sky painting

"breathe" 12"x16" pastel on Pastel Premiere Italian clay 320

Coming home from church one morning the sky just took my breath away. I went right in and painted what I saw and felt.

I'm back...it's been awhile since I have posted here on my blog - life changes - but I am finally feeling more settled and set up some studio space for my pastels.When I struggle finding inspiration, I most always look to the sky - you know - got my head in the clouds - the sky is always changing and so full of emotion. Sunrise (each new day), sunsets (rest), sunny days and blue skies, overcast grey days and stormy skies. Sometimes I paint the sky from my imagination, sometimes from a series of reference photos I have taken. I prefer to use a rougher sanded paper.  My favorites are Uart dark 400, Pastel Premiere Italian clay 320 and Uart 320 (which I can use for an underpainting). Sometimes I will add clear gesso for added texture. I tend to be heavier with the pastels, more layers, and rarely blend a little with my fingers.

For practice and to keep myself loose, I will do quick small (3"x9" and 6"x6") pastels, not spending more than 20 minutes on each. 

6"x9" pastel on Uart dark 400

This quick pastel is from a photo my cousin shared with me.

9"x9" pastel on Uart dark 400 from a foggy morning walk

"beyond the trees" 9"x12" pastel on Uart 320 from another morning walk

"come like a storm" 12"x16" pastel on Uart dark 400 

Ezekial 38:9 You will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.

I usually take several photos of the same scene and focus more on the emotion I am feeling and then I just paint. Attaching bible scripture to the painting makes it more meaningful to me and the title will come from the verse.

I hope you enjoy my sky paintings. As always , comments are welcome. 

updated bio

I grew up in Connecticut and went to college in the Boston area, attending Chamberlayne Jr. College (Associates Degree - major fine arts) and Mass College of Art and Design, graduating with a B.F.A majoring in painting. My work career has been in floral design, retail sales and management, custom picture framing and I am currently a design associate at Calico Corners (decorator fabrics and custom furniture). After raising two children, I now live in Marietta, GA.

Trained in the fine arts, I had the opportunity to experience many of the fine arts - drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and many different mediums. Painting has always been my focus. I started with oils in college, later on working in watercolors and currently working with pastels. What is exciting to me, is that I can combine all three mediums, using watercolor and oil stains as underpainting for the pastels. Nature has always been an inspiration to me, with most of my images coming from nature. I consider my work "pieces of me", as I have an emotional connection to each painting. I focus on spending some portion of each day drawing, painting, taking photos to be used as a reference for my paintings and reading about art.

I am a current associate member of The Southeastern Pastel Society and a current associate  member of The Pastel Society of America and have been juried into several exhibitions. 

I have been selling my paintings at the Whimsical Wares Art and Gift Show, Marietta, GA (2012-2017), Art for the Park (benefit for McFarlane Park), Marietta, GA (2014-2016). the Villery Artists Market (December 2016) and have sold my paintings at the Frame Up II in Marietta, GA.

I also sell my paintings privately. You can follow me on FB at Bonnie Morgan Hyde fine art. You can read more about my work on my blog (bonniemorganhydefineart.blogspot.com), where I write more in depth about my paintings. thecyberartshow.com, curated by Keith Linwood Stover, has featured my paintings. 

You can see my work on my website  - bonniemorganhydefineart.com

Exhibitions

Southeastern Pastel Society

2015 Awesome Art Pastel Show  Juror-Nancy Nowack 

"queen Anne's garden" and "my quiet place"

Southeastern Pastel Society

2016 17th International Juried Exhibition  Juror- Richard McKinley

"asters"

Southeastern Pastel Society

2016 Roswell Visual Arts Center Exhibition  Juror- Marsha Savage

"almost there"

Southeastern Pastel Society

2016 On-line Member Exhibition. Juror- Patsy Lindamond

"path to beach"

Southeastern Pastel Society

2017 Member Exhibition. Juror-Sally Strand

"those cotton fields"

Pastel Society of North Carolina

Pure Color- 2017 International On-line Exhibition  Juror-Lyn Asselta

"Kobi's nest"

Southeastern Pastel Society

2017 Members On-line Exhibition  Juror- Junko Ono Rothwell

"taking my time"

3rd place award

Southeastern Pastel Society

2018 18th International Juried Exhibition  Juror-Dawn Emerson

"Kobi's nest"

Reflection

"a moment of reflection" 12"x16" pastel on black Uart 400

A dream is a seed. Vision plants it. Imagination nurtures growth. Opportunities create blooms. Reflection becomes reality. Donna McGoff

I went for a walk with a friend and stopped by a pond to talk. It was a beautiful winter day and the reflection on the water was inspiring to me. All through our conversation , I kept looking at the scene and commenting on it. 

I took some photos with my iPhone. It wasn't that great - but it planted the seed in me. I wanted to paint what I was FEELING about my conversation with my friend and the reflection (representing my own life reflections) on the water.

The photo was only the seed, the inspiration.....

I started in my sketch book with a pencil drawing blocking in the shapes and values. I pulled out some pastel pencils and did another small sketch with some color ideas. I worked on some other drawing ideas but this one kept speaking to me.......

Next, I decided to pull out my pastels and painted some quick 20 minute small (6"x9") paintings from my reference photos to get down what seemed important to me. I liked this small painting so much, it said what I was feeling. I almost stopped there. 

I have continued to struggle with painting with my life changes. I don't have a studio space and living temporarily with a friend - but it was time for me to pull out my pastels and set up to paint this idea in my head.

I had painted the quick small painting on black UART 400 paper and decided to stick with it for a larger version. I blocked in the darkest values and painted on....

black UART 400 with darkest values as starting point

a small detail half way through the painting

 progressions of the sky and water reflection. 

