Mariposa Grove

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." Henry David Thoreau
Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park contains a beautiful grove of hugh Giant Sequoias trees and it's easy to understand why the Native Americans worshipped here.
The museum cabin sits at the top of the mountain which is a 2 miles hike up but well worth the trip. 
I included the cabin to give scale to the trees. The October sun was illuminating the tops of the giants but the forest floor was sinking into shadow.

"Mariposa Grove" 12"x8" pastel on LaCarte sanded paper

Passages Evening Light

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  Henry David Thoreau

The last 20 minutes of evening light can produce startling color and contrast. "Passages - Evening Light" is about that last few minutes when the orange colored sun flashes the landscape with brilliant color.

"Passages - Evening Light" 8" x 12" pastel on Wallis sanded paper

Llama fun

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." Mark Twain

Winter doldrums. Time for some fun. 

I've been reading Ian Roberts' book on composition and Marla Bagetta's article on thumbnail sketches and color studies which I'm trying to apply to my pastel landscapes. But all that studying can be tiresome and Gallery B's next group show is "Animals" so I created 3 funny llama portraits to submit to the show. I'll let you know if all 3 are accepted. These llamas belong to an artists friend, Debbie Westerfield, who creates the most original clay pieces and the llamas' goofy attitude seem to reflect her wonderful imagination.

"Mahelia Too" 14"x11" pastel on sanded paper made with pastel primer

"Smilin" 14" x 11" pastel on sanded paper created with pastel primer

"Suki" 14"x11" pastel on sanded paper created with pastel primer

Dogwood Creek oil painting

"Don't be an art critic, but paint, there lies salvation." Paul Cezanne

I belong to the Plein Air Painters of the Bluegrass and since it's difficult to  plein air paint in Kentucky in the wintertime, the group gathers at Artists Attic for a paint in.

A couple of years ago in the middle of a very cold winter I was tired of pastelling in the studio so I put on all the clothes I could find plus foot and hand warmer and brave the cold and snow to work for about 45 minutes on some plein air pastels. Here is the image from February 2010.

Well, I also took photographs and used one to work on this oil painting this week in the warmth of the studio at Artists Attic.

As much as I enjoy working in oil I still prefer the soft edge and color control that I have with pastels, and no drying time!

"February Freeze" 7" x 10" plein air pastel

"Dogwood Creek Winter" 11"x14" oil

Pleasant Valley steps

"The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel." Piet Mondrian

I had the students in my pastel workshop at Artists Attic create two images in one day. Yes, I had them working hard. :-)

The afternoon project was "Pleasant Valley" and here are the steps for that project. I've created images of this valley before but this time I wanted to emphasize the mowing lines in the field as a compositional element that leads the viewer's eye from foreground back to the shed and house area which is the point of interest.

As in the "Water House" demo, the little dots at the top of the image a for teaching purposes and will be matted off when the piece is framed.

"Pleasant Valley Evening" 8" x 12" on LaCarte sanded paper

Waterhouse demo steps

"He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet."  Joseph Joubert
My first winter Pastel Workshop was last Saturday and I had 14 terrific students who worked so hard and created some really terrific drawings. I'm syked about having another workshop which will be Jan. 28.
Here are the "steps" for the "Water House" demonstration. I start the class with a less complicated image so the students can concentrate on layering colors over colors, focus on using the side of the pastel, and learn much pressure will create different thicknesses of the application.
If you'd like to create your own "Water House" using my steps, go for it!
Tomorrow I'll post the steps for the landscape demo that we all drew in the afternoon.

Draw basic shapes

Add shadows with indigo and denote sunny area with yellow orange

Layer in local color but keep it dark so the next layer will have something to play against.

The last layers of color are the lightest, like drawing with sunshine

Waterhouse Shaker Village

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter." Henri Matisse

This quote reminds me of Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, a truly lovely place. I love drawing there - it's so peaceful. The waterhouse is one of my favorite buildings and I've drawn it many time which is why I thought it would be fun to use it for the demonstration for my pastel workshop on Saturday. I'll post the "step by step" tomorrow.

If you remember my drawing of the waterhouse from last year you'll notice that this version is stylized as more of a children's book illustration than a realistic drawing. It's fun to change subject matter and make it your own. The little colored dots at the top of the drawing are part of the instructional demo for my class but I like the dots, so maybe I'll expand the dots all the way across the top and bottom.

"Waterhouse" 12"x8" on sanded pastel paper