Hard pastel underpainting

Underpainting with mineral spirits

Given my displeasure with the watercolor underpainting, I decided to try hard pastel and mineral spirits. I used colors and values as close to what I was seeing as possible–something that is difficult with the limits of hard pastel. Given the complexity of the subject matter, I did not want to experiment with warm under cool or other possible schemes.  After applying the first layer of mineral spirits, I decided to darken parts of the clouds, which you see in this photo.  While this is not a particularly lovely underpainting, it was much easier to work with.

Reference Photo

Here is the photo for Taos Sunset #2. I really like the shape of the clouds and the narrower form of the earth at the bottom.  I began with charcaol again as I feel much more comfortable starting with this format.

Charcoal and water wash

Taos Sunset #1, 24 x 18, Wallis Museum grade

OK, I ‘m hoping the frog is gone!  I’m happy now with the shape of the clouds.  This was my first painting on white Wallis in some time. I bought it mounted from Dakota and have two more, so they are perfect for the series of three sunsets I want to do. I started with charcoal and wash with this, then used watercolor. This was NOT successful. Too light. I didn’t want to use hard pastel as I don’t have the right colors, and I couldn’t use alcohol because it is Wallis. I should have done hard pastel and water or mineral spirits for the bottom as the little white dots drove me crazy.  This was one of the first images I shot, so not as much color in the clouds. The next two will have more oranges and pinks.  Those who have studied with me know that I tend to avoid sunsets as being too cliched. And I really disliked a lot of the gaudy bright red/orange sunset paintings that I saw on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. But these pictures of the coulds reflecting the sunset really captured me and I couldn’t wait to get home and work with them.  For this painting, I primarily used my two boxes of blue/cerulean Blue Earth pastels. The variety of grays is wonderful for clouds. I tried to maintain a color palette by using red violet, cool grayed greens, and grayed browns of differing values in both the clouds and the earth. Then I added some blue violet to the clouds to tie them to the blues of the sky around them. I think the result if pretty harmonious.

Sorry–no paintings to share with you. There is a large one on the easel that I actually signed. But then I realized that the cloud looked alot like the bottom of a frog with two legs in the air!!!  So I’ll be working on that.  BUT–I have some exciting news to share with you. This will be of more interest to those who are in the DC area, but I wanted to share it with everyone.  I am going to be joining a new group of artists at the Capitol Arts Network(CAN) in Rockville.  CAN is located in a  warehouse that has been made into artist’s studios, a large gallery, and a beautiful teaching room. I’ve heard that they plan to purchase the building next door as well. I will be teaching at this facility in September, in addition to my class at the Yellow Barn. I plan to offer a 3 hour class Monday and Wednesday mornings.  AND–I have taken the last available studio, which I hope to turn into a showplace for pastel.  I”m asking that a window be cut into the wall that runs along the hall to the gallery and teaching room. So everyone can see the beauty of pastel as they go to their classes!  The studio is big enough to hold small classes, demonstrations, mentoring or critique sessions.  And I’m sure it will generate more students.  This is a major move for me, both financially and time-wise. My plan was to teach less and try to give more workshops for pastel societies.  But this opportunity to become part of a vibrant new community of artists near my house was too good to pass up.  Two people have made this even more enticing.  The director, Judith Heartsong, is a really wonderful, energetic person, filled with enthusiasm, ideas, and strong marketing skills. I hope to learn much from her. And Glen Kessler, my colleague at the Yellow Barn, also has a studio at CAN and has been very supportive of having me there as well. I am very much looking forward to working with him.  So now I am looking at the IKEA and Blick catalogs to figure out how to furnish a second studio as cheaply as possible. Having two studios is going to be confusing at first. But I’ve got plenty of pastels, that’s for sure!  I won’t have as much time to “play” with pastel and post on the blog this summer as I had planned, but I’ll do as much as possible.  The idea of being able to show my work–framed AND unframed–in this new place is really exciting. Wish me luck!!!

Sepowet Marsh, 14 x 11, UART 400

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of painting in Tiverton, RI in the Sepowet area, with my friend Janet Gendreau. The composition of this view of marsh and water caught my eye immediately, despite the preponderance of green. What was funny was that by the time I’d finished the lay-in, the water was up to the top of the grass, and by the time the underpainting was done, the water was completely covering the marsh!  I guess it was a full moon. But I stuck with my original drawing and concept, wanting to make the shape of water in the mid-right the main focus of the painting. The addition of the yellow flowers at the end (which were everywhere but here) helped to break up the large mass in the lower right. I corrected the values in the back mass of trees in the studio and added more of a blue green to the water.  The underpainting was done with warm oranges and reds, but little of it seems to be showing through.  This area has long been one of my favorites. I hope to do a series of pictures from this area and perhaps teach a workshop here next summer.

On the Rocks, 14 x 11, UART 400

Morning Impression, Marshmere, 9 x 12, Wallis Belgian mist

I’m back from the cool, wet Northeast. Back to the hot, humid, wet Mid-Atlantic!  It’s been a real contrast from the very hot and dry Southwest. (Better for my skin though!)  Unfortunately, I had very little time to paint outside. These two were done the day after I arrived on a beautiful morning with early yellow light. I worked hard to keep them as loose as possible.The picture with rocks and heron was done first and has more detail. But I tried to keep the background suggestive and loose. The pointed rock catching the light was my intended center of interest. Then the heron flew in and I couldn’t resist adding him. But I never got his legs and had to resolve the problem by adding another bush!  The second picture was done very quickly and loosely and I really did eliminate most of the detail, focusing on shapes, colors, and light. When I was out painting these pictures, I was in heaven and really looked forward to a week of plein air painting. However, the workshop I took was all indoors (when there was sun), then two days later the fog and mist arrived, followed by rain. I did get one more picture and will put that in a separate post.  One thing I’m not sure about in the second picture is the grass and reflections in the water. I think it distracts from the basic shapes at high tide. What do you think?