I still favor my quick 20 minute version of this idea. These quick paints force me to put down what is important with no worries about trying to make it a beautiful painting. I hope you enjoy the final version. It is more from my imagination inspired by the scene and my feelings. Comments are always welcome.

 Art is not a reflection of reality, it is the reality of a reflection.   Jean-Luc Godard

new beginnings

winter sunrise from my imagination. 5"x7" pastel on repurposed Uart 400

My life is heading in a new direction. I have not painted for over a month. But the artist in me keeps telling me to PAINT ! I didn't realize how much I needed to paint, to let the pastels express my feelings. To just let myself put the stick of  pastel to the paper and paint what I feel. Every day wanting to paint something. Not spending more than 20 minutes on each - getting the essence of what I was seeing in my reference photos and my memories - onto the paper - a new beginning. Where will this lead me with my painting in this new year of my life?

I have a temporary set up for my pastels. Pulling out my smaller Heilman boxes. One with Terry Ludwig and one Unison pastels, set up on a folding table.

It's the middle of winter. We had some unusual snow here in GA and my sister sent me some photos from CT - that was the inspiration - SNOW!

These were the first three I painted . They are all from CT photos , an area I am familiar with and love.  I decided to repurpose the pastel paper from some earlier paintings - washing the pastel off and blocking the paper to dry. Uart and Pastel Premier hold up to the rinse in the sink !  Not spending more than 20 minutes on each!

this painting I did on New Year's day. Remembering the beautiful colors of autumn......

walking outside in the night

 It always amazes me how the light illuminates the snow in the dark.

this one from the day after the snow here in GA, just as the sky was beginning to clear.

I don't know where this new year will bring me, but I'm not giving up on my painting ! Each painting is a little piece of me. Happy New Year and new beginnings for you also !

sky play time

"sky #6" pastel on gatorboard 8"x8"

"Sometimes I go about pitying myself

And all the while I am being carried across the sky

By beautiful clouds"

Ojibway Indian saying 

I have been having fun with painting the sky. I had some leftover gator board from another project and decided I shouldn't waste the pieces I had left over. I don't have a lot of studio time because I'm working now, so I just wanted to do some quick paintings and have fun. 

I brushed on some beige acrylic paint and let it dry. Then I brushed on some pumice gel with a lot of texture ( photo to left). When that was dry, I took some neocolor water soluble sticks and did an underpainting letting the colors drip and blend right(photo to right). When that was dry I added pastel and just used my imagination to paint the sky. I didn't spend more than 20 minutes on each one applying the pastel.

Here are a few more examples of what I painted.

"sky #1"  8"x10"

"sky #2" 8"x10"

"sky #3" 8"x10"

"sky #4" 8"x8"

"sky # 5" 8"x8"

comments welcome, which one is your favorite?

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through the trees

"meadow walk" 12"x16" pastel on Pastel Premier terra cotta medium grit

I realize I have not posted on my blog since July. Truth is, I am going through a life change. Painting time has been difficult for me. I struggle with the words, but in my paintings, my reflections and little pieces of me show through. Seems I am on a journey, walking along each pathway...God seems to be walking along with me, wrapped around most things I do. Learning to let go and have Him guide me along. The autumn is my favorite season - the change in temperature, the changing colors in the vegetation.... change. Over the last month , I have found it very helpful to take long walks through some of the local parks where I live - to get back in touch with my feelings. I wanted to try some of the new darker papers I had picked up at the Pastel Convention in Albuquerque. I prefer the rougher grit and the dark tones of the paper.  Following are the paintings I have done over this past month. Comments are welcome. 

"impressions" 12"x16" pastel on Pastel Premier Terra Cotta medium grit

"autumn reflections" 9"x12" pastel on Uart black 400 grit

"two standing" pastel on Pastel Premier 400 grit

"Chattahoochee trail" 12"x16" pastel on Pastel Premier 400 grit

"morning trail " 9"x12" pastel quick paint on sepia toned Uart 320

"standing tall" 12"x16" pastel on black toned Uart 320

"the way in" 12"x16" pastel on Pastel Premier Italian clay

"leaning in" 9"x12" pastel quick paint on Pastel Premier w gesso underpainting for added texture

cloud patrol

"doors of heaven" 12"x16" pastel on Uart 320 grit paper

Psalm 78:23

Yet He commanded the clouds above

And opened the doors of heaven

My favorite subject to paint - next to the oceanside- is the sky. When in doubt of what to paint, I always get inspiration from the sky. It's a place where I feel close to God. I like to reference my sky paintings with a biblical scripture and pull the title from that. I feel that I can pay tribute to God by painting His beautiful skies. Who knows - maybe I will get cloud patrol duty when it is my time to pass - WOW - how much fun would that be!

It was a beautiful summer day today. The sky so blue and filled with big puffy clouds. I couldn't resist not painting it! I found two  brand new boxes of Mt. Vision pastels in my studio that I had forgotten  about..... Terry Ludwig pastels are my "go to" pastels - so I thought it would be fun to break in these new boxes.

The colors were perfect for my sky painting. 

At the pastel convention in Albuquerque, I had purchased a new set of Art Graf water soluble Taylor squares in primary colors and pulled them out for the underpainting.

I used alcohol, instead of water, to brush them into the Uart 320 grit paper, so the drying time would be faster.

Look at all the wonderful drips - perfect for the sky!

From there I started laying in the Mt. Vision pastels. The large sticks were perfect for putting in the first layers of pastel. Then I added in my Terry Ludwig pastel sky sets with the Mt. Vision pastels to further define the clouds.

Feeling blessed to have my artistic talent, a way to express myself.