Plum comes out to play

Lake Needwood has a special glow right now. What's left to the leaves shows as a deep plum and burnt sienna making it a beautiful combination with the water of Needwood.

Last night's opening was fun thanks to all of my very supportive friends and collectors. I met many new people as well.
I think now I will exhale and then set a new priority list.

man vs nature

Today is hanging day for the show. Needless to say I am a  bit frantic. Two main pieces (including the main image represented on the postcard invitation) are not ready due to different snafus. So I sit a Starbucks waiting for them to be prepared. Here is  my artist statement prepared especially for this show.

"I have never thought of myself as an activist or environmentalist, simply as an artist who loves the outdoors.  This has changed since that one day when the bulldozers and big machines arrived in "my field." That is when I learned approximately 800 acres of forest, including large tracts of mature forest, and nearly 10 miles of streams are being destroyed to build the 18.8 mile, 6-lane toll road called the ICC (or Inter_County Connector.) Since that time I vowed to paint these fields, which I named "the forgotten fields," and record the beauty that will disappear within months.

As a painter I am drawn to the wonderful "chaos" that is a wild field.  The sweetest light of the day, the magic hours of dawn and dusk, are my chosen times to paint. Therefore each day, regardless of the weather, I tie on my hiking boots and head to the fields. I paint from life so that I can feel the poetry that is light.  Sometimes I use my smaller plein air paintings to allow me to create larger studio works.  When beginning a painting I first set the tone and value with thin washes of watercolor or oil. next I use my pastel as a glazing medium, layering one color on top of another in a translucent fashion to heighten the vibration between colors and the feeling of light. Subtle play between warm and cool colors, transparent and opague passages intrigue me.

Sublime was a term that cam to mind when painting the fields: the elevating of this classic/common northeast landscape to the greatness which it deserves. that was my mission. A mission I accepted with the love and seriousness it required.

So please take a moment and savor the timeless, bittersweet feeling of something special lost forever.

smoke on the water

8x8 pastel and watercolor on uart
I was given a second try to capture the idea of light fog rising off the water. Yesterday's looked more like ice...this time it does look more like vapor. To create the vapor like effect I used many colors of the same value intertwined. Maybe I will try it next with this painting as a reference.
I have been very busy getting ready for my show that opens on Saturday night- Man vs. Nature. (Please come if you can.) This show documents the beauty we are losing due to the construction of the new 6 lane toll road the inter-county connector, otherwise known as the ICC. It's been a very emotional time for me. It's amazing how this kind of work can be so upsetting. Beauty lost forever.

searching for the illusion of mystery

about 8 x 15
Excitement rules when there is fog predicted!
This morning a light fog lay on top of low lying areas and water....oh la la! Fog and its cousins, mist and haze, are wonderful things: they evoke mystery. The  underpainting was far more successful on this account: subtle tonal shifts with delicate edges. I think I became too "sharp" in the pastel version. As the haze lifted I painted portions of the changes. Bad move. While it is not a "bad" painting I think the underpainting is better. Less is more once again wins.
I think I will rework it when i am back in the studio.

three little piggies

8x8 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper
Articulate your color harmony. This blue skies and long shadows demanded a dynamic complementary color harmony: blue and orange. When choosing blue that meant I leaned all the violet shadows toward the bluer end of the spectrum. The fence in the distance  appears blue. The sky has the thickest and highest value paint and pastel than any other place. I tried to keep the shadows transparent.

