I found this incomplete pastel while cleaning my studio today. All work on this was done plein air but I'll finish it in the Studio. It has a watercolor foundation on mounted Wallis paper. I've come across it several times in the past year and each time I'm surprised because I don't usually keep unfinished art. If a painting isn't working, I get rid of it - rip it up, hose it off. But, each time I see this piece I remember my attempt that September day to capture the energy of the subject. At the time, I was wishing to be in my comfortable Studio but instead I was on-site with all my art junk spread around, weighted down so it wouldn't blow away and covered so it wouldn't get wet. I stayed there until it started to rain because the process of painting directly was so much more exciting than when working from a photo.
I read a wonderful quote the other day in William F. Reese' new book, 'The Painter's Process'.
"Remember that one is never as good a painter as one thinks when a piece works, or as bad as one thinks when it doesn't."
6 comments:
It's great. Glad that you didn't throw it away, there is a reason.
I love the quote. I want to put it in the Moleskine sketchbook project that I am working on.
Sounds familiar! :)
What do you usually use for mounting your wallis paper for plein air work and do you recommend any particular adhesive?
I've not mounted any yet - but keep thinking about it.
Katherine, to answer your question:
The adhesive I use was suggested several years ago by a pastel artist whose name I can't recall (or I would give her credit here).
It is called Sure Mount. I ordered a gallon of it online at www.unitedmfrs.com item #3911.
I buy my Wallis paper by the roll, cut it to size and mount it with this adhesive onto Gatorboard. I do several painting surfaces at once and stack them to dry with glassine or waxed-paper between each and many heavy books on top. Once the Wallis is dried perfectly flat it is very very durable. Hosing off a failed pastel painting doesn't faze it and you can start again.
I think this is beautiful. And what a great quote!
Also, I recently started looking to see if I could buy Wallis paper by the roll. May I ask where you purchase yours?
Hi Veronica,
Thanks for your comment. I purchased my rolls of Wallis at the Wallis warehouse in Oregon but I just typed Kitty Wallis into Google and several purchase options came up including one on Amazon through an art store on the East Coast. Also, try dakotapastels.com if you are West Coast.
Thank you!
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