Painting and Pastels

Pastel in Progress

2009-12-02T17:03:00.000-08:00

I've been painting a series of pieces of Smith Bybee Lakes in Portland, OR. It's a wildlife preserve very close to the city. It's a beautiful refuge year round. The place just seems to draw me again and again. A sacred place as Joseph Campbell said "...your sacred place is the place you find yourself again and again."

I thought I'd post one of the images with shots in progress. It was done on a large sheet of elephant colored Art Spectrum/Colorfix paper. I planned for two pieces on the one sheet. I started my sketch with a spruce blue Nu-pastel just to get some composition and a little value going.

Next, I started to block in some color ideas. I usually start a with a little brighter, more intense color with the intention of settling it down towards the end. I also use a pretty light touch at this point.

Here, I've put some meat on the bone, so to speak and thought a little about the what the final color story will be. I try to let this evolve on it's own a bit during the progress of the piece. It's part intuition, part knowing where I want to go and part letting the painting take me.

This is just a little more refined with a few details. I've kept the foreground simple by using a gradation and building a little bit of texture there. All the focus, detail, strong value differences are on the central area of interest or focal point in the piece.

Fall at My Studio!

2009-10-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

I'm just loving the fall color here. I can't believe what a wonderful weekend we had. The weather forecast called for heavy rains all weekend, but instead we got a little rain, lots of sun-breaks and gorgeous fall color. I think the studio is particularly inviting, so I thought I'd share an " in progress" photo of a piece and some shots of the studio.

Time to be Captivated

2009-09-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

I have some time to let myself be captivated and it feels like such a luxury. I've found quite a lot lately that seems totally enchanting and wonderful. I think it's there when you look for it.

Here are some of my favorite things on the web:

The Omo People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLR8wEvRfQ

The video on the Omo people is breathtaking, but the book is even better because you can live with each beautiful photograph for as long as you like. It leaves you changed.

Michael Franti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoaTl7IcFs8

The video of Micheal Franti is just pure joy. When you're dancing, you simply can't be mad or sad or anything but filled with love. I love to dance. Painting is like dancing; you just can't do it if you aren't totally in the moment. I guess there are moments that can be movitavted by anger and frustration, but the act itself is a most human one. Putting down marks to say something. Can't wait to get back into the studio!

Andy Goldsworthy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TWBSMc47bw

You can also get his books at your local library if they have a good art section. They are wonderful.

Pastel Journal Article!

2009-09-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

My Pastel Journal article is now out! I'm on the cover! This was a surprise. I only found out that my work would be used for the cover a couple of weeks ago. This is very exciting and lovely to see. The article looks great. I hope people enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

Having An Off Day

2009-08-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Back at work getting ready for my last two shows of the season. On Sunday, I'd taken a new direction that I was really jazzed about. I'd taken some photos of seed fields. Flowers that are not my thing. But, I really loved the photos and I had an idea to make them more interesting. I could really see the finished idea well cooked in my head, so I felt on pretty solid ground. I did two pieces, (shown), I liked in that they were accomplishing some of the ideas and the flavor that I was going for. Somehow these pieces were different for me, but still worked and that pleased me.

The next morning I was all excited about getting into the studio to start just where I'd left off. I was all set. I'd had my coffee, it was a beautiful morning, no big distractions, nothing missing in the studio. Couldn't get a thing happening. I struggled the whole frustrating day and ended up with not just what I was working on in the trash, but several other pieces that had been hanging on my walls for a while too. Suddenly, they didn't look so good either. My fingers were raw from working on the sanded paper and I was a utter mess of dust and frustration. Not a great day as far as painting was concerned.

But then something really terrific happened. Tuesday morning I got up, got my coffee, read the paper and went down to the studio to work. I decided to start again just where I'd left off on Sunday,(the good day). I didn't get all discouraged about Monday and for some reason, I didn't even let it bug me. There was a time that I really would have just abandoned a direction if I couldn't make it work on consecutive days. That I would have had no patience for failure. It would have made me quickly change course or at the very least, continued to be a source of angst the next time at the easel. I guess I just rolled with it for once. I didn't see it as failure but just part of the process, part of what happens. This is not to say that "bad" day wasn't frustrating, tiring,(a whole bunch of adjective come to mind to describe that feeling that I don't want to use in my blog), it's just that maybe I came to a little acceptance that this is what needs to happen to move forward.

Tuesday was a good day. I accomplished a few things. It wasn't the same as Sunday. I didn't feel that kind of excitement in finding something that works and feels right, but it was enough.

