Thursday, January 31, 2013

snow break

pastel 6x6
On Friday I drove to the airport to pick up my husband, Paul. It was snowing like crazy and the beltway was a parking lot. Great for observation. I had him drive on the return trip so that I could take notes and photograph with my phone. I tried to get the feel of the blurriness that happens with snow. This was the beautiful moment when the skies began to break and the snow was only in the light clouds, not falling down. I am experimenting with the colors I build use to build the toned paper. My pastel is so thick I can scratch and scrape with my nails.

A new quote for you:
Create goals for yourself: 
play, fool yourself and other, be an artist."
Paul Klee, diary 1902

With that said, I think I will return to the press (in addition to painting) to work with monotype/print. I was checking out contemporary monotypes and found Forrest Moses. He makes beautiful monotypes that give me goose bumps. Check out his site.

Monday, January 28, 2013

roads with an edge

My roads series is developing into fun with design and now, with edge. hmmmm

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

more about skies

 My fascination with skies is dangerous. When I drive the beltway I become obsessed watching when I should be driving. This is one of the small paintings done from my Monday drive. I will post another tomorrow. Car lights,  road cuts and that zoom feeling add to my fascination.

Things to remember about skies:
1.Use predominately warmer colors on the clouds closest to you and cooler colors when they are farther away.
2.This may change when lit by sun.
3.If the sun is below the clouds, the bottom ridge is colored and affected by the sun and the darker side is the top of the cloud. When the sun is above the cloud the reverse is true.

Monday, January 21, 2013

skies at dusk

Skies at dusk/sunset are tricky. We think they are bright with color, but the sun is below the horizon.  As it leaves it warms up the horizon line and the land around it, but the majority of the sky becomes grayed. The sky is first high in value and as it becomes later the sky's value changes quickly- darker and darker. We must remember that the Earth is a sphere so the area above the horizon needs to push back since it farther away. If you notice it tends to be green-blue.
At dusk the land cools down dramatically. Only the land nearest to the sun is warm, the opposite of normal aerial perspective.
This is one of many memory works of my favorite pond-ette.
This time of year is wonderful. Not only are the days are short and the shadows are longer,  for the past few days, we have been in a wonderful January thaw. (It just ended. poo)

happy inauguration/MLK day!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

simultaneous contrast and underpainting

 Lately I have been thinking, what do I want from the underpainting? I keep making changes. I have found that when I tone the paper first, with a series of different pastels, I can work off of a rich gray. That gray affects the quality of the color I place on top and I like those colors more. Read simultaneous contrast. hmmmm.

PS Did you know that warm painting make us feel safe and warm?

Thursday, January 10, 2013

beginning to rise from stuckness

another winter field, 6x6
Thank you to all who have commented with different methods to handle stuck-ness. I think that one of the reasons I am stuck is because my small paintings have worked. (This is another new one.) I simply have been enjoying color.... no pressures. Once of the issues is transferring this idea to a bigger surface. When I have been making the small landscapes I have been gradually changing my pastel surface. (Winter time is a wonderful time to experiment.) What surface will accomplish my vision, especially as I move over to oils?
The major question .... I keep trying to understand what is necessary and then do no more. Egad. Sometimes I think I want to wash away the constant influences that barrage me daily. While I love art museums, galleries, books, magazines I need to look away. Go to a cabin far away with no internet or anyone else. Instead I retreat to my studio in the back yard, putting my time in, no matter what the product may be. Just paint. When frustrations get big, I walk.
That's it for now.

Monday, January 7, 2013

stuck

Sometimes you just get stuck...at least I do. I tell myself,"this is good, because it's only through stuckness that I can find the New." Still..how do I get there?

 What do you do when you are stuck?

Here is a list of my tried and true. Please comment to add to it.
1. work small and play with ideas, don't give thought to outcome
2. pick one idea play with it ...sort of like a series, but different.
3. change surface

Thursday, January 3, 2013

magothy river

10.5 x10.5 pastel


Another memory painting ...although this time I had a pencil sketch of the tree bank on the left. The ice has finally begun to form and the still bodies of water (including lakes) have a thin coat. It reflects light very differently than water, especially as it gets bumpier. Right now it is as shiny as it can be since no snow or rain has fallen on it. It seems to absorb light and cast off a slight luster.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

making mood


Mood is the reason we look at paintings again and again. Certain paintings just make us feel. Calculating the mood ahead of time can make the painting struggle and feel contrived. After the initial "feeling" you received from the subject/concept it is best to allow the painting to talk to you and make it's mood.  A direction will develop. A complex mood, something you can't easily name, will be a more interesting direction.
It seems that in a landscape the mood is created by the sky and the way it affects the land. The big question is, how much detail do you really need?  This question constantly haunts me. As I study the idea of detail and just how much is necessary for mood in a landscape I am studying the landscapes of Charles Warren Eaton. My painting above was done with his Winter Solitude (below) in mind. Last week, when I was in Connecticut, and I saw the beautiful swamp-like,  frozen waters and red tinted skies. Once the skies were soft lemon yellow and green gray. Another time the snow brought the melon slice to the horizon of gray. Those visions started my ideas moving.

Charles Warren Eaton's painting is truly inspirational.