the dangers of cotton candy (life as a color junkie)

 9x12 pastel on BFK
Cotton candy is a dangerous thing in painting. The colors of Spring are as delciously sweet as cotton candy...you can only eat so much without feeling sick. Still, you want a bite of it.
The row of apple trees on the farm doomed for construction (result of ICC development) beckoned to me. A combination of the very slight haze of morning and  blossoms on the trees was like cotton candy. I tried only to take a nibble.

differences in paper, differences in style, diffferences in thought

8x8 pastel on BFK
Changing my paper from a sanded surface(wallis, Uart)  to a smooth surface (rives BFK) has changed my work style in many ways. It's funny because it changed my style and then it changed my thinking. First, I no longer do a watercolor underpainting, instead I underpaint with bands of rubbed in color (pastel) which I believe has helped my color harmony. The second change is harder to explain and I think that has happened because now I work in glazes of oil as well (on separate paintings). It relates to how I view layers of warm and cool. The methods I am employing in oil are part of my repertoire in pastel.
One more good thing about smooth papers is that I have fingers and fingernails without abrasions or scraped off nails. And that feels really good.
Oh, by the way Daniel Smith Artist Materials has a great selection of papers, of which I ordered a plethora last night. They have 20% off till tomorrow with the promotional code WR0310CT. Enjoy!
Bottom line, change is good. Shake up your methods a little, take chances and have a little fun.

snow field

 24x24 oil on linen
Began this painting on Sunday by toning my linen with washes of warm and cool yellows. It seemed the best way to create the light. I am working with the plein air study was done on the field at sunrise as my reference- see it here
Since Sunday I have worked a little each day. Today, I tortured myself and it for almost the whole day. Arggh.  I want it luminous, yet more towards abstract. I know I had abstract for awhile back there when Paul walked in and asked..."nice, what is it?" Maybe I went too much the other way. I was constantly thinking for the concept of refraction, much more deliberate.

Sorry for the bad photo... it's the best I can do indoors when the light is low.  I will work more and repost another time.

I reposted it today....better light outside. Photographing whites is difficult.

Suggestions anyone?

field of snow, one of the lost fields

10x12 pastel on BFK
This is a plein air from yesterday's sunrise. It's another field that is leaving us, in fact I parked in the ICC construction parking lot.
The underlying tones were yellow. I picked my handful of pastels and stuck with them...the sirens couldn't tempt me;-)

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.)

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.

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

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 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.

quiet dignity

Overcast days have an incredible light sense. The colors have a different flavor. Places once unnoticed, now whisper, "look at me' with quiet dignity.
To me, mood is the essence of landscape painting and overcast and fog are two incredible moods. Today when I walked through the field I foolishly was looking down observing the color on the land. When I finally gazed upward I saw this glowing orb trying to push its way through the Wow! I then knew who was the star of the show today.

sweet sunrise/october

about 5x8 pastel on watercolor

the field -photo
The sunrise light is cool and delicate. The green grasses appear blue/neutral and the sky is tinged with more green and yellow (after the pink fades.) This morning the grisaille was done on the spot and I tried to still keep free. Today I added the photo to my post. It shows my point(about cameras vs. the eye) made on Tuesday. What do you think?

summer's last breath

8x7 pastel on watercolor/ uart paper (painted on Saturday)
Summer whispered one more time today. The air was warm and wonderful, yet the trees have edges of crisp new color.
This is a new field. Larry, a gracious homeowner, allowed me to go back to paint on his land . His beautiful land abuts the construction zone and a preserved wetland. He has lived in his home for two years. When he bought it he had no idea what was to come.

Autumn's Sneaky Ways

8x8 pastel
I know I will never truly be a tonalist since my true love is a more intense, higher chroma hue; but I am beginning to absorb pieces of what Deborah Paris says. A tonalist relies mostly on temperature with a few values. I am more comfortable with more value shifts and zingy color.
The watercolor underpainting was done on a pastel pencil loose grisaille (at home.) I tried to keep my neutrals in the underpainting to guide me. At the field I was once again free.
 
I am using my pastels with a lighter touch. More like a whisper.

Magic Hour at the Field

pastel 8x15watercolor underpainting

Dominant hue. Yes, I am harping on it again... not for your sake (no offense), more as a reminder for me. Let me explain why. The dominant hue  tells you which colors to use, and what chroma and value they should be. For this one I did a full color underpainting at home. Before leaving for the field I washed the whole thing with  my new favorite watercolor, Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet (mixed with Quidacridone Magenta.)   I love this color! Out at the field I concentrated on my dominant hue and chroma and keeping my painting warm.  But as I am sure you are aware, if I just painted warm without any counter balance it would be boring.  I also decided to stretch to lower foreground shape to make the dominant value be the shadow-about a 5/6 on the value scale.  It also made a path back to the glowing horizon.
I am really starting to enjoy doing the underpainting at home. I found it frees me up on site.

memory extended

8x8 pastel on watercolor
The field now lives in my head, just like the reservoir once did (and will again.) So this morning after working en plein air, I decide to try to loosen up more with color and just play. Let's call this one memory extended. I think I will do more of these and see where it will take me:-)

Poignant Last Stand...progress continues

Still trying to find the way with this one, I just can't give up on it. It has improved...any suggestions anyone?

why the eye is superior to the camera and Sunrise on the Construction Site

8x10 pastel on watercolor on Uart paper
This view has stayed with me for awhile, sitting in my mind's eye. It's a difficult place to paint; constant construction vehicles, dust and people. I wanted to work on a bigger painting from this site and for me that means work on site to understand the landscape and light. Memory and plein air work will ALWAYS be better than any photograph for creating a painting.
Let me list the reasons:
1. Cameras only capture a limited value range. They especially wash out shadows.
2. The camera sees with one eye we see with two - the result is distorted shapes
3. Cameras and computers only work with 3 colors red, blue and yellow. The eye sees limitless colors.
Have I convinced you? It's usually easy to spot work done from only photos and yes it's ok to use photos as reference. All I am trying to say is trust your ability to create.