Making Marks

Red Bushes

These bushes are inspired by blueberry fields that are near Silverton. I adore blueberries and really appreciate that I can buy from local growers. In the springtime, the bushes have reddish branches, hence, Red Bushes.

The orange fields in the middle ground are also inspired by local growers who plant fields of flowers (for seeds?). They are stunning.

Now I've shared all of my recent work! Since school is over, I should be able to spend more time in the studio and have more new work to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Purple Waters

Purple Waters is another 6" x 6" oil pastel. Like many of my recent landscapes, this is inspired by what I see as I drive through the Willamette Vally on my way to work. 

In one small valley in the winter time, there's a spot that collects water. The levels rise and fall depending on weather conditions. Since our spring has been very wet, the seasonal lake is still there, and I wonder when it will be planted (if at all) this year. 

I've got a show coming up on November, so I'm starting to plan what to complete before October. I've made several smaller oil pastel pieces like this one. I think it's time to leap onto the larger canvas where I can explore more color shifts and gradations. I have some 14" x 18" Ray Mar panels, and I think I'll be working on those.That will be a shift from working on gallery wrapped canvas.

What do you like to work on?

Work in progress - stage 4

Here is my finished piece. The biggest change is in the middle blue section. That area morphed through several iterations until I decided to make it a water feature. After applying more pastel, I used a scraping tool (from the ceramics tool aisle) and carved out water scallops. That design is inspired by traditional Japanese motifs.

I particularly like how the orange field turned out. It has a lot of depth. Also, I like the green and purple grid. That is a sweet color combination.

I'm working toward the goal of having a set of 6 to show at the gallery. This is #4, so I'm well on my way.

Work in progress - stage 3

After drawing the basic contours of a design and laying down the under-painting, I use a variety of tools to blend the pastels: a finger, a paper stump, a blending tool or another pastel color.

You may be able to tell that I changed a color in the middle section. The blue wavy lines were light and dark blue, and now I have decided to try a blue-green color. The greens in the checkered part of the painting seem more blue in the photo.

I've started to develop color variation, such as adding darker green and blue to the lower part of the triangle design, and adding some orange color to the sky, adding yellow to areas in the orange triangles.

I will now spend lots of time looking at value and color contrasts, developing layers of color and tweaking any design issues.

Work in progress - stage 2

In stage 1, I developed the underlying structure of the painting, and in stage 2 my goal is to start laying down color.

One of my goals is to create some depth even though my paintings are very abstract. I've learned that creating depth is much more interesting for viewers. A flat plane can be intriguing, but it's often not captivating.

As I apply the first layer of color, I'm sketching out the basic areas and hues. At this point, I use a fairly light layer of color. That allows me to make adjustments in the subsequent layers. However, if I later choose to scrape an area down, the first color will likely remain. (Other substrates, such as paper, might be more flexible, but the acrylic grounds grab and hold the first layer of pastel.)

I do add a few color variations at this point. For example, you can see that I have added some yellow and some red to different parts of the orange field.

Work in progress - stage 1

Here's a picture of a work in progress. I prepare a gallery stretched canvas (12" square) with an acrylic background (shown in a peachy color). I also paint the edges before applying oil pastels.

The background is overpainted with a Golden product called Acrylic Ground for Pastel. I water it down and apply two layers for a nice tooth.

Next I use a colored pencil to draw my images. In this case, I revised the clouds in a lighter color.

Over the next few posts, I'll be showing the work at different stages.

New Work - medium 2

I think "Orange Hill", another 8" x 8" piece, is complete. However, I'm going to live with it for a few more days before making the final decision.

One of my favorite flowers is lavender, which is grown near Silverton. They gave me inspiration for the "Orange Hill" piece.

As I mentioned in the post about Teresa's work, I want to use more out-of-the-ordinary colors in my work, so I purposefully chose to create an orange hill here. I think it works, and I particularly like the dark teal/orange juxtaposition.

What color combos do you like?

New Work - medium 1

"Blue Field" is 8" x 8" and another in the series of patterned landscapes I've been working on.

The area of this painting that flummoxed me for several days was the orange grid. I kept getting an ochre or sienna look when I wanted a brighter orange to contrast with the blue fields. Finally I got it to work. One aspect of this work that I really like is the subtle shading of the blue field area in the bottom of the painting where parts merge into purple or green.

I'm really enjoying working in oil pastels. They are extremely versatile and easy for me to work with. Also, in comparison to acrylics, the clean up is so quick! I have no brushes to clean out.

New Work - small

This landscape, "Orange Field", is a 6" x 6" oil pastel I recently finished. While I am happy with the whole piece, I really like how the clouds evolved. Also, the orange haze in the sky is mimicked in the bottom of the orange field.

I feel like I've hit a stride with the patterned landscapes. I have a few more to share over the next posts, and I am taking photos as I work on another piece. I look forward to sharing the process with you.

These landscapes are inspired by my daily drive to work, which is through the Willamette Valley. A good portion of the scenery is farm land, and I love how the crop rows emerge, the vineyard posts create patterns and the trees provide a natural frame.

What inspires you?

Making Time for Art

This is the completed piece to trade with Teresa Burgett for the dog picture. I found out she's ready to trade, and I'm so excited!

Making time to work on this (large for me) piece was a little challenging. We're in the final term of the school year and my energy at work is flagging. I often feel very tired at the end of the day. In the past, I arranged my schedule to make sure I had time to work in the studio before going to my teaching job.  Right now that's not possible. So. . . one thing I notice is that half of the battle is just getting started. Once I start, my energy returns and I become involved in the project.

I also tried an experiment of not turning on the computer at home one night. While I thought I might have major withdrawals, it wasn't too bad. I accomplished plenty of tasks that night.

I'm looking foreword to time this summer when I can just concentrate on art projects and not worry about lesson planning! If I avoid doing art then, I'll know I have a different problem to deal with.