ASPEN GLOW

     ASPEN GLOW | Pastel | 6x6

I still GLOW when I think of this magic little lake in Utah we spent one of our last nights on our two month trip across Canada and back thru the US.  The turning leaves were peaking and they just shimmered in the last light of the evening. I grabbed a buttery oakley Chardonnay and called to my husband to come join me for sunset. The moment was pure magic as we watched in awe till there was no more light.

Painting Notes:  Painting reflections in water is a delight using pastels.  The method I use is to make a corresponding mark in the water (using a shade darker/duller) as I make my mark above the water. The reflective mark is done looser as well. When I'm done with the land marks, I fill in and correct the water marks, then put on my finger cot (a bill counter turned inside out) and make a smooth downward stroke from the waterline down off the page, wiping the cot after each stroke. Once I've done this across all the water, I make a few horizontal swipes to indicate ripples and voilá, c'est fini!

NEVADA CITY'S BROAD STREET

   Nevada City's Broad Street | Pastel | 12x9

Saturday was a fun Paint Out for the local chapter of the California Art Club in Nevada City, CA.  This is a wonderful vintage town filled with Victorian architecture and fun shops. I picked a street scene to try and hone my skills at doing one. I found it difficult to simplify but still enjoyed the experience. It was challenging to get the perspective correct as the sidewalk in front of me was descending.

Painting Notes: I used a soft textured paper from England called Fisher 400 that I've come to enjoy. The drawing took two times or more longer than a 'normal' landscape as the need for some accuracy was important.  I gridded the paper and used Value Viewer to make my drawing as accurate as possible due to the perspective challenges that most street scenes have. Getting the figure accurate in its placement and height to other features was critical. I saved the cars til last and spent a while doing thumbnails again to see if I could delete them altogether but realized they are an essential element to this Composition. 

CAPE BRETON ESTUARY

        CAPE BRETON ESTUARY | Pastel | 11x14

The Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia is made up of rugged pink granite and inlet after inlet of the next inlet!  I took a photo of this particular inlet on the fly, leaning in front of my husband while snapping a pic thru the windshield. Not to worry as, before painting it, I will alter the shapes...and the values...oh! and the colors! It's all about that license thingy.

Painting Notes:  I used a resurfaced, scrapped, sprayed and regritted with Liquitex Gesso paper. No idea what it started out as, but love the abuse it took!  Today was the first day of listening to Bryan Mark Taylor's The Master's Mind and I took Lesson One on Composition and Dynamic Shapes to heart by doing three thumbnails which resulted in me changing the major shapes - some drastically - and sure 'nough, made the design more pleasing. 

CANOEING TO SUNSET

         Canoeing to Sunset |  Pastel | 6x6

We drove up and up into the hills over miles of bumpy dirt road.  The terrain went quickly from the maritime flatness of the banks of the St Lawrence River to boreal forest. After setting up at our campsite, we walked down to the lake.  The light was at its evening's best, luminous and shiny as tho touched with silver. A young couple came out of their cabin, walked to the shoreline and got into a canoe. They paddled across the lake heading straight for the setting sun.  We could feel the romance of the moment and set down on the beach to enjoy the sunset from our vantage.

Painting Notes:  The smoothness of Fisher 400 paper is why it was my choice for this silky water painting.  I gravitated toward using highlights from a recent purchase of Sennelier Iridescent pastels.

PEGGY'S COVE

         Peggy's Cove | Pastel | 9x12

It was a dark and stormy day as we headed to the infamous Peggy's Cove on the isle of Nova Scotia. In the US, we have Rockport in Massachusetts as our iconic New England coastal village. In Canada, Peggy's Cove is the equivalent. As we drove toward it we realized everyone on our small road was headed there.  Passing the sign stating 'Welcome to Peggy's Cove Provincial Park', the urban landscape abruptly disappeared.  Rolling rises of granite rocks wove in between countless inlets. Arriving at the harbor, I threw on my rain gear and went out into the chilly bluster, snapping photos madly, as for me, this kind of weather is the true Atlantic shore.

Painting Notes: Finally, a use for a sheet of La Carte light blue gray! I took classes for years from pastelist Reif Erickson who loved sanded La Carte paper. I quickly remembered its virtues - it takes a light touch and doesn't require a heavy use of ones pastels. Subtlety is its virtue and it keeps me from noodling the form to death! It was perfect for depicting this foggy gray day.

THE FOREST THRU THE TREES

     The Forest thru the Trees | Pastel | 6x6

Aspen are my current passion!  On our recent trip thru Colorado, we hit a stretch of 30 miles deep inside a forest of them. Each trunk has such an individual personality, I was tempted while painting these to give them each a name. Ah! But I know a grove of Aspen are all from the same root, making them the largest living organism on our planet. Studying them, some seemed to have eyes looking back at me. Many seemed to have scars and wounds and there were a lot of stretch marks. In my imagination, I could make up a story about these sisters just by looking at their trunks!

Painting Notes: I drew this one in carefully, putting the dark markings on the bark first. Then the background color choices - the darkest colors in each shape - went it. First I worked the upper background, then I went straight into the individual trees, saving the grasses and trunks for last as they needed to weave into each other. I relied heavily on my Rembrants for the grasses and got to use the new Terry Ludwig set of Yellows extensively.

THE WINDING ROAD

        THE WINDING ROAD | Pastel |  6x6

It was a gorgeous Kentucky morn, crisp and clean from recent rains.  In September, we were visiting my cousins in Glendale Ky, formerly Walker's Station. A town grew up around my great-great grandfather's store on the railroad line that to this day runs trains through the town right in front of my grandparents lovely vintage home and Pappa's Hardware Store, now an Antique Mall. I love to tell folks how the population of Glendale is only 400 and I'm related to 300 of them!  As an Air Force brat who moved every three years, I adopted my Dad's Glendale as 'my home town' along with Elizabethtown just 12 miles away where Mom was from.  The businesses in the town until faded until, in the mid 1970s, a fabulous Kentucky cook opened a restaurant right on the corner of Main Street by the tracks.  Soon thereafter, lines would begin to form and people were willing to wait hours for a table. Townspeople quickly opened antique & gift stores to keep this captive audience entertained while they waited for some Old Kentucky ham & biscuits with gravy and sweet tea!  In October every year, they hold the Glendale Crossing Festival which gets upwards of 80,000 folks through it on a given Saturday!!  I'm so proud of my home town and delighted in visiting it again on the return of our trip across eastern Canada.

Painting Notes:  I set out painting this with the intention that I would spend some quality time on it as I want to submit it to the Randy Highbee 6x6 show coming in December.  I put in the background underpainting last night, smoothed it in with a PanPastel sponge (great tool!!) and sprayed it with ISO alcohol.  I got so caught up in the excitement of painting it today that I have no idea how long I spent on it - probably an hour and a half, but 1 1/2 hours where I was purely in the zone!  I use the sponge lightly on a couple of parts where my marks were too 'dit-dot' and love how it knocked it back just enough to keep the emphasis on where I want the eye to go.