Secret Cove

I had so much fun playing with pastels last week that I wanted to continue for this week's painting.  Last week's painting had an underpainting of watercolor and this one also has an underpainting, but I used pastels for this one.

Here is how it started.  I rubbed a light layer of pastel on Wallis sanded pastel paper.  This paper is very durable and can be used wet or dry.  Some pastel papers aren't so versatile.  One of my favorite pastel papers, Sennelier La Carte, can't tolerate any moisture at all or the surface will fall off.  Below is a photo of the first stage .

This looks pretty childish, doesn't it?  I didn't use much pastel because just wanted a light map of where the painting was heading and didn't want to fill the tooth of the paper.   If I wanted it to be darker, I would apply more pastel.  Next, I used a paintbrush and water to liquify the pastel.  I know a lot of pastel artists use alcohol but for me, water works just as well and is always available.

It looks just like watercolor, doesn't it?  Normally, I would probably use watercolor for an underpainting but I wanted to show another option (for you KimmieK) in case you don't have watercolors handy.

I used a combination of Nupastels, Rembrandts and Sennelier pastels for this painting.  My friend gave me the Sennelier pastels awhile ago as she was cleaning out her art supplies and this it the first time I used them.  They have a wonderful soft, buttery texture and are really nice to use.  Thanks Peggy!  I thought my Rembrants were soft, but compared to the Sennelier pastels, they seem like a hard pastel.

The reference photo for this painting actually had a very sculptural silhouette of a leafless tree in the foreground which is why I picked it for painting, but I was happy with the painting at this stage and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to describe the tree successfully and get the edges hard enough with the pastels.  I'll try that version with another medium in the future.

Secret Cove

Image Size 9" x 12"

Pastels

Sitka At Dusk

Last year we went on a cruise to Alaska and this is from one of my photos I took as we were leaving Sitka.  I wanted to capture the feeling of cold and the overcast late afternoon light.  I used mostly cool colors with bits of warm colors added in here and there.  I used a deep electric blue suede paper as my surface.  The more I work with the pastels, the more I like them.  The softer pastels are really wonderful on this suede paper.   I wasn't sure about using such a bright color paper but I think it gave an interesting effect.

 One of these days I'm going to really splurge and get some Terry Ludwig pastels.  They make some of the most beautiful, rich darks I've ever seen and they are a very soft pastel.  I was able to try them in a pastel workshop once and I really liked them.  They are a handmade pastel and they offer over 500 colors!

Sitka At Dusk
Image Size 11.5" x 15.5"
Pastels

After The Storm - Pastels

I wanted to get in one more submission for the Virtual Paintout in Jersey this month and since it is an island, I wanted to do one that showed at least a little of the ocean.  I was really attracted to this dramatic sky.  I found it and went to the studio to paint it but it disappeared from my computer and it was hard to find again.  I went all of the way around the island thinking that it would be really easy to find this sky but with Google you can have sunny skies, travel 20 feet and have a sky like this.  Crazy!  Anyway, I finally found it and this time I sent the link to my e-mail so I wouldn't lose it again.

I thought that using pastels would be the best way to capture the look that I wanted with the sky.  I love how dark and ominous the sky is on the left and the blue sky peeking through on the right.  We don't often get dramatics skies like this here so it's fun to find it in Google to paint.

After The Storm
Image Size 6" x 9"
Pastels
Sold

Boardwalk

Here's another painting done from google street maps for the Virtual Paintout blog.  This is from Revere, Massachusetts.  I've never been to the beaches on the east coast but this looks like what I would imagine I would find there.  It doesn't look like a California coast scene to me.  I've never seen these walkways to the beach here and the shrubbery looks different too.  Of course, some parts of Cal. probably does look like this but in my mind, it screams east coast.  These walkways and shrubs convey such a serene feeling to me and the long shadows make it seem like late afternoon, always my favorite time of day at the beach.  This was done using soft pastels.

Boardwalk
Image size 9" x 12"
Pastels

Prince Edward Island

Here's another painting I did for a virtual paintout submission.  Unfortunately, I didn't save the URL of the location which is a requirement for submission.  Oh well...
This is such a pretty island.  I've done 3 paintings of this month's location.  I'll post the third one for my Monday painting.  I'm pretty proud of myself for having an extra painting this week.  This one is a small sketch done with pastels.  This was done on archival mat board that was coated with pumice gel.

Prince Edward Island
Image Size 5" x 5"
Pastels

Sunny Path

This week is the 2 year anniversary of when I began posting a painting each week. I know that's not much of an accomplishment when you compare it to all of the artists that post a painting every day but for me, who used to paint maybe 8-10 paintings a year, it's a pretty big deal. I've been having so much fun being more involved with art and blogging. I have met so many nice people and incredible artists on the internet. I've even met a couple of them in person. Making art a focal point in my life has made me a better artist. I have learned so much. Of course not every painting has been a success but I have probably learn the most from the ones that I like the least. Some weeks have been a little stressful as my self imposed Monday deadline has drawn near with no finished painting in sight but I've been able to pull it off. I haven't missed a Monday yet -- even when I was out of town.

This is a pastel of a photo I took in Mexico. When I saw this scene, I had a really strong sense of deja vu. My mom was from Alabama and this reminded me so much of my visits there, it was really strange. I'm not sure why it would remind me of that area because Mexico doesn't have the red clay earth or the type of trees that are in Alabama. It was probably just the dirt road that seemed familiar. Anyway, it brought back happy memories of a beautiful place.

Sunny Path

Image Size 9" x 12"

Pastels
Unframed
$100.00

Cliffs of San Francisco

The location for the virtual paintout this month is San Francisco. I found this scene just south of the golden gate bridge. What attracted me to it was the windswept tree. This is done in pastel which is a medium that I love but don't feel very comfortable using.

I went to a pastel exhibit last week and was really impressed with what I saw and was motivated to try the medium again. I have trouble mixing colors with pastels. Everything comes out too intense. I see so many beautiful pastel paintings that are subtle and realistic that I love but I don't seem to be able to achieve that. It's not because I don't have enough colors either. I have a wonderful large set with beautiful colors but they all seem so bright and I need more muted colors. I know that I need to optically mix them by putting colors next to each other and I know about how to mute colors by using compliments but my pastels always seem too "in your face" and simplistic. Sigh.....I will continue trying.

If you are in the Orange County CA area and enjoy pastels, you should go see the International Pastel Society's show at the Brea Cultural Center. It will be open through March 5th.

Cliffs of San Francisco

Image Size 9" x 13"

Pastels
Unframed
$100.00