Painting Time - pastel painting brushes and paint

I have been painting on a pastel 14 x 18 inches for a few days.  It has some ellipses in it which are complicated and not easy to get right.  Maybe tracing is the answer for that.  Ha.

In the meantime to relax a little and just have fun I did a little Jo's Notions painting of my brushes and a tube of paint.  It is more interesting to paint from real life as opposed to photos for me.  It is easier to see the shadows and colors.  The lighting for a still life in my studio is not great as it comes from all directions.  I can turn off the overhead lights but it is still not ideal.   I need to get a light box set up again.

Painting Time, Pastel on Pastelbord, 5 x 7 inches

The shadows are a little darker in the original, photos are difficult to take.  I like to take photos of pastels in direct sunlight, but it has been cloudy for a few days and will be again most of this weekend.  This was taken with a flash.  Maybe I will retake it today with my Daylight lamps.

This is a Jo's Notion painting, fixed against the glass, free shipping. $50.00

New Year Sketches .. Not Really. And, a pastel painting of grapes.

I have been the host for Scavenger Hunt 205 which ends today.  I sketched on December 31 and am just now posting them.  There is never enough time .....  These are with a regular ball point pen, Pilot, in my travel sketchbook which has half a page for a sketch and then half a page for notes.  I left the other sketchbook at my gallery.  Normal behavior, always forgetting something.

Number 5, jeans - added a little blue colored pencil, the pencils are on the outside of the sketchbook.

Number 6, folds in material - part of a sweatshirt with a zipper.

Number 7, old - clock, Number 8, hat - the pillow case has hats in the print/pattern, Number 9, rough - this woven wall hanging has the tree and other items made of cut yarn and fuzzed out for the designs.

I did a small, Jo's Notions painting at the gallery the other day.  I have decided to make a blog for those to see if they might sell that way.  Who knows?  I will put the link here when I get it ready. 

Painting small paintings is so good for practice.  As an artist you still have to work out composition, values, etc., but can finish quickly and work out your ideas and learn for larger works.

Here my latest notion:

Grapes in silver, 7 x 5 inches, pastel on Pastelbord.

The actual painting is much more vibrant in real life.  The grapes have some lovely deep reds and the background is dark green/purple/blue on the left and bright yellow green on the upper right.  You just have to come by and see it!  I was at the gallery and found these leftover grapes in my fridge.  There weren't enough to fill the small glass/pewter bowl so I have them on top of a plastic glass.  Necessity is the mother of invention.  It is nice when you can eat your "models" when done.

The Twilight Zone of My World and Photos

A strange thing happened in Angel Fire.  You know that I was in Arts About Town in Angel Fire on September 4.  It was lots of fun and I sold a painting and some small things.  We wrapped up at about 4:20 p.m. or so.  Gene, Mary and Ruth helped and we just put all the paintings and tables and signs, etc., in the car and then carried it all back into the condo.  I put things away a little at a time, when I needed something.  As we were packing, September 14,  to get ready to leaave Angel Fire, I was putting the paintings to the side and making sure they were wrapped and together when I noticed that the painting, Worth the Wait, which is of Orlando's Restaurant in Taos, was missing.  I guess I left it on the sidewalk or someone picked it up as they walked by when we were packing up.  At any rate, it was not turned in.  Weird, eh?  I suppose I should have inventoried everything when we got home,  but who would have thought about that??  And, would it have done any good??  It was gone by then.

Worth the Wait, pastel 12 x 9 inches, framed in black metal frame against the glass.  This painting is missing in action.

In the old days, when we first opened the Bastrop Fine Arts Guild on Main Street in Bastrop (in the building where my studio is now), the Guild had the long hallway and the back room only.  Other offices were in the four other rooms.  The hallway was open during the day when the businesses were open.  We only had someone at the gallery on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Several of the artists complained and were worried about leaving their art in the hallways unattended.  I used to laugh and say that if someone stole my painting, I would be flattered that someone really wanted one of my paintings -- or at least the frame!

So now it has happened and I suppose I am flattered!  At the same time I am very puzzled about the disappearance of the painting.  Hmmm. I hope "they" enjoy the painting.  I had fun painting it.

The aspens were just starting to change when we went to Red River last Monday.  It will be spectacular soon.

Wheeler Peak that same evening.

Same evening closer to Eagle Nest.

Capo's in Albuquerque for dinner last night. 

The most perfect evening for dining on the patio.

Crossing the Rio Grande to go back to visit Mom Frances.

And a snap of Central Avenue.

Three Plein Air Landscape Paintings

I have not been painting much here in Angel Fire.  Luckily I ran into Joan Bohls and she suggested we do some plein air painting together.  We went on Wednesday and Friday and I got three paintings done.  Great, eh?

On Wednesday we went to Monte Verde Lake and set up our easels in the shade of some pine trees by the shore.  Great place as I even had a picnic table to put my pastels on and a place to sit and take a break.  As we finished up it started to sprinkle and there was lightening.  The attendant lady at the office came out in a golf cart to get all the fishermen and artists to leave to be safe.  I got a few sprinkles on the pastel so had to touch it up at home.

