Unexpected place for a pastel painting.

 

"Exuberance, 9 x 12, pastel on Artagain paper.

 

I get in the mood to paint florals every once in a while. Well, I was in such a mood a few weeks ago when I went to our local health care facility with my husband who had to take a blood test. It was quite crowded and I guesstimated the wait to be about 20 minutes so rather then sitting in a crowded room with a bunch of potentially sick people, I walked the halls to get my exercise in. There is a corridor adjacent to the waiting room with glass walls and a lovely patio sits on the outside. I started snapping away taking photographs.

 

 

Using these photos as my referances, I created "Exuberance" and "Garden Intrigue" (shown on my last post but not a very good image). Here's a better image.

 

 

 

"Garden Intrigue", 9 x 25, pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

 

Here are more florals I did while on a floral roll.

 

 

"Orchids and Raindrops", 12 x 9, pastel on Artagain paper.

 

 

 

"Sierra Tear Drops", 9 x 12, pastel on Artagain paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Getting Away From the Standard Rectanular Format

 

"Morning Serenade", 7 x 14, pastel on Canson Mi-

Teintes paper.

 

The standard rectangular composition is very popular especially for landscape paintings but something to think about in the planning stage of a painting is the elongated rectangular format. This shape painting fits well in difficult spaces around the house such as over a high dresser or small sections of wall where the standard format just doesn't look right. In composing this shape simply make your own view finder by cutting out an elongated shape on a piece of paper or mat board so that you can place it over your photo and more it around until a pleasing scene presents itself. Also try slanting the viewfinder for another interesting effect. Here are two other paintings I did in this shape format.

 

"Random Frieze With Dahlias", 10 x 26, pastel on Canson Mi-

teintes paper.

 

"Garden Intrigue", 9 x 25, pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

 

 

 

 

Speedin Up The Process

 

"Nature Glimpses", 12 x 12, pastel on Artagain paper.

 

Artagain paper has a smooth surface for multimedia use and so does not have the tooth to grab and hold many layers of pastel. It's great for quick studies done in alla prima style which means the pastels are put on in a single application instead of building up by layering. We did some quick studies using this paper in my class,. For the painting pictured above, I used four of the quick studies done in class each on six inch square sheets of Artist Tile paper. For each one the timer was set 8 minutes. For the subject matter, we all picked blind from a stack of  4 x 6 or smaller photos. we did not look at them until the timer started. Once the timer started, we painted like little bunnies.  We did this at least four times. I grouped mine together for the four paintings that comprise Nature Glimpses pictured above. This is a fun and stimulating exercise. Try it. I think you'll like it. Here's another one. This one is my demo for class quick study but this time we used a 12 x 16 sheet of Canson Mi-Teintes paper. The timer was also set for 8 minutes.

 

"Ping Pond", 12 x 16, pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.



Ripening in the Closet.

 

 

"Sweet Memory", 15 x 19, pastel on mat board.

 

Not too long ago I retrived a painting that sat in my closet for a year or more. I put it  there because I knew it needed more work but was not in the mood to finish it. When I came across it behind a few other works in my closet I found myself in the mood to finish it off. Either it ripened or I did sometime during this time lapse.   Lesson....don't throw out or give up on uncompleted paintings.

A New Prospective

 

Twas a Good Summer, 13 x 15, pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

 

This painting was originally done on 18 x 24 paper. So what happened to the rest of it? Have you ever had a painting where it never felt done and you got so frustrated that you hid it away in the place you called "I'll finish it some day" drawer or closet. Here's a suggestion to try to finally bring it to a close. Take the painting out of the ugh pile and take a mat somewhat smaller then the painting and move it in and out and all around the surface of the canvas to see if cropping gives it the oomph it needs to call it complete. If you don't have the right size mat in your studio then take foam core strips 2,3,4 or more inches wide with the length the same as your canvas in this case 2 ea 18" and 2 ea 24" and create your own mat moving them over the painting. Try it, I'll bet you will be surprised at the results.

 

Trading Spider Solitaire for Easel Time.

 

"Fluorescent Morning", 14 x 20. pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper.

 

Just because I haven't been blogging since January 27th doesn't mean I've been idle. My blogging time seems to of been overtaken by teaching and painting, time spent at Timberline Gallery, along with other incidentals like household duties, medical appointments, getting a new roof, traveling . ....well I could go on and on but what's the use we all have this stuff in our lives. For a 75 year old, I seem to have to devote more of my time for a daily rest period (and playing a little spider solitaire on my smart phone). Have to admit, I enjoy that. I can remember a time not so long ago when I spent up to 12 or even more hours a day at my easel enjoying both the agony and the ecstasy of it. But, for this old gal, I haven't been doing so bad. I have been creating. I lined up some of the works I've done since my last blog plus some other large paintings I will reveal at a later date.

 

 

Now about the painting Fluorescent Morning, I used masking tape in the same way as I did on my last post of Jan 27th letting the canvas show thru in some places. I like working on Touch paper. It  has a mild and softer grit then most sanded papers which allows me to blend and be more expressive.  About the painting itself. My inspiration came from the reflection of the blazing sunlight light upon the water of a nearby lake where we take our summer early morning walks.

 

That's it for now. It's my spider solitaire time calling.