Plein air on gray

If you've been following my blogs you know I'm not excited about a gray day. I prefer strong light and shadow but today our Plein Air Painters of the Bluegrass group met at a friend's farm in Nonesuch, KY and the day was gray. I went mostly to photograph her llamas but Dan, who really appreciates tonal values, talked me into trying the more subtle view of the fall colors.

"Subtle Fall" 12" x 8" pastel on Wallis sanded paper

This next one started out to be just a very small study of the upper part of the vista but since I had more paper on the bottom I just kept recording the foreground texture. I'd like to go back tomorrow and just do studies of the abstract texture of the foreground weeds but it's suppose to rain and I'm o.k. with gray but not with rain.

"Fall Layers" 12" x 8" pastel on Wallis sanded paper

I like the textured bramble better than the vista which brings up another topic.
Why do we work outdoors?
1) to finish an actual piece recording all the visual input of the moment.
2) to study a scene whether it's the color, shapes, or values
3) to practice working quickly to record the feeling, not just the information.

Following the setting sun

...everything is vague, confused, and Nature grows drowsy. The fresh evening air sighs among the leaves - the birds, these voices of the flowers are saying their evening prayer. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Shaker Village is even more special as the sun sets and the fields grow orange-golden. Plein air painting is even more demanding when the sun sinks so quickly. So today, I knew exactly where I wanted to set up and I knew what I wanted to capture, but doing that is always more difficult in reality then in my imagination.
This is a series of sketches that I hope to use as reference for a large pastel, however the more I study the images the more I think that trying to incorporate all will be too much information and not a clear focus. It may be best to develop 2 pastels, one of the sycamore and the other of the orange field.

"Sycamore and Fence" plein air sketch

"Chasing the setting sun1" plein air sketch

"Chasing the setting sun2" plein air sketch

Hayrolls

"The best laid plans of mice and man." ??
I don't know who said that. It's such a common saying that the author has faded in the glare of an overused saying. But my point is that no matter how many times I tell my students, "Don't put the point of interest smack in the middle of the drawing" here it is, right in the middle. Using another overused saying "make lemonade out of lemons," I named this piece "Front and Center" to beat my critics to the punch. Yes, I know it's right in the middle, and I I still like it  :-)
Maybe some creative cropping would help?

"Front and Center" 12" x 8" plein air pastel on sanded paper

Let's try a square?The 2 hayrolls if viewed as a unit are still in the middle but the large one is more to the right side and in this version the hayrolls are unmistakenly the point of interest.

"Front and Center, Square Up" 

I like viewing the images small. I can see design flaws more easily, like the strong diagonal of the fence row needs to be counter balanced by a stronger angle to the blue mountains. I'll try some creative photoshopping.

Yes, I like that better, but now I have to get back to matting/framing for the Woodland Art Fair, in Woodland Park, Lexington, KY this weekend.

Rectangle or square

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. " Pablo Picasso
I've drawn this little outbuilding before but from a photograph. This one was created en plein air this week. 
But what I want to talk about is how convenient working with pastels and pastel paper is compared to dealing with a stretched canvas.
While preparing this image for tonight's blog I accidently cropped it as a square and I like it much better. With pastel paper all I have to do is just cut the paper before matting and framing but if it was an oil painting on stretcher bars then it would just have to stay as is.
What do you think? Which format do you like better?

"Shaker Outbuilding" 12" x 8" pastel

"Shaker Outbuilding Two"  8" x 8" pastel

Shaker Light

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery." Francis Bacon
Shaker Village has a special feel that is almost beyond words. There's a quiet there, a feel of contemplation and safety.
The afternoon light was clear and bright as I headed to Shaker Village and while viewing the light and shadows on the buildings I felt like depicting them not with all the detail but to try to infuse the structure with a more ethereal feel without the pale colors typical of spirituality.
I may follow this series further. 
This one is going somewhere but not sure it's even 1/2 way there. I may try it again with other colors or try other structures. When leaving the area I spotted some barns and outbuildings that would be good in the morning sun.

"Shaker Light" 8" x 12" pastel on sanded paper

"Mingo Flats Evening"

"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint." Edward Hopper
This view always takes my breathe away. I'm looking to the west over Mingo Flats, West Virginia and it hasn't changed since I was a child.
Late in the evening, the golden hour, the mountains turn a dusty blue and the setting sun casts long shadows over the valley. I can hear a dog bark and wind in the grasses, maybe a tractor but that's about all. "There will be peace in the valley...." hymn.

"Mingo Flats Evening" plein air 8" x 12" pastel on Wallis sanded paper

August 2011 Polarization

"Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye.. it also includes the inner pictures of the soul. "  Edvard Munch
Yesterday morning as I stared at the two barns on the hill I was struck at how opposite they were in color, size, and shape. They reminded me of the polarization in our world on all fronts....nobody is getting along with anybody.
"Polarization" is my artistic interpretation of the state of affairs for August 2011.
It's pretty homogenized but the barns are opposites that reside together on the same hilltop.

"August 2011 Polarization" 8" x 12" pastel on wallis sanded paper