Video Demo of a Pastel Landscape

I was proud to have a one woman show at the Sequim Museum in Sequim, Washington during the month of June. On June 17th I held a demonstration of a pastel landscape. I really enjoy doing demos because it's a great opportunity to meet the public in a way that introduces them to my work and also helps to enlighten and teach others about the art making process.

This painting was done from a small oil plein air study I painted a couple of years ago at Ediz Hook in Port Angeles, Washington.  It's a long spit that goes out for about two miles into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  It was overcast that day and very windy. I actually did this small piece as a demo for the paper and my small plein air class. I used a very limited palette for the oil. I always liked the study and thought it would be fun to try as a pastel. So I used it for the demo.

I didn't have a videographer to work my camera so I set the camera up on a tripod and asked a friend to just monitor it and make sure it kept running.  Unfortunately, I do step a bit out of the camera range but only for a second or two.  It's been edited down and fixed as much as possible.  Hope you enjoy it!

Impressionist Landscape of Woods and Path

"Into the Woods"
6" x 8"
Oil on Canvas Panel
$85

I was in the mood for a landscape today and had plans for doing a large one but decided I needed to do a few small studies first to determine color.  I really enjoy painting small landscapes. They're sort of intimate and invite you in for a closer look while still allowing you to see the larger picture.

You can purchase this painting at: http://www.susanspar.com/small-works/

Cloudscape

"Distant Storm"

20" x 10"
Oil on Panel

I recently finished this piece for an upcoming show at Gallery 9 in Port Townsend when I will be the featured artist. The show will be called "The Sky's no Limit".  Actually, that might change but for the moment it seems to fit.  I've completed a number of cloudscapes over the past year and I'd like to present them together in one show.

Like most folks, I'm always looking up at the sky.  I find clouds fascinating and a touch spiritual. They're always changing and so ephemeral.  I've recently adopted a few new techniques for capturing them.  The best is to work in glazes from the very first but I find this frustrating as it means only working a painting for an hour or so before having to put it aside to dry.  And I'm not one to work on several paintings at a time.  Maybe two or so but rarely more than that. So I've adopted a technique that once I'm through with the initial first pass, I can start working in combinations of opaque and glaze.  It generally takes about four or five passes before the work is finished.  A fully glazed painting could have as many as 20 or more - many more, passes.  This technique seems to work best for me although I'm always looking to improve or innovate.

Stop by Gallery 9 on first Saturday in July.  I'll be there about 5:30 and am always happy to talk about my technique.  

Pastel Painting of Washington Hoh River

"Hoh River Morning"Pastel, 12" x 18"

The past two or three months have been extremely hectic. Summer's on the Olympic Peninsula generally are very busy. Our summer's are short and once the weather turns warm, everyone's relatives and out of state friends start clamoring to visit. While the rest of the country is sweltering in 100 degree temps, it's a nice comfortable 75 degrees here - most of the time.  I've had one house guest after another and then my work load has increased. A gallery in Northern California has expressed interest in my work and requested that I bring 10 new pieces down for possible selection. Needless to say I've been pretty busy.  

This year I was asked to judge the Clallam County Fair Art Show and in addition, I spent two days demonstrating pastels. Here's one of the pieces I did on Saturday.  Sunday's piece to follow in a couple of days. 

Oil Painting of Cloud Scape

"Salt Flats on the Hood Canal", Oil on Linen Panel, 36" x 25"

I've started a new series on cloudscapes in the Northwest recently. This is the first in the series. I used to do a lot of landscape but got away from it in order to pursue the figure and still life. However, recently I was asked to do an in-kind trade with a charity in exchange for some publicity. It seemed like a good idea.  But I wanted to be sure that the painting would have a good chance of selling for them. Landscapes generally do better than still life in the sales department so I figured I'd do one of the local Sol Duc Falls. But then I have a student who has expressed a strong interest in painting clouds and so I decided to try my hand at doing a cloudscape for the charity and that way my student could watch the process.

