What can you get away with?

Same field. I must have ten already. This time I added the telephone poles just to play with their placement. Intentionally I placed one almost in the center, making a divide. It can be thrilling to see what you can get away with. It was my M.O. as a child and I guess i continue it still.

Out in the field

The golden grasses of summer have returned. Lately I have been working with many layers of watercolor under painting with pastel on top. I am careful to make my watercolor darks dark enough so that I can leave them more transparent. Yay summer!!!

April demo at the gallery

finished painting with pastel

watercolor underpainting for demo

This is for all of the folks who attended my demonstration on April 11th. Thank you! This painting was done completely from memory. The bottom photo is what the attendees saw and the top is the finished piece.
Tip- The most important thing to remember when doing a watercolor underpainting is to try to get your values correct. If you don't the watercolor will need to be covered in order for the painting to read correctly.

taking a chance

pastel on gessoed marble dust/oil underneath 36x42

It's framing time. Normally I frame my small paintings, but anything large or unusual I have my wonderful framer Bosco do it. I decided long ago that I realize I could save money doing it all myself, but it's about time and quality. I don't have the time (since I teach part time) nor do I have the knowledge to do certain paintings justice. That's the long way of saying I am taking a chance framing this one. It seems to me that the drips and raw edges are part of the whole, part of the thinking. Therefore I am keeping them in. (ignore the black on the right side..warp of camera on this large piece.) I am having Bosco deep shadow box it leaving all the "unfinished" exposed.

Drawing 365: Tips and Techniques to Build Your Confidence and Skills.

Here are two pages from Katherine Tyrrell's excellent book Drawing 365: Tips and Techniques to Build Your Confidence and Skills. The book has been printed by North Light Books in the States. I am honored to have many pastel paintings included. (Thanks Katherine!) It's a very helpful book filled with excellent tips and beautiful images, must to have in your collection. You can order it with this link on Amazon.
I have posted two pages with my work, both are plein air pieces.
P.S. The Asian printed book (Page One Publishing) is titled 365Hints and Tips for Drawing and Sketching.

Here is a link to Parka Blog where you will find an in depth review.

Painting and underpainting: towards the light

I've been visiting Daddio in California over the holidays. He has been struggling with his health. The tiger that built my studio years ago is undertaking his biggest battle.
This small field I passed each day as I traveled back and forth from the hospital. The morning light was magical. When I was there I only had time to do a watercolor underpainting. With the memory of the field in my mind I finished with pastels in the studio. I posted both, since I have had numerous requests to do so. :-)
Please send some warmth and prayers to Daddio.

underpainting

Hope and Happy Christmas

"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me. 

Emily Dickinson

Happy Christmas friends!

coming up this week

The Waverly Gallery hangs its annual Holiday show this Sunday and opens it with a big bang on Sunday (December 7th) - late afternoon. That's the time we honor our special friends and collectors. Live music, great food and drink. Please do come if you are in the area. Four to six pm. Email me if you want more information...

365 Hints and Tips for Drawing and Sketching

Katherine Tyrrell has outdone herself. Not only does she have the number one art blog in the UK and 11th in the world, but she also now has a new book! The book titled, 365Hints and Tips for Drawing and Sketching is getting great reviews already. A quote from the publisher on the back cover is it in a nutshell"a far cry from other dry, run-of-the-mill art instruction books" The book has two editions one by Asian publisher (Page One Publishing) and another produced by North Light Books, titled Drawing 365: Tips and Techniques to Build Your Confidence and Skills. For a treat you must check out Katherine's blog, Making a Mark. Here's the link.

I am honored to have many of my pastels included in the book, including Beltway Bliss which is on the front cover! Thank you Katherine! I can't wait to see the book in hardcopy.

