epiphany

With no message in mind for the viewer as I painted this one, the image had a chance to evolve more directly through me - without all my usual filters of what I think will make a painting "successful." Playing with color, shapes and edges nourished me in a way unlike what I have formerly (three days ago) experienced when painting.

Sometimes, finding the Silver Lining in a situation happens before you realize there is a need to look for one.

a leap of faith

Yesterday I took a leap of faith from my comfort zone to explore my sense of place in a more abstract manner (A Sense of Place-April). I went to bed wondering what had just happened to me but awoke in the middle of the night knowing I wanted to paint Happy Landing today.
12 x 12 inches.

baby-step into abstraction

For many months, I've been thinking about "a sense of place" and how mine has evolved since childhood - and continues to change. I'm talking about a physical nesting place; the place we feel safe and content. And for me, perhaps more than for some others, a place that is visually pleasing.

Today's pastel painting is my first baby-step to abstract a sense of place. It was fun and my husband actually "got" it!

oil, pastel and colored pencil

One of my sources of inspiration and support for the past 14 years has been an Artist Critique Group. Most of us started as colored pencil artists and many continue to work primarily in that medium. As always, I was amazed and inspired by their work at our meeting yesterday. It motivated me to finish this little piece that has been on my easel for a week. It began as an oil foundation on white Wallis paper. I added some pastel, a little colored pencil, and left the oil foundation to stand alone in the foreground.

restraint

I read recently that failure can enhance your brain. When those with growth mind-sets (rather than fixed mind-sets) fail at a task, the brain enters a focused state and grows as it tries to solve the problem. I'm hoping that a couple days of frustration with this painting has enhanced my brain.

I began this painting with a fantastic reference photo that I took through a rain spattered window. The beautiful reference photo was the problem because I found myself trying to duplicate the scene. After hosing the pastel off 3 times, I started again, repeating the word RESTRAINT all the while I was working. I finally have a result I'm pleased with though it is nothing like the reference photo - and that's a good thing. 21 x 18 inches.

on, off, then on again

I remember hearing of someone who painted 27 times on one piece of Wallis paper by washing the pastel off and starting again. I certainly hope I can become content with this piece of Wallis long before that number.

This painting was originally posted 1/23/09 both as the foundation and finished painting, "Winter Riverwalk." Since then, it has been sitting in my studio, bugging me. About a month ago I washed it off and today I began again. As in my post of 1/26/08, I turned it upside down for a fresh start. For now, I'm OK with this one. We'll see how long it lasts. See the upside down foundation below. This time I'm calling it "Charmed."

featured...yay!

I am honored to have my painting, "Renaissance" selected for the show postcard of the upcoming Women Painters of Washington exhibit, "Summer Dreaming", beginning May 5, 2009 at the Women Painters of Washington Gallery, 3rd floor, Columbia Center Building, Seattle. The address is 701 5th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104. Gallery hours are M-F 10AM - 4PM.

peas instead of pastel

Beautiful, sunny, warm weather in Seattle area the past few days. I planted peas and transplanted daylilies instead of painting. Finally, here is the completed pastel painting on the foundation of my last post. 10.5 x 14 inches on gessoed Wallis paper.

award at wpw show

A nice Artists' Reception for the 2009 Women Painters of Washington Members' Show tonight despite pouring rain. I was honored to receive the Elsie Weiner Award for "Beach Grass." The judge was Tom Jensen.

too many mediums...

Today as I began the oil underpainting for a beach path scene in pastel, I was amazed to find an affinity for oil that I didn't know I had. It was so much fun to work in that medium again - I found myself painting longer than usual at the underpainting stage. It made me want to paint in oil again. Too many mediums, too little time.

#5 and the reference photo

This time it is acrylic over an ochre gesso ground. I'd love to continue playing with this medium but I need to return to pastel for upcoming spring shows. I'm including the one reference photo used for this week's acrylic experiments.

aha! moment

When I worked exclusively in colored pencil, the paper surface was critical to the outcome of my art. Then, I started working in pastel and again, found the surface was all-important. I am still finding my way with oil and don't have a favorite surface yet but one would think that SURFACE would be on my mind. Apparently not because I have been playing all week (without a lot of enthusiasm) with acrylic on canvas panel.

