NPS Hood River Paint-Out

This past week I've been fortunate enough to make my way on a day by day basis to the NPS Hood River Paint-out. This group of pastelists paint with a well planned agenda of beautiful scenery. Driving east from Portland down the Columbia River Gorge is spectacular, but what really caught my eye was how clear the sky is and how the greens are much warmer. Here is my work from the two full days I was able to attend, driving some 75 miles in one direction. My first stop is at Rasmussen Farms in the Hood River valley just 5 miles south of Hood River. The orchards are so plentiful and the sweet smell of the fruit filled my senses as I painted this scene of the farmer's shed and garden of dahlias.

"Rasmussen's Garden" 12x9" Pastel on sanded paper

The warmer colors of the pre-autumn weather dictated the bright orange under paintings of my work. The moment I put a swipe of light blue into the sky, my eyes wet with excitement to see what would come of this painting. Gotta love that excitement!

My second day of travel to the area was breathtaking. We took off to Parkdale, 13 miles south of Hood River, to this small farmer's community with a tool shop, pump station, & antique store. A quintessential small town community. Parkdale hosts a turnaround destination for the Hood River Railroad, offering day trips through the fruit orchards and views of Mt. Hood. Hood River is well known around the world as a Wind Surfing destination because of it's strong breezes. Thankfully there was barely a breeze to blow down my easel. Sorry windsurfer's, it's our turn now!

"Hutson Barn" 6x9" Pastel on sanded paper

My intension with this barn was to quickly block in the color and keep it simple. I'm liking the simplicity and conservation of stroke on this one.

"Gorge Colors" 6x9" Pastel on sanded paper

The last stop of my day 2 trip brought me to an incredible west facing view of the Gorge. I decided to paint at the edge of the cliff (it had a chain link fence to keep me secure) as I drank in the view. There sure was a lot of information to take in so I tried to keep the cliffs somewhat simplified while making them recede. I rounded the piece off with a little repetitious pattern of the orchards to compliment the cliffside patterns.

Satin Slopes, 24 x 24

"Satin Slopes" 24 x 24"  Pastel on sanded paper

After creating the study of Satin Slopes, I challenged myself to paint it in a larger format.  Painting larger by any means can be difficult when coming from such a small study, as I have found here.  It seems to take on a whole other life of its' own.  Kind of like re-telling a story and hoping for the same punch, or "effect" as previously hoped.  This can pose a problem for artists who are working on commissions after presenting a study before moving onto the larger, final piece.

I was never good at telling stories.  Telling a story and remembering the punch line was for others of greater articulation!  Especially when it comes to jokes.  Have you ever tried to describe something difficult and failed, leaving your friends wondering what planet you came from?  The look of confusion often is the result I get.  So, I often resort to drawing it out on a napkin...communicating visually is much more my style.  And then that is when they understand what I'm trying to say!  

"Satin Slopes" is a piece that draws from my imagination and the California hills in the early Spring.  In real life, these hills are so satiny, green and just beautiful under the sun.  The green lasts for only a few days before the sun transforms it to the gold that the state is well known for.  Here are the stages from which I created this piece.

Here is the underpainting.  This time around, I covered the entire mounted paper with a bright pastel.  Then, with a paintbrush and turpenoid, I melted the pastel with the wet paintbrush into the sanded paper leaving no specks of white peeking through.  This warm underpainting hopefully holds the piece together.

The next step is to get color down on the entire piece, blocking in the color to get the initial composition down.  It is applied lightly, only to set the scene.

Defining the distance first, I work on the clouds and most distant hills.

Here I'm establishing the darker values of the trees, making sure the farthest ones are more bluer and lighter.  I also placed shadows under the trees and begin to establish the focal point of the piece.

Stepping back to review what I've done so far, I ask for a critique.  I find a few things that need work.  The shadows are too intense, so I'll need to make them more gray.  The farthest hillside is a bit darker than the ones in front making it seem more forward.  I'll need to grey that one down a bit to push it farther away.  And the first mound of green looks too perfect.  So adding a few shrubs to break up that perfect arch might do the trick as well as to help out the composition a bit.  I'm aiming for that "S" composition here, so adding a few shrubs in that arch will help to lead the eye into the piece.

Done! 

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