"OUT TO PASTURE" Oil on board SOLD

                                                                                

For being "put out to pasture" this old car doesn't appear to be completely lost. There is a bit (okay, more than a "bit") of rust, but the wheels are still on, the windows are intact and both headlights are attached. Seems to me it might have a second life in the right hands.                                                                            

"CACTUS WREN" 6" X 6" Pastel

The Cactus Wren is one of my favorite local birds. They stay here year round and are very industrious and not as timid as some of our birds. They make many different sounds, and in the summertime we often wake up to their "voices." They like to nest in Yucca plants or cactus and their nests can be quite elaborate and labor-intensive. Here are a couple of photos my husband took around the neighborhood.

                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                       

"SUNNY AND HOT" 6" X 6" Oil on panel

I saw these small yellow peppers in Safeway the other day and thought I'd try painting them. They have a very smooth surface with few ups and downs to create shadows. The values are all very close in contrast, so I improvised again deepening the hue in some areas. Now, it's into the salad they go!

                                                                                

"LEMON TREE" 6" X 6" Oil on panel

The Daily Paintworks Challenge this week was to paint something you see out your window. I thought a branch of the lemon tree would be appropriate. I had to decide what colors to use in the "darks" of the lemon, and being one who never shies from color felt browns and oranges would work. Thus, we have a "lemorange."                                                                                  

"AWAITING TEA" 6" X 6" Oil SOLD

You are not seeing double at all. It's just me. After the last post I put the painting on the counter where I do much of my work. I find "living with" a painting for a period of time allows you to look at it more objectively. Something bothered me about the painting, and I had to let it simmer in my head for awhile. It finally came to me that there was too abrubt a change in values between the lemon on the right and the shadow on the table. Consequently, I darkened the lower part of the lemon to more gradually blend in with the shadow. I also modified the values on both lemons to create a rounder appearance. I think this change helped the appearance of the lemons. We live and learn.                                                                 

"NEWTON'S FALLOUT" 6" X 6" Oil SOLD

Those of you who have seen my work know that this style of painting for me is definitely a "new frontier" area. I have been trying to paint in a looser style for quite some time now. The transition has been very hard for me. You have heard me mention before a wonderful artist whose works I admire greatly, Lorraine Shirkus . She, too, has been working toward "freer" paintings, and I'm in awe every time I look at her art. What she does with texture and lost edges is exciting. While her color usage is phenomenal I have a long way to go in that area. She uses a lot of neutrals to emphasize the bold colors she likes. Her skills are certainly something to aspire to. As for my humble efforts here, I'm still digesting the results, and at this point all I know is that it was loads of fun to do.

                                                                            

"LUNCH BUNCH" 6" X 6" Oil on panel

This set up had a single light source which made for interesting reflections. Not sure about the warm yellows in the grapes. Perhaps a softer, cooler yellow would be a better choice.                                                                            

"ALL ALONE AM I" 6" X 6" Oil on panel

  I have been inspired lately by the works of  Lorraine Shirkus  in her efforts to paint in a looser style. This goal has mirrored my own for quite some time. It is difficult for me to give up the need (compulsion?) to render subjects closely to their actual appearance. I think that has to do with the fact that it's "safe." If you paint something as it actually is (with a little originality thrown in) it seems logical that it is then "correct." Where I fall down in my attempts to break these bonds of exactness is that uncertainty it might look like mayhem. Will the colors I use work? If I just imply a leaf, for example, will it be successful? If I lose edges will the viewer understand?
I know, also, that I do not "play" or experiment enough. I tend to want to bring each painting full circle and have a completed, ready-to-hang piece each time. I watch my grandson (age three) paint, and his primary goal at this point is the process...the testing of materials and technique - the "What happens if I...?" I think I need to go down his road more often. 
All this being said, I am pleased with the onion above. It has more of the spontaneity I've been looking for.                                                         

"CURBSIDE SERVICE" 10.5" X 15" Pastel

Every year, as most small towns do, we have a festival with a parade, art show, food booths and musical entertainment. Lots of people turn out for all the events, and there are photo ops everywhere. This young woman sat curbside at the parade with her cell phone in hand. I loved the way the sun caught her bright yellow shirt and I couldn't resist doing a painting of her. I especially had fun with the sidewalk colors - a combination of neutral grays with hints of the colors in her clothing.

More time has passed since my last post than I would have liked. I kind of hit a big, tall wall - two painting prospects for which I had hopes ended up wiped off. I kept thinking, "Tomorrow I'm GOING to get it!" Three tomorrows went by and I never "got" it, so I decided it was time to put the caps back on the paint tubes and take a break - which I did. Some retail therapy, some fresh-cut flowers, a couple long walks and a lunch with friends was refreshing and supplied a new energy. I'm hoping that this new week will bring some positive momentum and progress.

"SOMEDAY SAILOR' 8" X 10" Oil on canvas

Who knows what might be going through this little boy's mind as he looks at the opening to the bay from the harbor. Exploration? Fishing? America's Cup?  Weekend sailing? Dreams are often born early.                                                                              

"PRICKLY PEAR FRUIT" 8" X 10" Pastel

                                                                                                                                                       

Because we live in the desert of southeast Arizona we have many varieties of cactus plants. The one that is my favorite from a painter's point of view is the Prickly Pear cactus. I like it because of its shapes...roundish paddles that grow in different directions...and colors...everything from green to turquoise to pinks and purples. Here are a couple of pictures ( below) of them at various stages.

