Category: Paintings

Two Pastels

This is an 11″ X 14″ pastel painting titled Lone Pine that I am happy to report received a first place ribbon in the Other Media category in the Lakewood Artist Guild’s Spring Art Show on April 21st.  I also received a third place ribbon in the same category as shown further down.

Yep, it’s a blue ribbon!

This is a 4″ X 9″pastel painting floating in a 7-1/2″ X 10″ space  titled Golden Meadow and was the one that got the third place ribbon at the show in the Other Medium category.   I was totally surprised (and pleased, of course) with the judge’s decision!

I’m happy to be back painting again.  This is the longest break I’ve taken in a very long time, although I have been sketching occasionally during that time.   Hopefully, I haven’t lost too many visitors in the past 3 or 4 months, but I’m determined to work daily and share my art adventure with you all.  The show was a wonderful return to public viewing!

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Art Around Town

I just finished having 4 paintings in an office in Los Alamitos in June through September.  This time I was chosen to display 3 paintings in a small library in Long Beach.  The checkout counter  and other equipment are below the camera angle and it turned out that the best shot I could get was to stay behind it.  Quite a bit of glare from a wall of windows to the left of the area.    Anyway, these are all pastels that I believe have been shown here in the blog:  Golden Path 10 X 14, Coast Sentinels 14 X 10 and Big Sur Coast 9 X 12.

However, I think I’ll be changing some or all of them after awhile.    I think some autumn landscapes would be perfect here.  I can’t tell you how difficult it was to get these hung on the devises they use there which include long hanging strips of some sort with movable hooks.  Centering the paintings both vertically and horizontally was “fun”.

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Taos Bushes

Well, this one was really different for me.  Even though it is soft pastel on Mi-Tientes paper (smooth side)…which I do a lot….I found that I had chosen a picture taken years ago on a trip and didn’t spend much time planning the painting.   I use thumbnail sketches about half the time in planning, otherwise, I just take a pencil or stick charcoal and  mark where things are going to be.   It’s not unusual with that method to have to make adjustments as you go along, but that’s ok with me.

In this case, it turns out that positioning within the painting wasn’t the problem.   The problem was that I hadn’t worked out exactly how I was going to illustrate the layers of rocks growing right behind the bushes and small trees.  And to make matters worse, I decided to do the foreground first……not my usual style.   I just loved those plants and couldn’t wait to start painting them.    In truth, the rocks are very complicated and would have been difficult painting in soft pastel even without the bushes.

I have to admit that I have never removed and repainted an area as many times as I did with this one.   Finally, I surrendered and just put smeary lines the color of the rocks in the background and accepted that some people will think it’s a very BROWN stormy sky or an out-of-focus landscape of sand and rocks.  So be it.  I guess sometimes I learn more than others!

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Say Goodby

Just a version of the road from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.   As you can see, I took a lot of artist’s license in both color and foliage………but that’s the fun of painting, isn’t it?   This is an 8 X 11 done on Fabriano Paper and using a whole bunch of soft pastels.   I didn’t really keep track, but I’m sure Ludwigs were predominant.    I feel like I’m heading off to blue skies and new adventures with this one.    Enjoy!    Comments are always welcome.

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Purple Mountains

Well, this was a real learning process……don’t buy cheap paper, even for practice!  I saw that the paper in the pad had texture on both sides, but I thought  it looked different and might be fun to work with.   (I tend to work on the smooth side of Mi-Tientes, etc.)    Little did I know that the texture was like a million tiny knife slits which made it difficult to cover the color of the paper (weird grey/brown), but completely controlled how the pastel worked into it.    Lots of rubbing and smudging went on.  As soon as I find the pad on the shelf with my other pastel pads, it is going to join the various items collected in the land dump where it belongs.

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Messin’ Round

Sometimes, I just mess around and see what happens……………..rather weird, isn’t it?

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100 Pastel Challenge – No. 75!

This is number 75 of a challenge to complete 100 versions of the same painting, each within 30 minutes and my size is 5″ X 7″.   If you would like to see the other 74, just keep scrolling down through the blog!  (Or check the category list over on the right of the page).

 

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Doodle Tres

Without ink outline and details

With ink outline and details

Well, as I planned, I got out my old set of regular Derwent Watercolor Pencils and and used them for this third and last exercise.  I have to admit that the colors from the Inktense set were, in fact, brighter, both going onto the paper and as the water was applied.  I had to work harder to get as much color as I was aiming for using the regular set.   In the middle of the exercise, it occurred to me that I really should have done these on watercolor paper to have a true test.  In the future, when I decide to complete something using w/c pencils, I’ll run a short test on probably 140 lb paper and see what the difference is.

I still have a problem, however, with the Inktense lead color not representing the final color well.  It really means making up a sample sheet with the colors and their names for future use and filling in several colors that weren’t represented in the set that I got  (like a true red, for instance).

Well, this was a fun exercise and I hope you enjoyed my efforts.  Any questions about what I did (or anything else, of course, are more than welcome!)   Enjoy!

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Another Doodle

Well, this is also a doodle using watercolor pencils, but this time no ink.   I had been given a set of Derwent Inktense watersoluble ink pencils, but had never used them.   It’s been awhile since I used watercolor pencils, so I’m not sure so much what the difference is.   So, I guess I’ll have to get out the regular ones and see what that might be.   The advertising I’ve seen for them praises their intense bright colors.   I’m not that sure just doing these last two.   Maybe I’ll have time tomorrow to try something with my regular set and see if they are right.  I have to say that the colors that show in the lead don’t translate well after water is added.   We’ll see.     (I used my 5-1/2 X 8-1/2 sketch pad……which is not watercolor paper, so I thought I’d have the photo include the taped edges I use to try and control buckling when the water is applied.

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Almost Daily Sketches W/C & ink

Usually, I do my “almost daily sketches” in ink, but this time I laid down some watercolor and inked on top.   This makes the picture more illustrative than a “true” watercolor, but I’ve always had fun with this.     Enjoy

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