Sunday, March 23, 2014

Marina at Raquette Lake, 12x12

Marina at Raquette Lake, pastel by Adriana Meiss

   This piece was started several years ago, inspired on a camping trip near Raquette Lake. The intended format was vertical. At some point I started having trouble with the evergreen branches closer to the top. and after removing and adding pastel several times, I finally gave up on it.

   Recently, thinking about what to submit to the Adirondack Pastel Society show, this piece came to mind, and remembering also that I had some gold frames in a square format, I just put one in front of the painting and, voila! With the square format the area that was overworked could be removed without detracting from the focal area!  There was some more work done, mainly on the trees, but I was happy to finally say that the painting was finished.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Rainy Day. 9x12

Rainy Day, pastel on paper by Adriana Meiss

   This pastel was started a long while ago, then became part of my pile of unfinished work. A few days ago, wanting to participate in a juried show, I thought that perhaps I could finish something instead of starting something  new. This spring scene from the Adirondacks, spoke to me; perhaps that was because I'm so eager to see bright spring green on grass and branches! The good thing is that this time around I deviated a lot from the photograph. Trees were removed, others created, and the white blooming tree that was in the foreground half hidden by the conifers, found a better place in the distance along with a new companion, becoming a point of interest.

   My new goal for studio paintings is to study at least two possibilities a scene has to offer before jumping to paint it.