Out West

Out West      pastel     8" x 8"

I have been studying paintings by a couple of artists that I have admired and I've really been impressed with their ability to work with color and shapes.  They paint with  limited color pallets and they keep their shapes large and simple.  I did this landscape in the studio this morning.  It is my attempt to work with a somewhat limited pallet. The piece was done on black art spectrum paper and with soft pastels.  

Snack Time      6" x 6"   Pastel

We had a visitor to the studio this morning.  Our friend Linda came be to paint with us.  Linda spent a number of hours in another studio with us and we all studied with Deborah Bays for an extended period.

There was lots to catch up on, but we did get a few strokes of pastel onto the paper.  I chose to work from a previously photographed picture that I had taken.  I was taken with the color of the fruit and the dark shadows in the photo.   

Green Apple

Green Apple      pastel    6 x 6

It was a good day in the studio this morning.  I arrived around 9 and put in a few hours of work.  I have a large piece that I am working on and it involves a lot of patterning and dramatic lighting.  It is close to being completed, but needs some fine tuning.  After an hour and a half of working on it I decided I needed to do a smaller piece that was less involved.  The green apple was done in a matter of an hour.  Sometimes you wish that they all went that quickly!  (The larger piece will be posted when I have completed the fine tuning.)

Work in progress     oil      6" x 6"

Today was one of those days where I didn't know what I really wanted to do when I walked into the studio.  There are days like that and it is hard to get started.  I went for simple.  I had a photo of a pear and decided to work from that.  This is the first step in creating this painting.  

      

Once I have loosely drawn in the image I begin to lay in the dark values.

                                            At this point I begin adding color to the painting.

Finished painting

The last touch to the painting is to add the highlights and adjust the colors.  Not bad for someone who felt clueless when she walked into the studio two hours earlier.