Black Magic

Readers of this blog have seen how I typically begin a pastel painting by creating an underpainting of the large shapes and value structure of the composition, then overpainting with more detailed, textured strokes.  Recently, however, I was re-reading a back issue of The Pastel Journal and came across an article by an artist who works directly on black paper.  Intrigued by the strong value effects and sparkling colours this artist's work displayed, I decided to give it a go. Not having the structure of an underpainting to rely upon meant that I had to plan my composition more carefully--I wanted the black paper to peek through the pastel strokes in places, so I was aiming for a fresh, simple stroke structure without a lot of layering.  This meant I had to be more sure of each stroke before I made it, with less room for correction. As soon as I got the hang of that, however, I loved the results--see some below. Those attending the studio tour last week responded well to it, and one of these works has sold since the tour, so I think I'll keep exploring this approach!

Les pastellistes!

I am delighted to say that I have had a painting accepted into the juried show of the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada, which will be exhibited at the Ogilvy Tudor Hall in Montreal from November 6th through 15th, 2009.  If you are in the city then, do try and catch the show. The piece accepted was Birch Path, seen below and also in my pastels gallery on this site.

Uxbridge Studio Tour

Last weekend (Sept 19/20 2009) I participated in a wonderful regional studio tour in and around the town of Uxbridge, Ontario.  Potter Cynthia Cupples (http://cynthiacupples.com/) generously invited me to share her home/studio space, so I happily set up a variety of paintings, my easel, and my pastels on Saturday morning. The results exceeded my wildest expectations.  A near-constant flow of people came through, politely asking questions, picking up cards, signing my guest book, and buying works large and small from both of us.  Thank you, thank you to all--it was a great pleasure to meet you and share my work with you!  I hope to see some of you again when I return for Cynthia's seasonal open house on Nov 7/8. And thank you, Cynthia, for sharing your space and clientele!

I actually got a bit lost on my way to Cynthia's on Saturday morning (trying a new route to avoid driving through Uxbridge) and, in my meanderings, came across a wonderful marshy area between Scugog Lines 12 and 14.  On Saturday evening after the tour ended, I deliberately returned the "wrong" way to be able to take photos of the marsh in the late afternoon light.  On Sunday, I painted a large pastel from this photo, which promptly sold off the easel (before I remembered to take a photo of it, in fact), but here's another painting, a bit different and smaller than the first.  I look forward to doing more works from this series of photos--the colours and textures are marvelous. Stay tuned!

A Soft Touch

Recently when I was buying supplies in my local art supply store (Bijan's, in London, Ontario), the owner/artist persuaded me to try pastel painting on suede matboard--maybe because he had a big box of it on sale at the time? :) I'd had one or two experiences with it previously, but decided to give it another try--what's $10 for some experimentation, right? I chose a dark brown sheet, and cut it into two sections: a square and thin rectangle. The surface is extremely soft and deep, and I found that the use of a pencil to sketch in the initial layout of the scene left indentations that never did fill in--so don't use pencil or any other sharp-pointed implement! I suggest laying out the scene with the blunt end of a pastel instead.

I loved the ease with which I could spread the colour over the surface of the board, but it sure wouldn't take many layers, and tight or fine detail was out of the question.

So, I ended up with two nice little pieces that are uncharacteristically "Impressionaistic" and even a bit abstract.  Fun, but ultimately the experience didn't persuade me to rush out to buy more of the suede matboard--sorry, Bijan!

Some viewers LOVE these pieces, and others are lukewarm--it just goes to show that tastes differ.  In the end, the artist must be true to what pleases her or him self.

Pretty in Pink?

At the introduction to pastel workshop I taught at Meta4 Gallery in Port Perry last weekend, one of the students mentioned that a former instructor had told her she wasn't "allowed" to use pink in her paintings!  I'm sure this must have been said in jest, or perhaps it was a playful way to make some legitimate point about colour (not sure what point that would have been, but I wasn't there, so...) but the comment stuck with me... Yesterday, I completed my first attempt at a painting using water-soluble oil paints (see below, more about that experience in a future blog posting).

Afterwards, I was trawling my photo files looking for inspiration for a pastel, and came across a bunch of fabulous shots from last summer's Caribana parade in Toronto.  If you've never been to this celebration of Caribbean culture, you can hardly imagine the driving, finger-snapping, toe-tapping music and the fabulous costumes and floats--completely over the top.  When I saw this shot, of a gorgeous woman hauling a personal float decked out in the glitteriest, most intense PINK I've ever seen in my life, I knew this was the image I wanted, to take on that "no pink" challenge! It was pure pleasure to paint, though differentiating all the wacky parts of the float with various shades of pink, peach, orange and yellow was a true challenge.  Fun, eh? I found a few other inspiring shots in the file, so watch for more colourful figures to turn up in my "Figures" gallery. This one's for you, Leslie--be brave, and use pink whenever you want! :)

The students last weekend (many of them brand new to pastels) did some awesome work--I'll post some shots of them hard at it on the Workshop page soon.