We just got back home and unpacked from our best trip yet; rafting down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon.  

Every inch of the 222 miles of the river was fascinating with changing light, color, shapes, and moving water.

I only took 950 pictures because my camera wasn't waterproof, Tom took the other 1,240 pictures!

Here is the first wash - it's tough to gauge the values correctly...so I went with warm and cool colors and just jumped in.

Trying to use as little detail as possible, I layered in the bands of rock and color on the left hand side.

Finally addressing the dark bands of desert varnish in the foreground rocks and layering in washes in the water.

I think I will paint this again next week using pastel.  This scene may be easier because I will be able to work from dark to light and since the pastels are wider than a watercolor brush I may be able to resist painting so much of the detail in the distance.  I learned a lot (though not enough) about painting the canyon walls from Cody DeLong take a look at his website www.codydelong.com to see how it should be done.  Maybe when I have a little more distance from this exhilarating experience I will be able to resist the urge to explain it ALL to the viewer...so stay tuned, more pieces next week!

Practicing Red Rock painting

Tom and I are going to raft the Colorado river in May on a plein air painting trip so I am trying to simplify my painting process and palette.  First I need to take smaller bites; I really liked this reference photo but since I will be working on 9 x 12 wallis paper, there's no way I can do that much detail.

So I cropped the photo to find the most interesting shapes, evocative colors and interesting angles.

I sketched in the large shapes on Kitty Wallis sanded paper taped to foam core

Using a small Winsor Newton travel set of watercolors I washed on the loose under painting.  As I watched the paper buckle I realized I will need to mount all the paper onto foam core before we leave.

Here's the painting...not horrible though I should have made the back wall of the canyon cooler so it would sit back better....well, that's one down and a couple dozen to go.  I hope to have a lot of fine small paintings to sell when I get home - so I can afford the next trip!

I have wanted to paint grapes for a while, they are such little jewels!

The sketch on the rough side of Canson Mi-Teintes with vine charcoal which I brushed down before adding pastel.

stroking on dark and mid value pastels

I have blended the pastels so they become an under painting of sorts

I begin to add details working left to right and top to bottom

This is the fun part, firing up the grapes!

I add the darkest darks and the lightest lights and sign it but I'm going to look at it tomorrow with 'fresh eyes'.

The next day I added blues to the onion and peachy warm tones to the grapes - they were all too equally red yesterday.  I also stroked more warm toasty pastel over the pale violet in the upper right area that was too distracting.  Finally I noticed that since they are translucent, the grapes cast a warm glow on the beige fabric - just the right touch I now think!

Demonstration painting pears with pastel

These pears have been bumped a bit, but with a strong light and a good imagination they will do.

I am recycling a gently used piece of Kitty Wallis Belgian mist sanded paper 9 x 12.  I begin the painting with a sketch done with vine charcoal.  I brushed the sketch with an old oil painting brush to remove most of the charcoal so it won't darken the pastels.

I have blocked in large shapes with light, mid and fairly dark values.  I will add the lightest values at the end.

The finished piece isn't this garish.  Please click on the image so you can examine the pastel strokes more closely.  After a while I stroked the lightest peach pastel over the lavender area on the far right....there was just too much interest in the contrast between the background and tablecloth where they meet.

Clouds Over Longbeach

Sometimes you have to remove large portions of a reference photo to create the painting you really want.
I think this photo was taken in Longbeach, WA, but that may not be correct....please let me know if you recognize this view.  Anyway, I loved the warm clouds and the feeling that I could see for miles.


Here is the charcoal drawing on La Carte pastel board.

A light block in of the sky and sand masses.  The brightly reflective stream in the foreground will be the focal point of the painting.

Blocking in the darkest values that I see in the clouds. 


Restating some of the darker warm colors in the clouds (they were too light initially)

Adding details to the distant hills, stream, and grass on the shore.

The completed painting is 12" x 18"  As always, the photograph just doesn't do it justice...I may need to re-photograph this painting in muted daylight.  

For students who can't make it to a week day class
I will be teaching a weekend workshop Painting with Pastels in February
(you can rent my pastels if you don't have your own).
Please go to http://cuttinggarden.com/events.html for more information and to register.