Dusky Bluffs, 9x12

"Dusky Bluffs" 9x12 Pastel

Here is my third piece from the Maggie Price workshop. This one piece was a second study of the value underpaintings. We used an underpainting of one hue but in 3 to 5 different values. Just like the previous post, I used a warm purple-burgundy with 4 values of that particular hue. I'm liking this one a lot.

Workshop with Maggie Price

"Canyon Walls" 12x9"

This week I've been really busy fine tuning my pastel technique with instructor Maggie Price. I'm learning loads and the work load is just my speed. I've produced a couple of pieces a day, so far, and I'll post them up over the course of the coming week. Since we are indoors, I have been working from reference photos (Canyon shots provided by photographer Lee Engvall) for the first 3 days, then we will move outside to do plein-aire. On our first day we worked on underpainting of pastel with Terpenoid. I've never used a solvent on my pastels, so this was a new twist for me. (I usually use an underpainting of Createx pure pigment). In the first painting, "Canyon Walls", we were instructed to use an underpainting of the underlying color of our photo, so to enhance it's color, giving it more vibrancy. I decided to use a pink for the sky, a dark, warm purple for the canyon walls, and light blue-purple for the farthest canyon wall, and a light violet for the water. If the underpainting is done successfully, then the painting nearly paints itself. Very easy!


12 x 9"
"Canyon Quiet" 12x9"

In this second piece, "Canyon Quiet", we took one hue (or color) and grabbed 5 shades, or values of that color as the underlying painting. Here I've used a warm purple as the unifying color from a light pink to a dark burgundy.

NPS International Show

At the American Art Company in Tacoma, WA.

I just returned from Tacoma, WA to attend the Artists' Reception at American Art Company on July 17th. The show is beautiful and well worth a visit to Tacoma! The NPS has pulled off a stellar International show and the Gallery has already sold several from our exhibit! Here I am with my two that are hung nicely together. "Buoy Dance" is on the left and "Boats With Ropes" is on the right. I am sure proud to have my work hanging in such a beautiful gallery with all the talent on display! I carpooled with two other pastelists, Susan Kuznitsky and Eve Kenyon from Portland and back. We ate lunch at a Thai restaurant then walked our way to the Glass Museum where we witnessed glass sculptures being created. We sure had a lot of fun! Next Friday on July 25th will be the artists' reception at Hughes Water Gardens. Come on out to a garden party! Info to your right....
Here's an image of Chihuly's glass on the overpass to the museum.

Plein air musings...

I had a conversation the other day with another artist about Plein-air musings. Our conversation drifted to what viewers most often commented on out in the field as they are often a curious sort. I thought that I would offer a post about this in order of the least common comments starting from #10 (even though it is still a common question) to #1 as the most common comment ever stated by any viewer in the field. And of course, this is meant to be cheeky humor. Take no offense! Your comments are encouraged here as I may miss a few good ones! Also, click on the WetCanvas! thread on this topic for more humor.

So here goes:

#10. Can I look?
#9. That's really nice, do you sell your work?
#8. How long did that take you to paint?
#7. Do you show in galleries?
#6. You missed that tree over there...
#5. That's a nice easel, I bet it was expensive.
#4. Can I touch that?
#3. What are you doing?
#2. I used to paint with chalks too, but I don't have the time to anymore.
#1. My grandma used to paint, and she was really, really good!

Bishops' View, 9x9

What a day! I went out with my painting buddie, Gretha, to plein-air paint at 2 lavender farms today! What a day! The temps rose to around 91 degrees even in the shade, but we kept painting well into the late afternoon till 6pm. We first started out at Jackson School Lavender farm around 10am and worked till we were done at 1:00. Ate our lunches and headed over to Bishop House Lavender farm. Above is the result from that location. Both Gretha and I sold our pieces right off the easel! Now that was fun!

Beyond the Lavender, 15x11

"Beyond the Lavender" 15x11"

Packed my painting bags and went out to Jackson School Lavender farm in the late afternoon to plein-air paint. This was the first for me to paint so late in the day, but what colors there were! As the sun drifted lower and lower, the fields got warmer and warmer. The gravel from which I painted even had a pinkish cast to it. This coming weekend is The lavender festival and many local farmers are hosting artists as well as the general public to come out and enjoy their fields. In this piece, I injected the fields with aqua, rust and yellow ochre to give it some punch, although the colors may seem a bit off due to monitor settings. I spent most of my time on the background this time around, working on the depth of the scene. Enjoy!

Greenwaters, Oakridge 8x10

Greenwaters, Oakridge 8x10 SOLD

We stopped along our way back home in a small community called Oakridge, Oregon for an ice cream before we made our way back up the I-5 corridor. A beautiful area with a small public park provided a great place to rest from our travels, and provided an easy access river for the kids and my husband to fish in. This piece took me the full 1 1/2 hour road stop to complete. The water there had this beautiful hint of green to it and my son later discovered the stones in the water had a greenish-aqua tint to them which is what gave the river its' name. This was my first time ever painting a river plein-air, and I think this one works. Although the shoreline where the stones and water meet possibly needs some adjusting.


...and here is my view of the river with my work as a comparison...

Cultus Lake Shoreline 6x6

Cultus Lake Shoreline 6x6  Sold

Here is the Southern side of Cultus Lake, painted an hour after the previous painting posted below. "Cultus Lake Shoreline" has more mood and I think that is because I had to paint quickly because the weather was beginning to show signs of rain (yes, it rains in July in the Northwest!). By now I was pretty warmed up to the process of painting and didn't want to quit so soon, but after two paintings in two hours, the weather had me beat. Have you ever had to pack it up because of rain? Pastels and rain don't mix and I don't care to experiment with the combo either! This was painted with a cool pink under-painting of pastel sprayed with alcohol.

Cultus Lake 6x6

Cultus Lake 6x6

This week, my family and I went camping in La Pine, Oregon. The central Oregon area has many beautiful areas to paint and of course my favorite subject, water, was plentiful along the Cascade Lakes Hwy. We stopped off for our favorite watering hole, Cultus Lake, and stayed long enough for me to paint two small pieces. "Cultus Lake" is the first one I worked on. The skies have had this smoky haze due to the Northern California fires that have drifted up to the Northwest areas, which made for interesting skies. Anyway, the vacation was a fruitful one filled with beauty, family and laughter!