Two Adobes, 29 Palms, 16 x 20, UART dark board

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

I’ve been cleaning out my studio and going through a lot of old stuff.  One of the things is a box of old color photos that I’ve saved from a far larger number that I took prior to the days of digital and the cell phone.  One of the pictures was taken in 29 Palms, California in 2003. We stayed at a place that had a wonderful array of colorful adobes.  The photo had two in shades of majenta/pink and green/turquoise, along with tall cacti of some sort.  So I decided to try doing it on one of my 16 x 20 UART dark boards.

(A note:  while I like the Dakota boards, I have found that the dark 400 UART on these boards warp terribly. I’ve tried putting gesso on the back and it makes no difference. I lately worked on the same size of UART 320 original color and no problem. Nice and flat.  So I’m not sure what’s going on.  Have any of you experienced this?  My newer 11 x 14s don’t seem to have the same problem.)

I began with a simple line drawing using a pastel pencil.  Then began with the majentas and pinks, starting with Girault, but quickly moving to Ludwig (much better).  I liked the shape of blue sky behind the building and simplified what was in the photo (roof line, etc.).  This part was really fun!

In Stage 2, I’ve added a layer of light pink and light green in as the sand and done a first coat of the far left wall of the green building.  I began the building using a Ludwig turquoise, but wanted it to be warmer. Found a soft, grayed warm green (light) and added that over the turquoise, letting little pieces show through. I really liked the effect.

I had a hard time with the shadowed side of the green building.  I first put in a teal Great American but it wasn’t dark enough.  So I added two colors on top!  A dark turquoise Blue Earth and a gray from the same box.  The color was much better but I was adding dark over lighter color in a fairly large area and not happy about it!  However, I like the final effect.

In Stage 4, I’ve decided that compositionally, I think I need more on the bottom extending to the left. There’s a strong diagonal that I felt needed to be broken.  I tried adding more of what was there, then decided to add another type of cactus (prickly pear) that wasn’t in the photo. I used a reference photo from the computer and the color was all wrong.  So I brushed it out and relaid in the color of the sand and I’m much happier with it.  The diagonal can stay!  Also, I decided that the sand looked too pink, so I pulled out the warm neutral box of Blue Earths and these worked really nicely.

For the large cacti, I began with several values of the quinacrione red Blue Earth, then used similar values from the “lemon” box on top, allowing some of the pinks to show through.  I wanted to bring the red forward and not have it isolated in the back.  I added some more pieces on top of the green.  For the smaller cacti in front, I used the tuquoise Blue Earth, along with the Quinacridone red, then very light pieces on the edges.  This worked beautifully because they were in front of the tall cacti that were dark at the bottom.

In the photo, the tall cacti went right to the bottom and there was only a hint of the others. So I had to extend this area, which wasn’t real easy!  I’m not much of an expert in cacti, having lived my entire life in New England and the Mid-Atlantic!

However, this was a really fun painitng to do and something out of the ordinary. I guess I’m into a sunny cactus mood–given that we are in cold, windy February!

Hydrangeas, 14 x 11, UART dark

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

This is my third painting. It was begun in my studio on Wilkins and worked on over two consecutive Mondays, then finished in my home studio this morning.  I took the photo in Dupont Circle in 2019 and only after much cropping did I realize what I had.  There were buildings and such behind all of this.

I began this painting quite differently from the last as there was a lot of dark behind the flowers. So I drew outlines with hard pastels instead of doing a lay-in with the side of the pastel.  I don’t really like drawing the outline of leaves as you then tend to fill them in, and that’s not a good way to paint!  But I needed to get something in there.

I used a mix of hard and very soft pastels in this painting, with some of the hard pastels being used for the leaves but definitely not the flowers.  Doing this picture was shear joy!  I used purple and pink and orange Schminckes and Great Americans and I had SUCH a good time!!!  I worked really slowly on each flower, building from darker to lighter and cooler to warmer, using small pieces of color.

But, there were definite challenges–primarily the leaves.  The photo has them all laid out nicely with hard edges and lots of detail.  Not so good for a painting.  I started with them like this, as you can see in Stages 2 and 3, but this morning I worked on bluring the edges by either darkening the leaves or using my finger to smear them.  I think it’s much better now.

For the background, I used Ludwig eggplant and a very dark blue violet over that in places,  It gives it more dimension.  You can see in the earlier stages what the board looks like with some of the “eggplant” on it.  The board is dark but not black, so it’s very easy to cover it with darker color.

I think it’s pretty clear what the center of  interest is.   I loved the little tendril that comes up on the right, which helps bring the eye back up to the main flower.

So will I continue doing this?  Probably.  I like the idea that I can paint different types of subject matter, but all with pastel.  Once you know the basics and how to use your medium.  it all comes down to value and temperature!

Profusion of Pink, 11 x 14, UART dark

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

I’ve been working on a series of 11 x 14 florals on dark UART for a March show in Frederick, to go with Cactus Garden in Rain Country.  This really is the perfect time of year to be doing these with the cold and gray weather we’ve had.

This is the first one that I started. I loved the photograph for its softness and profusion of color.  I could just barely see a composition!  This is NOT my comfort zone!

So I began with hard pastels, laying in the shape of the sky and the dirt area at right, then used greens, pinks, oranges, and dark blue green to very roughly establish the shapes of the flowers and bushes.  This first stage looks like nothing!  But it was enough.

In the photo, the asters in the foreground are kind of a coral color, with a mix of orange and pink that I really liked. So I used an orange as the basis of the color for them. In stage 2 I’ve added several soft Ludwigs (blue and turquoise) for the sky and I’ve painted the orange balls at left.  I thought about leaving those out, but as soon as I did them, I loved them!  In the photo the far right has tall spiky pink flowers.  I put them in to begin with, then didn’t like them and decided to put more of the orange balls (dead hydrangeas, I assume) over there as well.

I loved painting the sandy right side of the painting. I used Blue Earth grayed “earth green” and grayed “turquoise” and these were a lovely combination.  I waited till the end to add the little leaves and branches on top, but I really liked the negative space this created. I also used these two sets for most of the greens in teh picture, going back and forth between warm and cool.

Painting the asters was the biggest challenge.  I just haven’t done a lot of this type of thing.  I used a mix of pinks and oranges in different values, all soft.  Once those were done, I did more work on the greens.  In Stage 4 you’ll see a large dark area in the upper right. That was way too much, so I added more of the dull green on top and minimized the dark.

I was pleased with this painting, even though my husband says it’s very busy.  I like the busyness of it, so long as there are the areas of calm to rest the eye.  It’s about nature going all out in September when it knows that winter is just around the corner!