Pear and Orange

Pear and Orange      Pastel   6" x 6"

I had set this small piece aside and decided to revisit it.  I am pleased with the end result.  Originally the structure of the painting was accurate, but I needed to work on the edges.  I also added additional color to the fruit, which tied the composition more together.

Silverton

Silverton   5" x 7"  Pastel

I don't think there is ever a bad day at the studio.  I don't always create a master piece, but sometimes the discussions and experiments are as important as the master piece I strive for.  Today Cindy and I had a discussion about the difference between rendering a painting and expressing ourselves.  I have created a number of paintings inwhich I have painted what I observed rather than what I feel about the subject matter.  Lately I have been experimenting with my pastels, laying down shapes of color and creating  more tonal paintings.  I feel that these pieces have been more expressive and fresh. Silverton is one of my newest pieces.

Saturday Market

Saturday Market      6" x 8"    Pastel

A few years ago I was in Portland and had the opportunity to walk around the Saturday Farmers' Market.  It was an ideal time of day for capturing people at the market.  I've always enjoyed painting people. This painting was done with broad strokes of  pastel color  I did minimal amount of blending and concentrated on portraying the people with shapes and color. This was painted on brown art spectrum paper.