the baseball field early evening

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart

 The tree on the right has been obsessing me, the way it turns a goldish silver in the light is extraordinary. I watch it every night at sunset, just to see that color! I worked on many studies before getting a composition. I wanted it to be different than my usual field compositions so I included the hill going down to the houses. It caught the light just right.  In addition the buttercups have been left there unmowed. Yay!
That decided I packed up my stuff. Since carrying my stuff is still an issue,  I simply did the watercolor underpainting the first time, returning the next night for the pastel. Violet and yellow predominated in the underpainting- simple.
This evening I brought the pastels. I was out there painting during "pick up" adult softball so fly balls  kept coming precariously close to the easel. It added to the drama of the scene.
Planning and patience are becoming a bigger part of my repertoire.  I can see this one growing huge.
PS This is my first painting done (since surgery on January 13th) while standing at the easel.  Yay! It felt so GOOD!

Addicted to the Light

9x9 pastel on Uart

The goal this time was subtlety. ...hmmmm, not sure if I did that.

It's like the landscape speaks to me and my hand has no real choice about which marks it will make.

Kingfisher's Home at Sunset

6x6 pastel and watercolor on uart
watercolor glazed on top of a one color notan study
one color pastel pencil with water grisaille
After listening to a full day for Richard's amazing wisdom and having the time for one painting (post that another time.) I was not prepared to stop. I grabbed a bite to eat and headed for one beautiful slough (long bodies of water made to bring water to crops). This year Richard is teaching a method that uses the grisaille, watercolor and then pastel. Really cool for making values correct. I am working hard at color harmony (as always) and for this one done on my time I condensed and took out the sky. I will post much more Richard wisdom when I have time. He is AMAZING! I have been fornute to work with him for many years now. He always pushes me another step and then I can go back and work in the studio for a year....re-energized
The whole time I was painting the kingfisher was calling to his mate. This is for them. I love kingfishers!