The painting itself is done on a surface called Multimedia Artboard. I hadn't used it before this project, and it makes an interesting ground for pastel. It's made from paper and resin and comes in white and black. I used black for mine. It accepts pastel well and leaves an interesting texture which is perfect for THIS subject matter. I did have a hard time making fine detailed marks, but again, for this subject I felt it was alright. This surface is also advertised for oils and acrylics. The website that makes this paper is http://multimediaartboard.com/Home_Page.php    You might be interested in experimenting with it sometime.

                                                                                

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                           

"PLUM REFLECTIONS" 11" X 14" Pastel on panel SOLD

I did some some additional experimenting with plums photographed on foil. I used another piece of scrapbooking paper for the background. The foil picks up and disperses the patterns from the scrapbooking paper. Kind of cool! Thanks again to Carol Marine for mentioning this technique many months ago.



                                                                  

"THE SERIOUS ARTIST" 12" X 12" Pastel on Pastelbord nfs

I just completed this painting of my grandson, Landon. He's three years old and loves anything to do with art. He's comfortable with experimentation and is open to changing his original intention at any time. He loves to paint outside the lines and can complete a whole painting with just three colors. He uses a mixture of hard and soft edges, and he'll often disregard the true color of objects in favor of colors he feels are more suitable. There's so much I can learn from him!                                                                           

"STRAPPY SHOES" 12" X 12" Oil on Canvas

                                                                             
I submitted this painting in the latest DailyPaintworks Challenge. The idea was to choose a color scheme using the Munsell Color Wheel or the standard color wheel. The scheme could be complementary, triadic or split complementary. We were allowed to use only those colors in the chosen scheme and others made from those colors only. We could also use white. I used turquoise, red/purple, orange and white. It always is amazing how many colors you can make from just a few core colors.

"TWO FUJIS AND A GRANNY' 18" X 14" Pastel

Where would a still life artist be without apples - or pears, or oranges, or limes, or lemons, or peaches, or onions...ad infinitum. The bounty of vegetables and fruit available for interesting paintings just goes on. And their modeling fees are very reasonable!                                                                           

"AGAVE PLANT" 12" X 16" Pastel Sold

There are many Agave plants in this area of Arizona as they are one plant that can tolerate the heat and dryness of the summer. They can be very stately and almost sculptural in appearance, and I love painting the various hues and shadows they have. After a rainfall their stems (because of their cupped shape) often hold water for birds and animals.                                                                        

"Ready For My Close-up" 16" X 20" Mixed Media SOLD

As a follow-up to my last post about fixing pastels by steaming them, I thought I'd share one of the local cottontails I painted using the steaming method. The composition is very simple, but the idea was to find out what the steam does to different colors. You can see on his body the blues, greens, violets and oranges. The steam does make them more saturated which can be a good thing....or not.



                                                                            

"CACTUS GARDEN" 16" X 20" Mixed Media

This painting is basically a pastel painting worked in a method taught to me by Jean Ranstrom, an amazing artist and instructor. It uses a method often employed by the early impressionists such as Degas. It involves steaming the various layers of pastel, letting each layer dry, then adding another layer. You start with the lighter colors (the opposite of traditional pastel layering). This was done using a Frederick's Watercolor Canvas Board- a sturdy surface and able to handle the steaming process. A  primer with grit such as pumice or marble dust is applied in two layers so that the canvas will hold the pastel. Art Spectrum makes a fine tooth Colourfix Primer in a few colors as well as "Clear" which is what I used. For steam we used a clothes steamer in the workshop, but at home I've used a big pot of boiling water and "waved" the canvas art side down 2-3 times over the steam at a height of about 12 inches. You don't want it to get too wet. Be sure to let it dry thoroughly after each steaming. At the finish of the painting you can spray a light varnish on it and you're done. I put a frame around it, but there is no need for glass as with traditional pastel painting. The multiple steaming "treatments" adhere the pastel to the surface, and if done properly there's no pastel dust to fall off. I really enjoyed this process. The steam does darken the colors, but going slowly with color application and "feeling your way" with materials helps to control the results.                                                                           

"GALA GET-TOGETHER" 5" X 7" Pastel on Pastelbord

My grandsons came to visit this weekend, and I had purchased these Gala apples for snacks. I had a couple left over, and what's a painter to do with extra apples? Uh-huh...paint them!  I used a Pastelbord panel - one of my favorite surfaces.                                                                     

"ONE MAN SHOW" 6" X 8" Pastel

I experimented with a new surface for this onion painting. I think it's a fairly new product called Art Spectrum Suede. I ordered a sampler pack and it had eight sheets of different colors. The one I chose to use for this was the deep blue. I wanted the blue to show through here and there in the yellows and oranges of the onion. I used different shades of blue and turquoise to cover the background and foreground. The paper has a smooth, lush surface - just like suede! The pastel goes on smoothly and the paper holds a fair amount - not as much as a sanded surface like Wallis, of course, but certainly enough to put on multiple layers of pastel. I used Panpastel for the lay-in then soft pastels for filling and finishing.

The only thing I found I need to watch the next time I use this paper is to be careful of pressing too hard when sketching the design onto the surface. It's easy to add a bit more pressure with the pastel pencil or other pointed tool, and if you do you will have indentations that are very difficult to cover. But, knowing that, I'll just be more careful next time.