May Heat Wave

Remember when it was 80 degrees for several days in May? 
I was out photographing the sunlit mountains and trees. 

I began this painting with a loose watercolor underpainting.  I used values that were darker than the finished painting would be and chroma that was duller and darker too; sadly, those first images of this painting in progress were lost in the ether - maybe the camera hiccoughed.  You can just see the watercolor area of the grass in the foreground.

The first pass of pastels was dark with connected, simplified shapes.

The last layers of pastel were warmer, brighter and more detailed.  I could almost feel the heat of the day! 

Rocky's Bowls

This is a case of art imitating art...for the Sequim Arts studio tour my friend Rocky Fankhouser displayed a couple of his beautiful turned wooden bowls on his hand painted table right in front of a cascading clematis on  a sunny July day. 

As always I started with a few thumbnail sketches to work out the value pattern of the piece, then I transfered the drawing to a piece of 16" x 21" 140# cold pressed Arches watercolor paper. 

Since it's critical to have the ellipses accurate, I used a piece of vellum to copy one side of each bowl then flipped the vellum over and traced the other side.




To me, the most intriguing part of the scene is the light and shadow on the table and bowls, so I started the painting there....if that part didn't work I needed to start over.



I added just enough information to the table to 'reserve' the shape on the paper...I have been known to forget where major elements go in my zeal to paint the background.

Next I added the first layer of wood detail to the bowls and  washed in the clematis blooms and leaves - very wet and intense.

After I darkened and simplified some of the clematis leaves I removed the resist and began cleaning up some of the hard edges left by the resist.

Here is the finished painting...I hope Rocky likes it - and you too!

Sea Stacks at Second Beach

I wanted the stacks to "belong" to the sky and to sit back in the distance, so I washed the sky color over them.  I painted this portion upside down so the darker color would flow to the top of the paper.
  You can see a small amount of resist holding the white foam of the waves.

Here I have begun painting mid-values wet-in-wet in fairly large areas, trying to keep the paint loose.

I added at least one layer of watercolor to every part of the paper before adding any pastel.

For me, the 'story' was about the reflected sky, stone, and tree colors in the wet sand and shallow water.  The finished painting is 16" x 25"

Heceta Head Lighthouse

I used a full sheet of Arches paper for this painting.  Here I have reserved the whites with resist in preparation for the first wet in wet washes.

I had a great time sloshing in all the juicy colors with a 2" flat brush; the resist acts like a dam keeping the colors from mixing where I don't want them to.

On the left is a muffin tin of the large pre-mixed colors I used.

I have laid in a second wash of darker values, still using the resist to help isolate colors from each other.

After I removed the resist I stroked soft pastel over almost everything to lighten values and add lots of interesting color combinations.

Plein Air and class work in Albuquerque

I had such a good time at IAPS in Albuquerque!!

I learned a lot about portraits in pastel from William Schneider and a lot more about landscapes in pastel from Lorenzo Chavez...take a minute to Google their names and you will see that I was learning from the best!

Every evening the clouds were spectacular at sunset - there was a lot of smoke in the air too, so the colors were muted near the ground.  Though it looks like rain, this is virga; rain that never reaches the ground.

We were very near the Sandia Mountains which were formed when tectonic plates collided.  In the foreground, is the ubiquitous Pinion Pine.

They haven't had even an inch of rain in 8 months and still the plants are alive - really amazing.  I painted in the shade of a pinion pine.

This piece was completed in class with Lorenzo Chavez, from a photo I took years ago.  I didn't have an enormous array of pastels, so some of the colors are a compromise.  I am happy with the looser, more painterly look to the piece though.

This is another class piece that is also from an old photo of mine - it came together quickly with all that I learned from Lorenzo.  Can't wait to get back in the studio....right after I mow the lawn!

Siberian Iris

I painted this colorful demonstration for the intermediate students yesterday, on such a gorgeous day we all resonated to the spring colors of this piece.    Please send me your name, email, and phone number if you would like to hear more about upcoming classes catherine@cuttinggarden.com   

After I had all my pre-mixed paints ready to go, I wet half the background with clear water and painted the distant iris wet-in-wet with intense, fairly thick (dry) paint. 
After the first half of the background was completely dry I painted the other half. 

Then, finally on to the "center of interest", the iris that's in focus in the foreground.  Each petal was painted separately, first wet-in-wet and then wet on dry to add the details.  To finish the painting I toned down some information in the background by lifting paint off some areas that had too much contrast and glazing over some bright areas with a neutralizing color. 
This piece is 7" x 8.5" and is available for $125 unframed or $250 framed.