Day 39 "Quinault River Edge"

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur." Leo Tolstoy
Trying "Quinault River's Edge" by following the photoshop improvement of the previous pastel. It seems to have too many points of interest. I need to decide what's the most important part and emphasize that with value change.
I think I need to take out some of the pines and make the sunlit strip more interesting, soften the light blue color of the bleached out fallen logs.
My students and I have observed that a finished pastel drawing seems to improve when we wrap a piece of wax paper over the drawing for safe transportation home. I think the wax paper reduces the details and the large masses are emphasized. Glassine paper is a safer paper for wrapping a pastel, but wax paper is convenient. Just don't use wax paper on a drawing in the summer when the heat of a car can melt the wax onto your drawing.

"Quinault River's Edge" 8" x 12" on Wallis Belgium Mist sanded paper

Day 38 "Goofy Chew"

Sometimes I get bored with landscapes and switch to fun animal portraits that border on cartoons. The day I attended the Louisville Zoo the giraffes were enjoying the warm summer sun and seemed to be posing for my camera shots. I've used this reference photo about 4 times and each time I get a little bit different look for "Goofy."

"Goofy Chew" 12" x 8" on LaCarte sanded paper

Day 37 "Quinault River"

"There is a wideness in God's mercy, like a wideness of the sea," hymn
"Quinault River" is a study and as it is now, definitely not complete. I think the lower left corner has some merit and could become the drawing - dropping the other details. Working from photographs has the drawback of having too much information and it's easy to fall into the lull of copying the photograph instead of using it as reference to compose a much better image.

"Quinault River, WA" 12" x 8" on Uart sanded paper with an oil wash

"Quinault River" detail

If I use this lower part, the light green strip of sunlight would have to be moved away from the middle of the image but I do think it shows promise.

"Quinault River 3"

In Photoshop Elements I moved the green strip of sunlight, added a few more logs and upright tree trunks. I think "Quinault River 3" will work better.

Day 36 "Today's Demo"

I'm too tired to find a good quote for today's blog.
Last night was the Gallery Hop and it was a resounding success with over 500 visitors - more than Artist's Attic normally gets. It was a beautifully warm evening especially after a miserable winter and everyone was out and about.
Then today I taught my workshop from 9-4 which was also a great class, but now I"m beat.
Here's the demo from today. I took the drawing that I posted yesterday and we redrew it in class - everyone follows along which may sound very uncreative but it's a great way to instruct on the basics of how to deal with the material.
I also asked my repeating students who took my beginners class in January to find their favorite artist in Pastel Journal Magazine and explain to the class what drew (ha-ha) them to this work. That gave them something to do while I explained the basics of soft pastels and textured paper to the beginners and it was a great way to introduce other artists' work to the class and the magic of expressive pastel.
You'll notice that this "Buckeye Meadow" is loose and incomplete but it's more important for me to help my students than to have a totally finished piece at the end of the day.

"Buckeye Meadow 2"

Day 35 "Buckeye Meadow Demo"

Tomorrow afternoon's demonstration at my workshop will be "Buckeye Meadow." I've drawn this favorite meadow many times with many different color combinations which I think shows that a good composition can take many forms and remain interesting. (Those little colored dots on the bottom of the drawing are part of the demo-not part of the final piece :-)
Now I'm off to Artists Attic to get ready for tonight's Gallery Hop and our "Off the Wall" exhibit. Artists Attic has 22 studio spaces and the artists challenged themselves this winter to create some fresh, different and experimental pieces for this Hop. I'll post my 2 oils from the show tomorrow.

"Buckeye Meadow demo"  8" x 12" on sanded LaCarte paper

Day 34 "Edge Of The Woods" demos

I'm teaching my second beginners pastel class on Saturday at Artists Attic. In the first lesson I want the students to learn to handle the materials and have fun with color.
"Edge of the Woods" will be the first lesson and I've created the image in 3 different color scenarios to show how color can produce a mood. It can be expressionistic instead of always realistic.
What moods do you see in the 3 versions?

"Edge of the Woods1" 7" x 10" on LaCarte sanded paper

"Edge of the Woods 2"

"Edge of the Woods 3"

Day 33 "Tuscan Hilltown"

My vacation to Tuscany with 5 fellow artists was a treasure-trove of images to draw. 
To create this scene I used an oil wash technique which is taught by Richard McKinley, whom I think is a terrific, creative artist. I always try to get the oil wash as interesting as Richard McKinley's but I fall short of the effort and in the end, cover up almost all of the wash with pastel.

"Tuscan Hilltown" 12" x 8" Uart sanded paper with an oil wash

I'm including a close-up of the olive grove which I think is the better part of the drawing. It's looser and I like the soft colors. You can see some of the wash effect on the lower trees.

Detail