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.

Windy with Chance of Doughnuts

about 6 x6 each :top -pastel and watercolor on marble dust board, bottom- oil on paper

Today is a very windy day. I went out to the reservoir and painted then on the way home I bought a pink doughnut. After seeing the one Susan had painted recently I was inspired to do something completely different.. This one has these BIG jimmies on top. I think they were hearts and snowflakes. My goal was to paint the first painting in pastel and the second in oil with the palette knife. Familiar to unfamiliar. In the process I would hopefully transfer what I learned with pastel to the knife painting.
I am feeling a bit elastic lately as I stretch to work with this knife.
Sincerely your rubber band painter,
Loriann
PS I will post the reservoir pastel for tomorrow.
PPS I have recovered enough, so I am ready to go back to the outdoors. Boy, have I missed it!!!!!

The Knife Please

6 x6 oil on paper
All this talk about palette knives and seeing these luscious paintings forced me, a dedicated pastel painter, want to take a stab at it (pardon the pun). Yes, the knife is cumbersome, No, I don't know what I am doing. Yes, I will do it again. My favorite parts are the streaks of unmixed paint and the thick glossiness of it. I didn't draw, I just slabbed on the paint. Palette knife painters out there...please give me some tips...ok?
I did this and one other today, Monday. I will post the pastel landscape later. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have surgery...so I will sleep the day away, unaware of everyone. Weird, uh? Don't worry, it's dental surgery. When I was 16 when I thought I could do anything, I surfed. Well, I landed up with a surfboard in my mouth. Ouch! Therefore, every few years I need a, should I say, tune-up.