I worked on Richeson pastel board which has a very rough surface.  The painting looks better in person than in the photos.  In real life you don't see the "holes" as much.  I used this same surface for a painting of the Kelly Church.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.  It does keep you from doing any detail.  It certainly wouldn't be good for detailed portraits.

My painting in progress.

Having fun, notice we have on sweatshirts, the breeze was cool.

Me painting and the scene.

Joan painting with oils.

Joan again.

The scene as we started.

Notice how the reflections changed and the water had more movement after thirty minutes or so.  That is why you have to put down your idea and values quickly and then paint on the highlights and details

Scene and clouds from the Community Center.

We painted in the morning starting about 9:30 a.m.  Later that evening Joan, Kent, Gene and I went to dinner and then to the Community Center to hear three classical guitar players.  It was an excellent day.

I borrowed this description of the guitar players from Gene, who got it from the newspaper:

Daniel Weston, Master of Music in guitar performance, is known for serenading the imagination with over six hundred professional appearances from radio and television to the concert stage. A direct heir by mentor ship to Francisco Tarrega, the founder of classical guitar method, Weston will perform the Impressionistic masterpieces of Tarrega as well as his own compositions.

Stuart Green heads the guitar programs at both the University of Redlands and California State University, San Bernardino in addition to being an active concert and recording artist. Green mentored with the late Terry Graves, a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Falla Guitar Trio, and also studied with Dusan Bogdanovic, Juan Serrano and Christopher Parkening. He received high praise from Soundboard Magazine. National Public Radio aired a CD featuring his transcription for guitar and recording of a set of suites by French Baroque master Robert De Visee. He played music written by a Spanish composer who composed his music in 1546, I did not get the composer's name. According to Green his was the first music to be printed by the newly invented printing press in the 1500's.

Roberto Capocchi, Brazilian native and Santa Fe favorite, has been portrayed as an extremely expressive player and true master. Capocchi won top prizes in numerous international guitar competitions, and studied performance and theory for his doctorate. He teaches at Adams State College, New Mexico Highlands University and United World College. He will be playing 20th century music from Spain and Latin America, including selections from his most recent CD.


Then on Friday we went and painted at the golf course.  Another nice place to paint as we were on the patio of the clubhouse so had tables, chairs and a latte.  Can't beat that when you are roughing it for plein air work!

Joan getting ready and my easel with the aspen painting on it.

Joan's painting of the Wheeler Peak.

The aspens I painted.

It was a nice day, well couple of painting days.  I put my paintings on my Jo's Notions page on my website.  I sell small unframed paintings there with free shipping in the States.

From Wednesday:

Monte Verde Lake, pastel, 12 x 9 inches, Richeson board

The first painting on Friday:

Summer Aspens, 13 x 9 inches, pastel on Colourfix paper.

The second painting on Friday:

Wheeler Peak, pastel, 13 x 8 inches, on Colourfix paper.

Too much to blog about!

I have been slow in blogging so I don't know where to start.  I will start with this little painting I did yesterday, one of Jo's Notions.

Yesterday after "fixin'" things - other paintings. I decided to to a quick painting to get me settled down and help complete the painting "mood".  I took some "vista" photos around Angel Fire and one of the pics from the Angel Fire Resort Golf Course had these pots of geraniums in it.  I do love red and geraniums have a loose texture and very beautiful red color.  I could paint them all day.

Geraniums under painting.

 I started on tan Pastelbord.  I decide to brush on the first layer of pastel with water.  I didn't want the "beige" showing.  I know some people love the earth colors, but  -  I am not one of them.  :)  I brushed water with a small paint brush first over the yellow then the light area on the pots and kept going to the darkest parts.  Then I let it dry.  That doesn't take long in this high, dry altitude.  I think it is about 9,000 feet plus here.

Angel Geraniums, Pastel on Pastelbord, 5 x 7 inches

This painting is  available as a Jo's Notions for $50.00.  Free shipping in the U.S.

I will put glass, taped directly to the Pastelbord and ship that way.  You can pop the pastel and glass into a standard 5 x 7 frame of your choice.

The dark and detail in the leaves and the brilliance of the flowers do not show in this photo.  Digital photos, especially  red and blue,  are difficult to adjust for the computer views.   I guarantee my work, if you are not satisfied, return the painting and I will refund your money or apply it to another painting of your choice.

The Blues, oil painting

I painted the last few days and have not been posting about it. I got out my oil paints. I love pastels, but sometimes I need to hold a brush. It seems to be "really" painting. Of course with pastels, it is much like finger painting, you just get right down into the medium and I really like the tactile part of that. Pastels push my drawing skills more.

