the western sky

Here are two plein air paintings from my last trip to Sante Fe. With a few adjustments to tie in the color harmony, they finally work. I am getting my mind set for Sedona.

Down into the Canyon

9x9 pastel on Uart paper
It was almost sunset and freezing when I began this one. When I left the scene it was very unfinished. The Rio Grande. I worked with it sporadically since I returned. It meant digging into my memory and trying to pull out that golden light and deep shadow.
Hmmmmmm...back to spring in DC.

Distance: What I know and what I do and the contrast

11 x14 oil- very unfinished -very frustrating

There are so many things I KNOW about creating grand space.
Ah, the many ways to create distance. Let me name the ways:
1. color, 2. temperature, 3. value, 4. mass size, 5. stroke size, 6. texture, 7. atmospheric perspective 8. design elements. There are probably more...these are in the front of my mind.
The problem is WHAT I KNOW AND WHAT I DO are TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. I have glazed and glazed finally I felt I wanted more juice. Out came the palette knife. (Yes Brian and Jala ...it's back.) Oh, dear........ I guess I will let it dry a little and go on to another.
So now I am exposed as I struggle once again.:-)

Thoughts:
I have been absorbed in research about the Hudson River Painters and the Luminists. They KNOW distance. Sanford Gifford's (one of my faves) favorite device was to view from up high while thickening the air to the limits of its ability to hold moisture and light. This veil of haze heightened the sense of depth. ( the desert of New Mexico has little moisture...but I can stretch it)
Bierstadt's favorite way is size. Not only were the foreground shapes massive, but the entire canvas was an massive vertical. (vs. Gifford's elongated horizontals.)

As for my meager painting, at this point I am viewing from above and have used mass size to suggest space. I have premixed some colors and intuitively added others. I am very conscious of temperature of my colors and the size of stroke and mass. I realize I WANT delicious colors. Subtlety is not really me.

Morning Glow on Sandia's Seeds

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper
Yesterday, before I left New Mexico I did this one in the juniper field looking up to the foot hills of Sandia Mountain. I love the way the Junipers look like polka dots or in the case, seeds. It's funny I wasn't certain I would post this one...but here it is. Sometimes I get frustrated with myself because I seem to always revert to "my ways" even though I am trying to stretch in other ways. I guess it is like an elastic...stretch and spring back, stretch again....you get the picture. I guess I have to trust that is how it works:-)

Polka Dots on Sandia Mountain

9x9 pastel on watercolor underpainting
This is Sandia Mountain which is right in back of the house. I painted it as the sun was setting and the colors were moving fast. The goal was distance and time of day. Those junipers are tricky. Now I am off to the airport...back to DC.

View from Wes and Marilynn's living Room

9x12 pastel and watercolor on Uart

I decided that my time would not be complete without attempting to paint the marvelous view from my host's lovely home. I made my plan. Early morning, just as the light creeps over the mountain would be best. So yesterday I studied and sketched, then set up my easel (last night) for this morning's work. It was even harder to create the grand space in this one since there was no shape definer like the river.
Today is my last day here. So I have decided to go to hike up Tent Rocks (again) and then go gallery and museum hopping in Santa Fe. Till tomorrow!!!!!

Rio Grande in the Late Afternoon

9 x 12 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper
I was obsessed with this view so I returned to the Rio Grande. Two differences; this one was painted in the late afternoon and I looked in the opposite direction.
I tried really hard to make the grand space but this time I was less restricted with my color palette, although I was very tuned into the color temperature dance. My true joy is working with simultaneous contrast (Thank you Richard) and the vibration it makes. I am using my pastels differently-more like glazes...oh so lightly they touch the surface of the paper.
I LOVE this view! I wish I could paint it day after day.
I will blog more later when I am not on the side of the road:-)

The Grand Rio Grande

9 x12 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper
This one is my favorite of all the New Mexico paintings so far. It's funny because when I saw it I was jarred by its beauty and scared to death just to try to create the impression of the grandness before me on this small piece of paper . The light was high (one o'clock in the afternoon), but I didn't want to wait for hours to get just the right light. So I decided to take on the challenge. Because of the light conditions I had to really search and heighten the value changes in order to make the grand space I wanted.
I used the same method : a value/temperature underpainting, then pastel to make the color of light and atmosphere. I think this one will go back to the studio and become a biggie.

Blogger friends, I have not ignored you and of course I will respond to your comments it's just that my internet service is sooooooo bad that it breaks down over and over again. I will try...
XO Loriann

The Divide

9x12 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper
This is again the Chama River. This time I am looking to the left from the bend (in the last painting). While I painted this early this morning the winds were blowing fiercely. Within an hour the snow was coming down horizontally. So I finished up quickly and somehow my car drove me to the hot springs in Ojo Caliente, where I happily watched the snow from inside my hot spring. Ahh....
My focus on this painting was again grand space. The method was the same. First I created a value/temperature underpainting then used color to create space. Since the light was very low I heightened the foreground the provide the needed space.

I Got the Bends

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper $100.
I just drove and ended up going many beautiful places. First, I realized that while the red rocks are stunning, it is the river which "floats my gondola" (as my brother Peter would say.) So I chased rivers. This is the Chama near Ghost Ranch. I love the way I could look from above and see a grand view. Just look at that bend will you!!!!
Here I concentrated first one a value/temperature underpainting and then using color to create the grand space.

Juniper in Full Light

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart paper $100.
I have been missing for a couple days, only because I had no reliable internet. I am here in New Mexico. A big thank you to Wes and Marilynn for graciously allowing me to stay in their beautiful home. First let me say I thought New Mexico would be warm at this time of year.....but noooooooo, it is far from that. One moment it is sunny and 55 and the next there is a huge dust storm with tumbleweeds aiming for me like a bulleye and the next minute its is snowing horizonatly. So much for warm! I arrived late Monday (through snow and backed up planes at Denver) and began right to work. the light is fantastic here!