THE GRAND OAK

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       The Grand Oak | Pastel | 12x12

I fell in immediate love with this giant oak!  It presides over a gorgeous forty acres in the nearby town of Loomis, Ca.  Beloved by the former owners who have recently sold it, the property will become a new equestrian center. My challenge was to figure out how to depict the green sameness of the huge canopy of the tree.  I looked up Maxfield Parrish paintings of trees and studied them, loving his dark blue skies and colorful foliage.  As the tree progressed, I became increasingly excited, loving how it came out! Getting high off painting is an acceptable indulgence! I was so excited, I could hardly sleep. 

Painting Notes:  I used one of my dwindling supply of Wallis Warm Belgian Mist paper which I cannot get anymore.  It performed beautifully, allowing me to apply multiple layers of darks, and sky, applying fixative in between layers. I'm loving using Spectrafix as it allows me to layer areas as I paint. The only downside I can find to it is when using it for plein air (on site paintings), it takes a good 12-15 minutes to dry which can eat up valuable time if the light is rapidly changing in the early mornings or late afternoon.  

CLIFF NOTES

       Cliff Notes  | Pastel | 8x6

There was just enough light left in the day. As I came up the hill, I saw the giant eucalyptus was backlit and the three cliff receding into obscurity.  I parked and set up quickly.  As is usual for this time of the last light of the day, the scene changed in me at least five times in the short hour I painted.  I put it away and later, in the studio, made a few adjustments to keep the foreground and background consistent for the same time of day.  We call it 'chasing the light' in plein air terms and it is one of the reasons why on-site painting has such a fresh look to it.

Painting Notes:  I pulled out my Sennelier Irridescents for the pampas grass, convinced they would give the plumes the glow I wanted. After applying two light colors of them, I found I got the glow from putting a 'regular' light for their finishing touches.  The whole idea behind the scene was to capture the glow of evening.

FENCE SHADOWS

     Fence Shadows | Pastel | 8x6

On arrival day for this year's Capitola Plein Air, I had just enough time to scout out a few places for possible paintings during the 4 days we were given to paint.  I recalled liking the scenes from the River Walk and headed there to find the late afternoon shadows streaming through this fence attracted me.

I loved the bridge faintly in the background with just a hint of the River. In the foreground, the pink mophead hydrangeas leaves had all turned autumn oranges and yellow, giving a nice analogous reverberation off each other. I loved that I could create so much depth in such a small painting.  I was thrilled to later, at Sunday's show receive an Honorable Mention ribbon for it! And it sold shortly thereafter! Double bonus!!

Painting Notes:  I chose Fisher 400 pastel paper for this small guy. Its texture is similar to UArt 600, both of which I prefer for my smaller paintings. Putting the sunlit slits in the shadows of the fence posts was fun and I wanted them to be crisp and prominent.

THE OPAL SEA

    Opal Sea | Pastel | 9x12

Painting in Capitola Plein Air last Friday, i discovered a locked gate and small park that local Capitolans pay $100/yr to have access to a great surfing spot. The gate monitor allowed me to come in to check out the view of the north facing side of Capitola's famed Opal Cliffs and then to set up and paint on the highest deck of the staircase down to the sea. I thought the sun was getting to me when I kept seeing a kaleidoscope of colors -a prism- appearing on the water's surface just before the white of the wave break! Then a local told me that since the recent red tide, this phenomena had been readily visible especially at high tide. Way more than the cliffs reflection, all the colors in the rainbow were like glass on the surface. It was mesmerizing and I tried to capture a bit of it in this painting.  

Painting Notes:  I knew right away this would become a good painting so I used one of my last few pieces of Wallis Warm Beige pastel paper.  We've all had to find other papers to use since it's withdrawal from the market but the two hours I spent with it renewed my love for its surface!

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.