Friday, January 24, 2014

Eventide, 5x7 -sold

Eventide, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

  This small paintings was among the ones I sold at Plowshares in Dec.

  The last two weeks have been just too cold to paint in my studio, but before the cold spell set in I did a winter scene in pastel which I showed to my oil instructor and he suggested I use those same colors in an oil painting I'm working on.

  Oils? Yes! A long time ago when I started with art, oils were my favorite medium, but at the time, the trend in teaching art students was "let them find things for themselves." This approach did not produce good results with me,  as sometimes things worked but the majority did not, so I abandoned them. Now, I feel ready for the challenge of working with them once again, but with good guidance this time around. One big difference though: I find it extremely hard being patient with oil's drying time. This fact makes me appreciate pastel's immediacy even more, so I don't see myself putting my precious sticks away anytime soon.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Evenfall, 5x7"

Evenfall, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

   A new year, a new easel to replace the one I got years ago from the curb, and lots of new ideas I'm eager to put into paper or board!

   There was so much frenzy during the whole month of Dec, that I felt I needed a long period of rest. My first pastel of the year was started just 3 days ago and although is coming along very well, it is not ready yet, so I'm posting a small painting done last year for Plowshares. It's based on a photo from Alverna Heights, near Green Lakes State Park.  The body of water in the middle ground doesn't exist but I thought it added interest to the scene.

Some of my plans for this year include painting in oils and selling small paintings from this blog ( yeah, I know I have said this before but this time I've already taken the first steps).  I wish you perseverance to succeed with yours!