15 x20 pastel and watercolor on Uart paperThe river today was quiet, still - broken only by the sounds of bluebirds, woodpeckers and cardinals. After a long walk with my husband Paul, I returned to the studio with a stillness in me. So, of course, I went back in the studio. I felt that I knew what to do on this painting. Sometimes the best thing you can do as an artist is to stop and let the painting sit with you. In this painting I am aiming for peace with a little tension.The peace is in the Maxwell Parrish blue and still water. The tension is with the opposing pieces of land squeezing. It is still unfinished, but closer.
I must say I love this period of time while painting - when my only job is to listen to the painting. Forget the preparatory sketches and studies it's just the two of us!
2 comments:
This is lovely. I think you perfectly pulled off the peace vs. "squeezing" tension that you were after.
Since art school ended, I have absolutely no patience with preparatory sketches and the like, so I commend you! But I suppose that sort of thing is necessary when one is going to do a larger piece, yes? Since art school I've only been working small.
Hi Jala,
I was just looking over my blog, after my recent changes, and I found this comment you made. OOPS, I never received notification and so I didn't respond. I am sorry.
Thank you for the compliment and you can see in a later posting I still was not satisfied and kept going. Now it is better. If you notice I changed the shapes of one of the squeezing land masses. Compare to January 6th posting.
As to preparatory sketches, usually I work from my plein air pieces. These paintings serve as a piece in their own right and as preparatory "sketches" (sometimes). Often I do a value study as well. Value studies are worth their weight n gold.
Small is good too, intimate. I love small. Lately, I have been infatuated with "grand" scale.(4ft plus) And since pastel is my chosen method it is a challenge, different than oil.
Your small paintings are beautiful, masterly. Don't change a thing unless of course you want to explore something else.
Happy painting!
Loriann
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