This beautiful field, next to Lake Needwood is destined for sacrifice. Soon they will build 12 new homes, this, near the ICC. Sad. As I was painting I kept thinking of the three little piggies (the trees)  and the wolf  (the ICC.)

pink veil

detail w/pastelwatercolor underpaintingnew2" brush next to old 1" brush

This one is in progress. It's idea sprouted from all the recent lake studies. It's big, about 18x27. Layering the watercolor was fun with my new 2" brush. Materials don't make the painter..but boy, oh boy it's heaven with a 2 inch thick juicy brush full of pigment.

a world of plum and sienna

Oh what a difference a day makes! After a night of rain the golden and pink leaves have disappeared. In the rain this morning the world appeared to be a mix of plum and sienna. I found a little overhang so that I could paint and not be soaked:-) In this weather the values are so close with just small shifts in temperature. I do love these rainy day landscapes and autumn is pure magic.

soft pink veil

This one was painted on location. It really amazes me how pink/violet the whole landscape appears when it is so overcast. It's as if the landscape was wearing a veil. Happy Halloween!

sing the pinks

version 1 above, version 2 underneath
14 x18 pastel on printmaking paper (Rives BFK?)
This should be named,"what can I get away with?" I know I talk all the time about the importance of value. To prove it to myself (again) I decided to use "my" color and only adhere strictly to value while feeling autumn morning. As a reference I used the black and sepia painting that I completed on Saturday "Less is More" .  My  paper is different too and a different method of applying pastel (no watercolor) so that I was free from my habits. Who knows what would happen. Experimenting helps me move forward.  I may do more of these.
repost:After painting on location this morning  I did a second version with more local color.
Which do you prefer?

Dreams of Rose Colored Waters

It's funny I have been dreaming about painting this. So this morning the light was perfect-overcast, yay! The dominant color is a pink to rose violet. Wonderful layers of orange and burnt sienna lay on top. I have many more ideas how to work this one in the studio.

Golden Moment on Lake Needwood

How few colors could I use? That was today's challenge. I began with a value underpainting in violet, the dominant color and then added as few strokes as possible using only about 7 pastels. Is it possible to create light with 7 pastels?
Do you ever challenge yourself like that?

This is a lake next to some of my favorite fields (fields that are leaving us due to the ICC). As I was departing the painting site I noticed big signs announcing the permit to build a new subdivision on the fields near the lake. It was a depressing thought. Even if a field has been spared from the ICC it won't for too long, due to the development of the area after the road is finished that it too will be gone. Yuck!

Autumn's Warmth

I pushed my way through the field filled with grasses and thorn bushes to get to the other side of Big Daddy. I wanted to look directly west and have the light come through the branches.
In both the watercolor underpainting and the pastel I worked with a pre-determined palette- orange/pink,  green and violet, pretty much a triad of secondaries with the exception of pink to represent the cooler side of orange. I wanted to show the effect of sunset through leaves.  The temperature changes are very important here.
The red fox joined me half way through the painting session: I thought of it as a lucky moment.

Silence beside the Pond / Stroke and mood

Stroke and energy, tools that come hand in hand. In Saturdays' post the stroke was energetic in parts, quiet in others. Today my stroke is as quiet as I could make it. Still, quiet.You the artist determines how the viewer sees.
Now out to the field for some more sunset work.... I'll post it tomorrow. Big Daddy at sunset.

field in full sun

9x12 pastel on watercolor Uart paper

Now I know why I really prefer to paint in overcast skies when it's the peak of autumn. The cacophony of color screams my name and I feel a bit crazed. At mid morning the value is all very similar washed and bright and limited shadows. I worked hard to simplify this open field. In fact I wiped this one out countless times. Still to no avail. I guess this post is about what not to do. Some days are like that;-l

Less is More

9x12 sepia and black pastel on arches

Less is more is a saying that is true in many aspects of life. Painting is just another facet. Detail and complexity do not make better paintings...instead look for what is essential. Paint like the eye sees. Notice when you focus and look at one specific area, for instance the tree edge near the water, now the farther points in your vision blur  and become out of focus. Hmmmm. what does that mean for your paintings? I continually struggle to find that in my work.

color harmony/ Square Big Daddy

For me, emotion is concept. The tools I use to share this feeling and hopefully resonate with feelings the viewer has, are limited but powerful. It really isn't possible to copy the colors you see in nature. Instead  one tool artists rely on is color harmony. It helps  create the illusion of real.
( I posted two today...this one is for tomorrow a studio day :-)