August Workshop

2009-08-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Back to work in the studio after the five day workshop. It was a wonderful, hardworking group. We had great weather and beautiful locations to paint. I'm hopeful the September 3-day will go as well. These painters made me re-evaluate what kinds of information painters want from a class. Are people primarily interested in the traditional plein air techniques of painting faithfully what we see or do they want to dig a little deeper and explore abstraction and visual commentary? I see such an interest in cracking oneself open a bit and letting something out. I hope I helped them do that a bit. I'm encouraged to move my teaching in that direction.

I'm amazed that I set out to teach and in the end I feel like I've also been the student!

My first demo. I've since taken it into the studio for any overhaul!

Luscher Farm. So beautiful there. We are lucky to have it so close to the studio!

Here are some of my students in a rare moment of slacking!

Paula's Place.

Blah, blah, blah!!

Chris intent on her work. Her piece was lovely!

We were fortunate to be able to paint two private locations. I'm grateful for the generosity of our hosts, Lynn and Paula! They shared their extraordinary havens with us.

Made it to 100!

2009-03-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

This one has an oil wash under-painting and is on Wallis paper that has been toned with yellow ochre.

This is straight pastel on Wallis paper, also toned.

This one has lots of oil wash that wasn't completely dry when I applied some pastel to it. The pastel soaked into the oil paint. I love it!

Here are all 103 on my studio wall. It's great to look at and I'll be sorry when I have to take them down.

Most of the pieces were done at the beginning of my work day. Sometimes one a day, sometimes 2 or 3. They are small, about 10 x10 and are all on paper. Many of them are mixed media and have some kind of under-painting either watercolor or oil wash. I loved using Terry Ludwig pastels because to me, they have a little bit of a grainy texture that was great over the oil wash.It was my time of day to play, to get warmed up to stretch. Most of them were completed relatively quickly, 15 to 30 minutes and were intended to be studies, although I think that some are finished pieces that stand fine by themselves. A friend and fellow artist, (Trisha), told me that I'd made a quilt and she is right! The pieces together are stronger than the individuals.

Now have to figure out what is next for me.
This has been a great project. In so many ways, it's been positive. I'm sure I'll be weaving the lessons learned into my work for a very long time. I'm writing on an article about the series for pastel journal. It will come out in the September issue, so I hope you'll take a look.

I've posted more of these on my website .

Up to #26!

2008-11-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

I've been working fairly steadily on my variation series. I'm amazed by how much there is to paint; how endless the possibilities are. It makes me happy to know that you can never run out. There's just too much to paint, even in the context a really limited idea such as I've been working on. My wall is starting to fill. I moved all the pieces to a different area of the studio to photograph them and realized that I missed them. I imagine they may be hard to let go of in the end.

100 Variations

2008-09-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

I've begun a new series of work that I've wanted to explore for quite some time. I'm calling it 100 Variations. I love the idea of doing the same composition repetitively in an effort to focus on particular aspects of painting. The composition of every piece will be essentially the same, leaving me free to explore all the color and light variations. I think this will be both liberating and very informative. I've already videotaped myself painting a couple of these and it's amazing to see what is revealed already in this process. These are relatively small pieces that I can complete pretty quickly, so the ideas is to be free to fully explore in depth, color, texture, light , atmosphere and mood without having to come up with a new idea for a composition every time. Just simplifying!

I plan on auctioning these off, so if you are interested you can look for them in my ebay store. They won't be available at any of my galleries or festivals. You'll have to wait for your piece a while because I want to see all of them together and have a studio opening to showcase them. I think that will be cool! I'm currently on #5. I hope you'll keep watching for these. I'm working on my editing skills to the the videos a little shorter:) Check out the first video on Youtube: Variation #2.

Riversea Gallery, Astoria Oregon

2008-09-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Mike and I had an opening at the Riversea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon earlier this month. Riversea is a wonderful gallery that we are excited to be a part of. We both are showing a variety media and sizes at this show. I held onto some very quiet and different pieces especially for this show. I hope they are well received, because I really enjoyed doing them.

Astoria is a great getaway from the Portland area and is especially wonderful in September, so we're happy to visit for our opening. We always stay at the Elliot hotel and have dinner at the always surprising Columbia Cafe. If you happen by Astoria during the month, pop in and see our collection of work or treat yourself to an overnight stay as we did.

Art in the High Desert

2008-09-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Back to blogging at last. I lost my first blog in cyberspace. I guess!! So now I hope that I'm back on track and can get into a rhythm of posting periodically!

Mike and I did a show in Bend, Oregon in August, Art in the High Desert. It was a beautiful show in many ways. The folks who inspired and organized it are Carla & Dave Fox. They are long time artist friends, jewelry and glass, so it was an easy choice when they asked if we would apply to their new show. As expected it was wonderfully organized, very artist friendly. A lot of attention to detail was put into the running of this show and as artists, Mike and I really appreciated that.