as is.  One of the most difficult things for me is knowing when to stop.  I have a tendency to get caught up in the details and end up overworking the piece.  This time I left the photograph on the laptop rather than printing it out, and blurred the image slightly.  I think that helped and is something I will try again.

Thanks Bonnie!

The neighbors' barn, revisited

Just Up the Road, 16x20 pastel, copyright 2010

As some of you may recall, this past winter I painted a pastel of a barn about a mile from our house, a barn that I pass by almost every day.   It was in the Randolf County, Indiana annual show, but to be honest, I never felt it was as good as it could have been.  To me it seemed to be lacking in depth and vibrancy, and has been bothering me ever since I framed it.

One of the great things about pastels it that they are easily revised.  For some reason today felt like a good day to pull this one out of its frame and make it better.  I removed the tree on the left and decided to define the light and shadow better to give it more depth.  Having a well defined light direction is always a struggle for me, but when I finally recognize that's what's missing, I find the results much for satisfying.

Here is the original version for comparison.

Sunflowers in a mason jar

Sunflowers came home with me again last week after a fundraiser at the art center.  This time I tried them in pastel and in a larger size.  At 18x24, this is the largest still life I've tried in pastel.   The multiple, long bright petals are perfect for the sort of loose, gestural quality I've been leaning towards.  And I decided I needed to use more red in the work this time.  It's a color I rarely chose as I seem to lean more towards the warm browns and blues.  I like how just a bit of red here and there in the flowers really makes the color pop.  I'm going to have to use it more often, although I obviously have no intention of abandoning my bright blues!

For some reason I can't get the image to load on the blog, you'll have to follow the link to see.  I'll see if it works tomorrow.

Update:  Still can't load a picture on this post, you'll just have to use the link.  Weird.

While it is normally hectic around here, the last few weeks have been unusually so.  I've had a number of scrapers, a few that aren't quite finished, and always a lot of ideas that never make it to canvas or paper.  Two paintings were dropped off at the Richmond Art Museum, and the open judging is tonight.  Unfortunately I can't go due to other obligations, but I can only imagine it would be a nail-biting experience.

I was able to finish a pastel recently, though it has been reworked and reworked.  It took me awhile to recognize what the issue was and why it seemed rather bland and boring.  Horizontal lines provide a minimum of visual interest; vertical lines are much better.  After I made those changes the painting improved considerably.  It is based loosely on the view from my front yard.

After the Harvest, 12x16 pastel, copyright 2010

Up and Down Day

Good news and bad news came today.  The bad news first:  I recieved a rejection letter in the mail today from the Cincinnati Art Club's annual show for my oil, Oranges in a Black Bowl.  There were over 350 entries and only 70 spots, so it's a pretty competative venue.  This was my fisrt attempt to get in, I'll give it another try next year.  I'm thinking about entering it into the Richmond (Indiana) Art Museum show, along with Sunflowers.  It will be my second attempt for that show.

The good news came in a box in the form of new pastels.  I was a little leary of ordering pastels on the internet because I like to look at the colors in person, but my choices came out just fine.  There was a lack of dark, saturated colors in my collection, so I chose some rich browns and purples along with a few greens - a landscape artist can never have enough greens!   Some of the colors are from brands I have not used before, so it should be a good way to try them out.  I may be tempted to go back and touch up some earlier pieces, especially with the purples and browns to make excellent, deep shadows.

Sweetness

Sugar Bowl 9x12 pastel, copyright 2010

I finally replaced the little glass sugar bowl I had broken sometime ago, and decided it really needed to be painted.  My thought was to try it in both pastel and oil in order to compare the two mediums.  I'm still working on the oil, and am not happy about it's turning out.  For whatever reason the pastel just seemed to click better this time around.  Working in both mediums was helpful however, as I noticed what was working in the oil and applied it to the pastel.  Hopefully it will work in reverse as well.

The primary reason I chose this subject was because I felt practice was needed for reflections, without the distraction of color.  I thought the transparency of the glass would make things a little easier as well, which turned out to be an incorrect assumption.  I think it worked on the bowl, but the lid was a bit more difficult, as was the texture of the sugar.  Part of the problem was that I initially became impatient and worked too quickly, ignoring some of the details.  Extensive reworking fixed a lot of the initial mistakes, but it took a lot of pastel to do it - I'm sure the paper can't hold much more!

If I like how the oil turns out, I'll post it later in the week.  

In the "zone"

Sunflowers 16x20 oil, copyright 2010

This weekend's barn tour and dinner, a joint project of the Preble County Art Association and Preble County Historical Society, went very well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and big thanks to all the barn owners, the tour guide (Steve Gordon, a long time friend and historic barn expert), and all the volunteers who made it possible.  And to top it all off, the weather was just perfect.

One of the benefits of helping out with these projects is all the goodies that come with it.  A delicious free meal and a centerpiece from one of the tables - sunflowers in this case.   I grow a few sunflowers every year to provide munchies for the birds (and myself) plus a few plants that are purely decorative.  This summer's heat and drought didn't work out so well for the decorative ones, so I was happy to get a few to take home, hoping to find the time to paint them before they wilted.

I didn't really have the time, but I painted them anyway, most of it in one fell swoop on Tuesday.  I started out with a blue background, which I think made me unconsciously emphasize the orange rather than the yellow.  I liked how it looked, so I just kept going.  The paint is thicker than usual, and I used a larger brush.  All this helped me keep the painting loose and not bogged down in detail.  I was truely in the "zone" on this one, and it was only outside influences (ie family) that kept me from finishing all at once.  Fortunately I was able to hold onto that feeling and finish today.  Being pulled in many different directions can make it hard to find the zone and I was lucky to take advantage of it when I did.

I'm thinking this one might be worthy of trying for a show at the Richmond (Indiana) Art Museum next month.  Hopefully it will be dry by then!