New Opera, Same Diva / use of value at sunset

This is the larger painting that I began in the field on Monday at sunset. At that time of day a painter has only about 5 minutes to record what she (or he) sees. Even in paintings that are all about color, value is the most important thing. At sunset the values in the land are very close and the temperature changes make the song. The diva is once again the light coming through the trees, the back-up singers are the grasses. Neutrals are the key.

the space between

9x12 pastel on watercolor (i think)
Return to the reservoir. I love the way the land masses meet. Today is my long teaching day so earlier morning painting is important.

the diva on the field

8x8 pastel on watercolor
Yesterday I returned to the field by the haul road (of the ICC.) I chose to work on two paintings as the light changed. This is the smaller one. To make the colors seeping through the trees more important I washed away the pastel I had laid on the grasses...they were stealing too much of the limelight. as you know the opera can only have one diva.
Thank you to the homeowners with Lily the dog. I will return to finish the other painting.

finished- Big Daddy through the Raindrops

12 x18 pastel on watercolor
Yesterday the rain slowed down to a dribble and a crack of light formed in the sky. I was lucky to have returned to the field...just in case. Big Daddy didn't need much work just enough to make the space deeper.
After I finished painting I returned to the other side of the destruction. This time I had my invitations to distribute when asking for permission to walk back on the homeowner's land to paint. With great sadness I listened to people's stories of what has happened.  One woman, Shirley, told me of the giant black walnut tree that stood in the field behind her house. Her now 28 year old son had his tree fort in it when he was quite young. One day the construction/destruction crew came with a huge machine.  With a monstrous yank of it's claw they took down that beautiful, gigantic tree. Shirley said they all watched and cried, even her 28 year old son. Sad. I cry with them.

Big Daddy through the Raindrops

12 x18 watercolor underpainting
It has rained for 3 days now and my patience is wearing thin. I couldn't stay in the studio one more minute, so even though it was raining I drove to the field. Due to the rain I didn't take out pastels (even with the umbrella), but using watercolor was fine. Maybe the drops of water even added to the atmosphere. Pastels tomorrow.

almost evening

18x 27pastel on arches paper
I am using the same process, but this time I allowed myself two colors- deep sepia and black. I am breaking my own rules (one color only) because black seemed to harsh, sepia too whimpy, so a combo was necessary. I also am starting to feel my stroke, be less tentative. My goal is emotional content through value and it seems stroke becomes more important, probably because I can no longer rely on color as my most powerful  tool. What does Richard say?????.... value does the work and color gets the glory. hmmmmmmm.

Nocturne, #1

8x10 pastel on Uart
Done from memory and notes from the summer, this painting started with a grisaille, upon which I pasteled directly (no watercolor.) hmmmm. It's my first attempt at a nocturne. I have had it in my mind for a long time, I simply had to soak up the color and understand.  This is the added on version. The first I posted at 5:30 am. When I returned to the studio at 1:00 it was obvious the painting needed more (thanks Doug.)
Maybe someday I will try to rig up my easel for plein air at night. Any tips friends?

Evocative

12x 10.5 pastel on arches
Value is a strong tool for mood. I didn't realize this before. Being a colorist has made me always rely on beautiful hues and changes in chroma to create mood. I guess I have been missing a big piece. I always realized the importance of value to create space..... but it's even more important for mood. What do you think? 
I was trying to envision haunting. I think I need to go back to the reservoir. I keep feeling that the dark is not dark enough.....hmmm. Maybe do it again. Now I did it again darker...

twilight stillness

8x10 black pastel on arches
Here is a new idea.... playing with value to make mood. Matthew, the owner of the gallery where I have my work, saw my grisailles on line and loved them as finished works. (go figure;-) He wanted to have some before I put paint on them. To me they are unfinished so I am playing with a new idea- just black pastel on white paper. I also decide to work on arches instead of Uart because I am rubbing alot to make the values and I want to have some fingers left. (I am still missing part of my right, middle finger nail due to rubbing on uart sanded paper)
Using just value to express emotional content is a challenge. Here is my first try.