Here is a review of the book from Parka blogs:
"Here's a book I received from Page One Publishing. It was on my shopping list initially.
There are actually two publishers for the book. Page One Publishing is distributing this book for Asia under the title 365 Hints & Tips for Drawing & Sketching while North Light Books has it as Drawing 365: Tips and Techniques to Build Your Confidence and Skills. They have different covers.
The author is Katherine Tyrrell who's also the blogger for the rather popular art blog called Making a Mark. She also draws and paints and some of her artworks are in the book.
As the title of the book suggest, it features a bunch of hints and tips on drawing. The idea is to use one of these tips each day, to try something different, have a new artist endeavour, explore, experiment. It's more like a motivational book to get you to draw day, and in fact some of the text are motivational tips.
You'll need basic drawing skills to get the most out of the book because the book does not cover much on the techniques.
It's a fun book to follow along and you can create your drawing schedules using the ideas provided. The book is split into three parts. The first covers the basics, second on the subject matter that you can draw and third on materials you can try out.
There are many interesting and useful tips, such as on tackling pet commissions, how to light a still life, draw buildings without understanding perspective, mixing up your drawing medium, ideas on places to draw, things to look out for when drawing certain subjects and the book also covers the basic art fundamentals like observational drawing, composition, proportion, etc. It's a book you can dive into on any page. I like the variety of tips even though some are rather brief but still useful nevertheless.
It's a good book for those who like drawing and sketching.

 

Potomac Gorge and making use of old paintings

pastel over oil, 32"x37"

 A huge sheet of gatorboard (pure plastic, not like gatorfoam) was sitting in my studio. It had a base of marble dust with gesso and some pastel on it, but the pastel was not worth keeping. I rubbed it down, then used gamsol to reduce it. Now it had a resemblance to the Potomac gorge, Great Falls, MD. So I started with thinned oil paint and because of the rubbed pastel underneath, beautiful neutrals developed. Next, I layered those with fresh pastel. The Potomac Gorge is a place I visit often..a majestic place. I looked back in my files at paintings I had done of the gorge and other photos I had taken. I wanted to see the shape of the major land forms.
The most important thing was- I felt that nothing was precious. I was totally free. I have to remember that for next time.

tip on how to do a watercolor underpainting

I continue to show fields from Washington. Both of these were done on location. The larger of the two has a watercolor underpainting.
The most important thing to remember when doing an underpainting is that value matters. That way you are not just covering up the beauty of the watercolor. You can experiment with colors but always make the values in you underpainting correct.

learning what to sacrifice

“The value of memory sketches lies in the fact that so much is forgotten! In time we must learn to leave out in our finished pictures these things which we now leave out through ignorance or forgetfulness. We must learn what to sacrifice.”
Dwight William Tryon

dusk-a-thon, greens and golds

Using a different palette, at a new location, the dusk-a thon continues through the summer. There is always 20 minutes to do another small painting.

BTW There have been many questions about the texture in the last painting. Later this week I will post another from that series and give more detail about the method.

paint paintings

"I don't illustrate travel guide books Madame, I paint paintings." George Inness

I am finally back in my studio after over a month of travel. One of my stops was Washington State.  The fields in Washington always enchant me. I painted just studies for 10 days then moved into the studio at Dakota. This painting is an experimentation using watercolor and gesso with pastel in several layers, most importantly the last layer. I did not like it one bit when I was there...but now as I unpack the box full of paintings that i shipped back I am giving it new though. It's interesting how a little distance can change your mind.

The George Inness quote is one of my long time faves. Doesn't he just say it all?

I will post more studies and paintings as the weeks go forward.

The lake, again

Same view of the lake, yet I am treating the pastel a little differently.

dusk-a-thon continues

I can only say I am learning a tremendous amount. Each small study makes me work super quickly, with snap color judgements. Meanwhile I listen to the songs of the cicadas and geese. Nice.

new view, old field

8x24 pastel

I am going to only my 3 regular places, same views....every day. My question is what can I do today with the same view? How can I treat it differently?

Back to Queen Anne's Lace

Back to the Queen Anne's Lace. This time I not only played with the lace work of the horizon where the  flowers meet the sky, but I also used flowers to lead you through the field. My question  ..how little do I need to paint and still read field?

dusk-a-thon continues

6x6"pastel

My dusk-a thon continues. I am considering this to be simply a learning process, not expecting anything from each small painting. At most I may spent 20 minutes on a single one, usually going on to do another (since the light changes so quickly at dusk.) This was done at 9:00pm at the train station.

6x6"pastel

This one was done at 8:30pm. Amazing how quickly and deliberately the light changes!

poison ivy island

I am now working on a long overdue commission. The problem - I could never wrap my mind around a good concept. I think I simply needed to be far removed from the place and only live with the idea. Commissions are difficult. Most people have their own vision and feelings of the much loved spot they want in the commission. They see it already.
Trouble is, my work is normally not place specific. Instead it's more about the feeling and the vibration of colors makes the feeling. So here I have my first satisfactory study of "poison ivy island." It's a pastel, about 9"x12". Wish me luck!