Claude Monet Pastel

I used this example of pastel painting for class on Wednesday. We often don't think of Monet as using pastels because we are so familiar with his oil paintings. This is fresh and looks almost as if it could have been created only yesterday. Love the paper showing through the sky and how loose everything is. It looks effortless and this is, of course, why Monet is so brilliant.

Fuzzy Flowers Still an Abstraction

This is a pastel I did that still remains unframed. Although I love creating pastels, the problem of framing, putting in spacers or matting the work and worrying about chips and dents in the frame is troublesome. I took a picture of some flowers and the photo ended up being so blurry that it was actually very difficult to figure out what the picture was all about. More reason for me to like it. I think that I may just use this piece as a reference and paint it in oils. Oil paintings sell so much better than pastels. What do you think?

Pastels or Oils

I have been neglecting my pastels lately. It has been intentional as I must admit that I have unfaithful to them with all of the painting I have been doing. The truth is that most people simply don't understand pastels and often say cute things like," Oh, so you work in chalk...." or "Do these chalk drawings hold up like oils?" I get tired explaining that pigment + binder = reliable, long lasting work. They still look at me strangely as if I made it all up.
I too, get tired of the whole under glass thing with pastels in spite of using spacers which are great little things and eliminate the need for a mat. But the reality is that oil reigns king and in terms of sales, that's where the art consumer wants to put their money.
With the internet, shipping pastels to far away places also creates concerns. I love UPS and Fedex, but no matter how hard you try, pastel dust will inevitably go where you don't want it to go and then you have an unhappy camper somewhere. Fixatives, create more problems than they solve and more than once, no matter how careful I am, they can leave "speckles". If you don't want speckles, then you had better spray from miles away. What good does fixative do then? Round and round we go.
I still LOVE pastels and will always credit them for improving my paintings. So, I haven't totally abandonded them, just taking a small break. With a blog, pastels can be posted so quickly. With oil painting, I often let it dry a bit between sessions, so less artwork to show at the end of the day. Have faith, I'm still working.

Kendall Jackson Vineyard View

No, I didn't get to drink any wine as it was about
10 am when we were there. The trees ( yes, I know
that these aren't the grapes) were right on the fringe
of where the vines were. It was misty and started
to rain, really usual for sunny California. This pastel is very small, 4x6.

Got A Thing for Trees

Trees have always been like people to me. Tall and proud or aged and bent, they grow and develop just as we do. So, painting them seems like doing a portrait of someone's face, for no two trees are alike. These trees and bushes were stuck on a hillside in Wiesloch, back behind the vineyard we often walked. I have a gazillion photos of trees and will need to sort through them all to decide what to work on next.

Plein Air Workshop

I certainly have been behind on these blogs, but between other distractions (see my blog on this) and getting ready for the workshop, I've been OBE (overcome by events.)
Friday was a full day...Packing the car, picking up 3 other friends, driving about 2 hours and finally arriving at Dorothy Fagan's studio in Mathews County. There were 13 participants in the workshop and if we agreed on only one thing, it was the fact that Dorothy's studio was something we all envied. It was a large addition on the back of her home, glass on 3 sides and attached to her large deck also at the rear of her home. Plenty of trees and even a pond filled her many views.
We watched Dorothy demonstrate her work and then broke for lunch to allow ourselves to absorb many of the things we had discussed. After lunch, we headed out to the countryside where we painted for about 2 hours. It was pretty cold with the wind not helping the chill. Thankfully, the sun remained with us. Late afternoon, we packed up and headed back to Dorothy's studio to show our work and discuss what we had created. By that early evening we were headed home tired and full of "stuff" that we had learned that day.
As this was my first workshop, I had no preconceived ideas about how it should have been conducted. Dorothy was enthusiatic and happy to share her techniques, processes and thoughts on just about everything she was asked. The levels of the students varied from beginner to those who had been painting or doing art for years. I think that this was perhaps the most difficult challenge not only for Dorothy, but for the beginners as well. I surely admire their ability to go for it and attend a workshop early on in their pursuit of painting and wish that I had done something like this years ago.
I learned some important things that were rather technical and probably not very interesting to the group. I had also only painted plein air with my pastels, so lugging my oils along was surely a new challenge. Plein air painting requires that you prepare carefully before going out in the field. Underpainting a canvas, mounting pastel board or paper, selecting a core group of colors, packing it all up for transport and figuring a way to tote a wet canvas home, all go into the prep. Not having the stuff from your studio immediately on hand makes it difficult. I found myself reaching for items that I didn't have. Obviously, the more one does this, the better and smarter it all becomes.
Landscapes have their particular nuances and no matter where I have been or how I have chosen to work; ie: from a photo I have taken, from actually being on site or from memory alone, it still remains the same. Choosing the correct spot, doing a thumbnail, catching the light and getting the values right,is still a constant key in whether a work is sucessful or not.
The day was fun. I wish that it had lasted at least another 2 days. I felt rushed and wanted to ask so many things. Maybe next time.

Check out Dorothy's stuff at http://www.dorothyfagan.com/