The way I work is not that different in the two mediums. I usually work light to dark, put on an under painting, work back to front in a landscape and paint a little all over the painting so as to not get bogged down in one place. In both instances, if there is a lot of light color, I usually don't put dark behind that; like the sky or a white bowl or plate.

I enjoyed the still life, Eggs 'N More, in pastel I did a couple of weeks ago, so decided to do a small still life in oil.

The Blues
Oil on canvas panel, 7 x 5 inches

You can purchase this painting on my website , Jo's Notions, through Paypal and credit cards. $50, unframed, free shipping.

It is fun to paint glass. I search for the shapes in dark and light and try not to think "bottle" or the item and am pleased when I step back and it looks like the item I was working on. The color in this is pretty close, at least on my monitor. The table cloth is a brighter white, though. Both the bottle and the little ceramic chicken are from Chile. We used to eat at restaurants in Parque O'Higgins in Santiago and Gene would buy me one of the little blue and white animals. I have a good sized collection of birds, frogs, llamas, giraffes, etc. I also have some cups in that pottery with wooden saucers. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Chile.

Pastel Landscape, Chamisa

I managed a little landscape to put for sale in Jo's Notions. I will post it on my blog, but it will not get on my website until after January 30.

I have had my website with Cedant for all these years and now they have sold the business to aplus.net. The cost of a site there is reasonable and they have many "tools" for my use. The support at Cedant was always swift and I could talk to a live person. We shall see how this move goes. This is the first time ever that I haven't been able to work on my page. You can see it and my e-mail works fine, but I cannot change anything this week. Of course I often don't change it for a month and now that I have several changes to make, no can do. Things will just have to wait. I think there is a saying that good things come to those who wait. The problem there is also a saying for just the opposite. Something like "studies". For example there is always a study about how something like caffeine is good for you and another for how bad caffeine is for you. Moderation must be the key. :) And, a little patience.

Chamisa
5 x 7 inches
Pastel on board with Colourfix Medium

Jo's Notions, $50.00 with free shipping

It was fun to do a quick painting of something I love. I like that little pieces of pastel show in this photo, even casting a small shadow. You can also see some of the reddish background showing through, too.

The Visitors, Pears Oil Painting

I painted a still life of pears a few days ago. I used my Flip Video recorder (Thanks again, Joanna) to make a "how to" video for you. I'm a little faster at editing, but not much. It is so long in between making videos that I have to learn again.

I have been wanting to do a new pear painting for the Pearathon that Regina Burchett is hosting. A nice place to see and share your pear creations.

Gene shopped and picked out the pears for me to paint and I painted them on an Ampersand Gessobord with about an inch and a half edge on it. I painted with Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour. I get a headache when I use turpentine or paint thinner, even odorless. These Artisan paints seem to work well for me. I tried the Grumbacher MAX water miscible oils and the oil in them still gave me headaches.

I used a shelf in my studio for the set up. It is always full, but decided it served the purpose. It was at the eye level I wanted.

I screwed the Gessobord to an old painting board. (Thanks, Susan Carlin for the idea of screws .. I use tape for regular board or paper.)

(Added 11/10/2009: Oh my gosh, I said here and on the video that I screwed the Gessobord to the board, you all know that Gene does all that sort of thing for me. He is great to take care of the framing and heavy lifting for my painting. I was nervous speaking on the video and didn't edit this very well. Sorry Genej. I also called the pears, apples in the video .. should have taken more care. Ah me!)

Having the painting surface up away from the tray, makes it easier to paint to the edges of the surface and not have your hand or brush down in the tray. It also helps in this case for painting the edges.

I sketched in the pears with thinned burnt umber oil paint. I can easily change my drawing by just wiping off this thin layer.

This is about the middle of the time into the painting. I try to paint all over to keep from getting bogged down in one area.

The Visitors

Oil on Gessobord
6 x 12 inches

This is the final painting. It is a bit hard to take photos of wet oil paintings. You get reflections from the brush strokes that aren't actually on the painting. This is very close to the painting colors on my computer.

This is what I call Jo's Notions, you can purchase it on my web page through PayPal for $100, free shipping.

Here is the video, I hope you enjoy watching and listening to hints about the way I paint.

Prickly Pears, Oil

Gene brought me some pears to paint the other day. I was just about finished with the painting when he remembered seeing some prickly pear cacti around the corner and went to find me some additional "pears" to paint. I thought of adding them to that painting, in fact I put one in, but it changed the composition and feel of the other pears. (I will post that soon. I took some video and want to make a video and post that. That takes time as you may know.)

In the meantime, here are the cactus pears.

Handle With Care
Oil on canvas panel, 5 x 7 inches
A Jo's Notion, $50, free shipping.

They are good to eat. Somewhat like a kiwi inside. I've mentioned before that we would find them when riding horseback and rub the needles off with gloves and eat them for the juice. I still got a sticker in my finger when I was setting them up to paint even though Gene had rubbed them off, I thought. I think I will go have a snack on them now, yummm.

And a photo of a typical Prickly Pear Cactus in bloom.