Today I finally had an aha! moment and switched from canvas to a paper surface. I'm much happier with the result. I have one more surface idea then tomorrow, I'll post the reference photo for the experiments of the week. 9 x 12 inches, acrylic on paper

bye bye sky

Another try with one brush, glazes and hopefully, more spontaneity. In the end, I wiped away all the sky that wasn't dry which left just a hint of the mountains. 9 x 12 inches, acrylic.

one brush instead of four

Acrylic again. Same reference photo, a little different composition. Today I used only one brush (#10 Connoisseur white taklon flat) and thin glazes to start. Yesterday, trying to find my way, I used four different size brushes. 9 x 12 inches, acrylic on canvas panel.

seven months later

It has been seven months since I first painted with acrylics. Today is my second try. I'm going on faith that I'll be able to get softer edges if I become better acquainted with this new-for-me medium. I may continue throughout the week using the same reference photo. 9 x 12 inches, acrylic on canvas panel.

late night color

Tonight, "Lavender Sky 2." So much color just before bedtime...wonder what that will do to my dreams?

back to pastel

Today it is "Lavender Sky." My afternoon attempt to get back to painting in my studio with pastel instead of painting the interior walls of our house. After the red kitchen (Behr New Brick), I moved on to the great room (Ralph Lauren Lincolnshire Olive). I'm done with walls for now.

Meanwhile, we're still looking for retirement property on Lake Sawyer or Lake Morton in Washington State. Anyone know someone there who wants to sell?

almost there

Here's a shot of the spaghetti sauce kitchen walls. Cabinet hardware is on order but I'm ready to move on from this project.

Good advice from my chiropractor this morning:
"Dreams are free; dream BIG."

side-tracked by spaghetti sauce

It has been a struggle this week to get into the studio to paint - lots of other things going on. Today was going to be the day but then the spaghetti sauce thing happened. I was cleaning up after dinner; I put the left over spaghetti sauce in a quart jar and headed for the refrigerator. But the color of the sauce was so beautiful I just stood in the kitchen holding the jar. The next thing I knew, I was on a mission to update the kitchen by painting the walls that color. One thing led to another and today was spent in major cleaning to get ready to paint the kitchen. The whole pantry needed to be rearranged to accommodate all the stuff from the counter tops and the collection of teapots, candlesticks, and water pitchers from above the cabinets. Tomorrow I'll buy the paint. I've been side-tracked by spaghetti sauce.

day's ease

What better time to paint a colorful late summer hillside than a rainy Sunday evening, the first day of March?
10.5 x 10.5 inches, pastel on paper

frame of mind

All this water isn't a great subject for my "less is more" challenge but the reference photo has been on my drawing table for weeks so I started painting from it. At some point, I decided it needed more. Not more detail in the water or trees, but more something. So I added the pink line framing the scene. Window frame, camera frame, picture frame? How about "Frame of Mind?" 14 x 14 inches, pastel on gessoed Wallis paper.

the garden hose solution

Today, for my "less is more" challenge, I hosed off an old painting and to the music of Paul Simon's Graceland, I applied a minimal amount of pastel for "Graceland Pond." Now I'm looking in my art database for another old pastel painting to wash off. 14 x 14 inches, pastel on gessoed Wallis paper.

less is more

Our tax preparation is 99% done, my nursing duties for my husband's shoulder surgery are tapering off and I have a show deadline to meet. Time to get back to painting.

An ongoing challenge for me is to make my work more minimal - the essence of a scene, not the detail. I like the idea of engaging the viewer to make the scene their own - using their imagination or experience of a place to complete my areas of suggested trees, a pond, or wild flowers. How few strokes can I make to say what I need to say?

A month ago I quoted from William F. Reese's book, The Painter's Process. Tonight I opened the book again and found exactly what I needed (funny how that works). "Simplicity requires greater knowledge and more time. It takes a great writer to say more with less. The same is true of artists. Editing is what art is all about." And, advice in yesterday's posting by Richard McKinley in his Pastel Pointers: "The novice paints the leaves; the master suggests the tree." This week, I'll be working with those words in mind.

where the heart is...or isn't

Hopefully, when you look at your work you remember what you loved about the scene, the idea, the message.

In this painting, the island in the distance has special meaning for the people I was with. I was painting with them in mind, not because I was excited about the scene. That was a problem the first time and still a problem the second time around. I'll try to remember that lesson.

path to lake, revisited

This painting is from a September fishing trip to Canada. I was painting plein air from the upper deck of our chalet - listening to conversations below, smelling dinner cooking. I was determined to paint this scene but my lack of enthusiasm for painting and increased interest in food shows. Brought it home, put it away.

Today I took it out and washed it off. This painting didn't have a foundation of watercolor or oil under the pastel. I could have scrubbed the surface clean if I wanted to start a totally different painting but I thought I'd give this composition another try - this time, without the scene in front of me and without a reference photo.

I applied an oil underpainting and changed a few things. We'll see what happens next...