Saturday, November 28, 2009

field/experiment with materials


8x10 pastel on archival fore core
Yes. that's right this was done on a left over piece of archival foam core. It was soft..felt similar to the BFK I have been using. I must say it worked completely differently. Glossy and slippery and it sure wouldn't take a lot of pastel. I had to jam it into the surface with constant rubbing. An experiment. Felt more like  etching.

After my frustration with the value study I coated the board with lascaux pastel primer. The board would not take water so using only my notes and my memory I did a color study with pastel. This is all preparatory work for some bigger field paintings.

I think I have to start alternating my plein air painting sessions with more memory work.

The only thing I learned from all this is that "all that glitters is not gold;" meaning archival foam core will not substitute good paper:-)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Working from memory is what Gauguin encouraged Van Gogh to do while living with him for nine turbulent weeks in Arles. I say go for it, but then we all know what happened to Vincent. Somehow, I think you are coming from a better space than Van Gogh. Have at it!

Anonymous said...

Working from memory is what Gauguin encouraged Van Gogh to do while living with him for nine turbulent weeks in Arles. I say go for it, but then we all know what happened to Vincent. Somehow, I think you are coming from a better space than Van Gogh. Have at it!

Brian McGurgan said...

It's great to see your process in experimenting here, Loriann. I particularly like the value sketch and your thumbnail with notes.

loriann signori said...

Hi Marianne,
Memory is a very powerful tool that I am trying to train and harness, like many before me. My fave,George Inness, painted from memory..... if only.......
happy painting girl!

Hi Brian, experimenting is a big piece of the constant learning curve. I know you too enjoy this aspect. Your paper explorations are so intriguing. I wonder if you would write a post about the different attributes of the papers you have tried..what do you think?