I'm very much attracted to salt flats and river basins. Perhaps it's the dreamy look or the interesting shapes that they take or maybe just the color of the grasses. But I had the idea to use some photo references I had of the Hamma Hamma River basin/salt flats in Washington and combine them with a cloud reference from my overflowing box of photo references that rarely gets used. In order to avoid getting stuck with the color in the photos, which rarely looks good, I put the two photos together on Photoshop and then took out the color and adjusted the values. Then I built the color that I envisioned for the piece. Hope you like it. 

A Day at Hurricane Ridge

We've had some of the best weather this summer on the Peninsula than we've had in three years. I recently spent the day up on Hurricane Ridge with some friends painting. It's just a stone's throw from where I live.  The weather was perfect and aside from the birds that were roosting on my easel (and even my hand!), we had only a couple of deer for company. It brought to mind what Kevin Macpherson said: "Just think...this is your job. How cool is that?" 

A Day in the Sun

"A Sultry Afternoon"

Summer has finally arrived on the Olympic Peninsula, late albeit. Well it hardly ever gets here before mid July anyway. But it was quite warm at 80 or so here last week so I took off with some friends to do some painting. We found a lovely spot out near Gardner right on the water that had a great view of two areas bordered by salt marshes on one side, forest on the other and Ocean off to the rear. We were able to bring our truck right up to the spot where we rolled out our easels and set up for a glorious evening of painting. My vitamin D got a super charge and I believe I may actually have even turned a little coppery despite a ton of sun block. We went for two days in a row as the weather was holding and we loved the spot so much.

My friend Monika brought along a friend of her's from out of town (Dave) on day two. Dave is still a puppy painter and was having a hard time on his first attempt at painting in the great outdoors. 

I took pity and being the pushy teacher that I am, I jumped in and asked if he would like some help. Dave was more than happy to get some guidance and so I pointed out a few things he could do to improve his approach. For one, he was using too many colors on his palette so I squeezed out just three colors plus black and white to get him started. Then I illustrated on the side of his board how he could block out the major shapes and just jigsaw the simple landscape together. Dave proved an apt pupil and jumped right in following directions carefully. The improvement in his work was startling but I couldn't convince him to let me take a photo of it. He promises though that by next year he'll be good competition for me.  My friend Monika did a great piece - I gave her a lesson also and above is my evening's work.

 Here's Monika at work. You can see the marsh off to the right with the ocean beyond on the left (well, sort of). Here's one of Dave getting a lesson from your's truly. 

Dave getting a lesson

Me - looks like I'm talking to someone there - or catching flies.  Hmm. Think it's time for Weight Watchers again. This was on Day 1 when I painted the above piece.

Painting of Sea Cliffs, 24" x 36", Oil on Canvas

"The Bluffs at Dungeness"

Well, OK. I never seem to find the time to do this anymore. But I do have a really crazy schedule. I'm attending Georgetown Atelier in Seattle three days a week, teaching all day Friday, doing homework Saturday and Sunday and Monday I run a life drawing group so I can get some more practice in. Phew.

The Blue Whole Gallery in Sequim, where I show, is having a gala auction event as a fund raiser next Saturday. I managed to squeeze this out toward the end of my summer vacation and frame it just in time. It was accepted for live auction so I'm pretty happy. The interesting thing about this piece is that it was painted using just three colors and white. A very limited palette. But it goes to show how nicely this technique lends itself to a cohesive painting with good color harmony. It's a donation and I truly hope it raises some money for the event.

Sunset Landscape Painting, ll" x 14", Oil on Board

"The Way Home"

I love that time of day when the light is low and shadows are long. The violets and reds in the landscape are especially prevalent and the shadows warm. This piece was done largely from imagination. It's really one of many places I have built in my head and where I go when I need a litle peace. Hope you like it.

Currently NFS because I need to build up some images for this year's studio tour in July. Giclee prints are available in sizes to order. Email me if you're interested.

Landscape Painting of Santa Ynez River and Oaks, 11" x 14", Pastel on Board

"Evening on the Santa Ynez"
NFS

This winter has been flying by. Between school and teaching, I've been busy working with a committee to create a brochure and advertisements for the upcoming Fourth Annual Sequim Arts Open Studio Tour. As a result, it finally dawned on me that I had better start squeezing some time out of the easel in preparation for this event which is only five months away. Here's a little landscape I worked on last week. I have yet to scan and make prints available, but at least the original is done.