"End of the Day"

"An artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep." Paul Strand
As you know I love working at Shaker Village Pleasant Hill, KY. Last fall I snapped the photograph for this scene and after looking at it often I've finally decided to take it on. I'm interested in the evening light at the end of the day and how it plays along the edges of the horses and buggy driver with the dark barn in the background producing a perfect contrast to the light.
This piece will be in my one person show at Artists Attic in February 2013. My goal is to produce at least 2 new pieces per month along with the pieces I have to create for the art fair circuit this year. That's why I'm starting now!

"End of the Day" 18" x 24" pastel on Wallis sanded paper

Mingo Road color studies

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are." Oscar Wilde
For my next workshop I'll be demonstrating "Mingo Road Maple" and today I created some color studies of the scene as well as small b/w pencil studies of values.
I"ve started the final piece and will post the steps tomorrow. Can you guess which one I"ll chose ? Kind of an easy question when you see which one I work on the longest.
The upper left was a complementary red/green study and the top right was a orange/blue study but the photo looks more red than orange.
The lower left image was an orange/blue complementary study with more subtle exploration of blues.

"Mingo Road Maple" color studies

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