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!

Sky Painting

"One Last Cast"

Oil on Linen Panel

36" x 24"

















Well, the title of this painting might confuse you a bit.  It's rather difficult to see here in the photo but there are two figures fishing with a bunch of Seagulls swooping around them as a storm approaches.  I had a different title for this piece originally but once I placed the figures, it became apparent that the title had to change.

This is the last painting I had to complete for my show at Gallery 9 in Port Townsend.  My show as Featured Artist will be on display for the month of August and will have 11 new original skyscapes, so if you have a chance to drop by, please do.  I'll be there, of course, on August 6th at 5:00 for Gallery Walk so if you can, come on by and share a glass of wine with me. I'll also be at the gallery all day on the 9th and the 14th and would love to chat with you about art in general or, even better, my art!







Skyscape

Sun Shower
Oil on Board, 10" x 24"











I just finished number seven in a series of skyscapes for a show in August when I'll be featured artist at Gallery 9 in Port Townsend, WA.  I usually show a variety of work but with the advent of spring and now summer, my eyes have been cast heavenward at the spectacular show of clouds we've been enjoying over our waters and mountains here.

I've also been trying to master the technique of glazing the difficult colors that emerge in sunsets.  Pigment, unlike light, is a gross substance.  It doesn't do what light does and although nature can get away with very intense color, when an artist does it, it can come out positively garish.  Also, in order to get the ethereal effects of rim light on a cloud, I'm forced to change the colors that nature displays.  For instance, I have to add small amounts of yellow to my whites in order to make them brighter and cast violet into the areas around the cloud so that when I glaze them later, the blue areas around the clouds don't turn green.  It's a tricky thing.  But very satisfying when it comes out right.

I now have about nine paintings for this show and I'm fairly satisfied with the results.  Still have one on the easel I'm toying with but I should work out the problems fairly soon and then be done with the piece.  Frames ordered.  Now to move on to other things. 

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 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. 




Pastel Painting of Duck a Bush Salt Flats, 22 1/2" x 10"

Mattina Tranquilla"
SOLD


















On a recent return trip from Olympia, WA, my husband stopped the car at the Duck a Bush river so that I could take pictures of the salt flats. This area always intrigues me but unfortunately I never seem to be able to get there when the light is right. This time we were there in late morning. Not the best light but I made do. I improvised a bit on the color but I think this pretty much captures the moment. I may do an oil on this next.