"early rising"

"early rising" 9"x12" pastel on La Carte

I'm considering doing another series of sky paintings. It really is one of my favorite subjects to paint. I had done a series last year of 10 - 5"x7" studies. This time I'm going to keep the size about 9'x12" or larger. I usually catch the sunrise when I am walking my siberian husky in the morning, so I always bring along a camera or at least my iPhone. One of these days I will paint the sky plein air! I made my first attempt at plein air painting on my 60 birthday last week. It was fun but overwhelming! I have so much to learn!

At any rate….. for this painting I used my own reference photo.

It had been raining for the last 2 weeks so I was excited when I saw the sun rise that morning.  I did a 5"x7" study and picked out my pastels (although I did add a few along the way).

pastel palette and sample La Carte paper

5"x7" study

I didn't spend more than 10-15 mins on the study, I just wanted to get the colors laid in and keep it fresh. I decided to use a greenish/blue Sennelier La Carte paper for this painting. You can see it with the pastels. The more I use this paper, the more I like it! I don't have to do an underpainting and the paper takes a lot of layers of pastel without having to spray it. It gave the sky a soft feel, perfect for a morning after the rain. I decided against putting in the electric post, it would have detracted from the beautiful sky. The fun of being an artist…. we always have a choice!

"after the rain"

"after the rain" 12"x16" pastel on Uart 500

We have had a lot of rainy days these last couple weeks….. I guess they are April showers! Finally we had a break in the rain. I went out in my courtyard to enjoy the moments of sun and there was a beautiful sunset!

my reference photo

The photo is not great, but the horizon was filled with a soft pink and yellow glow reflecting on the wet trees. I had to paint it! I chose to do a watercolor underpainting because I wanted to get those soft colors on my paper that I saw.

watercolor underpainting

I had to let that sit and dry so I worked on picking out my pastel colors to use in the painting. I ended up using mostly Terry Ludwig pastels from the Liz Haywood Sullivan skies and water set. I worked on this painting for 2 days which is longer than I usually do, but I had this image in my head that I needed to get on the paper right!.

The next morning when I went out to take my Siberian Husky for his walk , the sunrise was as beautiful, with the last of the rain clouds blowing through. So…. more to follow on painting the sky!

back to basics

reference photo, paints , sketchbook

It's a rainy day…… good day to hang out in my studio. I'm working out some ideas for my next paintings. It's always good to get back to basics and draw. I use a black fine point sharpie pen, a basic set of gouache or watercolors and a 6"x6" sketchbook.

I've pulled out some reference photos that I am thinking of using. These sketches help me work out my ideas for the paintings - laying in the basic shapes, simplifying the subject matter, and then laying in some basic colors.

Here are four sketches that I worked on today. Next I will decide what size and what kind of paper I want to use for my pastels. I think I have some good things to work on for the next few days.  

"pathway5…..dreaming"

"pathway5…dreaming" 12"x14" on Canson

This one is for you, Karen Margulis! After reading your recent blog about Canson Mi-Tientes paper, I decided to give this paper another try. I pulled out a 12"x16" piece of moonstone. Still working on my direction with my art, I decided to use another pathway photo that I had done a black pen sketch of.

black pen sketch

I had an image in my head and said to myself, "ok relax and paint what I feel". I started the painting after dinner. By 10:30pm I still was not quite finished. I was able to build up some layers of pastels and was happy with the direction it was going. I decided to stop, let it sit and then looked at it this morning. I liked it's dreamy quality - I dream in vivid colors. How about you? Hence it's title. The only change I made was to crop it to 12"x14". I'm not going to give up on the Canson Mi-Tientes paper. I like the softer feel it gives my paintings. 

more on bird nest painting…..

"nest 4" 9"x12" on La Carte $80

I have been working most of this past weekend on reorganizing my studio to make more room for painting with pastels. I am hooked and needed to move somethings out to make room for my growing collection of pastels.

my studio

I'm fortunate to have a whole room dedicated to my art. But lately this room was getting crowded and left me with a little space to work on my desk. So I decided it was time to move some things out and give them away. I kept what was most important. I am nature inspired and must have about a dozen bird nests in my collections.

some of my nests

I couldn't part with these. The pollen is thick in the air here in GA and my allergies have kicked in! So I was happy to be indoors. Today I decided to pull one of the nests out and set up a still life to paint. I took several photos also , but painted from the actual nest.

several photos of the nest I chose

my set up and painting in progress

I still have some fine tuning to do in my studio and probably need to part with some more, but I made some progress and feel good about working in my studio again.

Nests

9"x9" pastel on La Carte "home"

Spring is here and the birds are singing! A bluebird pair has returned to build a nest in the bluebird box in my courtyard. When painting nests, I am reminded of a chapter from the book "The Poetics of Space" by Gaston Bachelard. "A nest , like any other image is immediately associated with the image of a simple house. When we pass from the image of a nest to a house and visa versa, it can only be in the atmosphere of simplicity." I keep simplicity in mind when choosing the image of a nest to paint.

9"x9"pastel on La Carte

9"x9" pastel on La Carte