Gardens

Changing Colors, 7x5"pastel on board- SOLD

Daylilies, 7x5" pastel on board

  Two more recent garden minis.  Architecture plays an important role in my garden series. It's there to give a context, but it's never the main feature.

A Chance of Rain, 12x9" en plein air

A Chance Of Rain,  paste on board by Adriana Meiss

  An oldie from last year, when our plein air group went to Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY. This was actually the second piece I painted that day.  The first piece (here) was done under sunny skies, but by the time I was half way done with this one, threatening clouds were moving in. Fortunately, I had captured enough of the mood to recently finish it at home.

  I used one of my own prepared masonite boards, and the rough surface seems to work well for cloud reflections or even to indicate rain drops on water --hum, that's giving me an idea...

Twilight by the Pond, 12x12" -SOLD

Twilight by the Pond, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

 Here is another version of a scene I have painted before. When  painting from photographs I like to take lots of  liberties, and in this case I transformed the creek into a pond to emphasize the quietness of twilight.

  This painting is currently on exhibit at the St David's Celebration of the Arts until next Sunday. I was informed by a friend that my other painting there, Winter Sunset has sold!

Dusk Reflections, 12x12

Dusk Reflections, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

    I learned today that this painting and a larger one were accepted in the Northeast National Pastel Exhibit at Old Forge!  It was just the kind of good news I needed, after two disappointing rejections, one from another show and one from a plein air event. 

   

 My work has been rejected many, many times, and even though I try to take things in stride, somehow when rejections come one after another they amount to a big blow and I usually begin to question my art, at least for a little while. This time I did not have time for that. I've been busy working on two large paintings and can only think ahead, to when they are finally finished. It's something to keep in mind next time I submit work to a competition.

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.

Contemplation, 5 1/2 x 8"

Contemplation, pastel on paper by Adriana Meiss

   November 2013 will be a month that I'll remember for it's sunsets. There were so many cold days that our group went only twice to paint outdoors. Oh, but the sunsets seemed to compensate for the bad weather. So, it's no surprise that I've been painting sunsets, and there is still no sign of my getting tired of them.

  This one started with the idea of the dark sky and a limited palette.  The scene is a composite of two different places, and although I didn't do a preliminary sketch, somehow it worked. I'm thinking of painting it larger emphasizing the light on the distant hill... This painting will be among the new ones at next week's Plowshares Festival at Nottingham HS. If you are in the Syracuse area, this is an event you should not miss!

Mandana Farmland, 13x13"

Mandana Farmland, pastel on paper by Adriana Meiss

On my way home after the Finger Lakes Lavender Fest, I slowed my car down and took photos of this field. I have actually seen it many times before and have taken shots of it, but somehow after this time I really felt the need to paint it right away.  I decided to be more creative with colors though and I'm happy with the results. I hope you like it too!

Pompey Sunset, 9x12" - A Progression -Sold

Pompey Sunset, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

This Friday is the opening of the St David Celebration of the Arts, and this is one of my two submissions.

When painting, I often get so immersed in what I'm doing that I forget to take photos of the progress. In this case, I was working with a very dark photo reference which forced me to work slowly and to take shots now and then to see if the painting was working. So, below are the main steps.

1. Getting rid of the white

 1. The main areas were first barely sketched with a light Nupastel. When working on a white board, the first thing I do is to get rid of the white by using broad strokes with the side of the pastel sticks; then I blend the different areas with packaging peanuts.

 

2. color scheme

2. At this stage, I took my time selecting the colors and figuring out how light I could push some of the greens.

3. The foreground, the composition

 3. If I had done a good sketch before starting, I probably wouldn't have had so much trouble with the foreground. This is the point where I can check if the composition is really working: the row of trees in the middle ground had to be shortened.  Looking back, I think that more earth tones would have been nice...well, that will have to be another painting.

Moving Storm-Setting Sun, 10x8"

Moving Storm-Setting Sun, pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord by Adriana Meiss

The shed in the painting is an old garage surrounded by conifers, that never fails to attract my attention whenever I drive by.  When I was ready to paint it, I knew I had to modify the reference photo a great deal because of the problems with composition it presented: 1.There was a barrier of trees behind the shed, blocking the sunset. 2. Two thirds of the scene was a solid mass of green, yet I felt it was the right proportion in order to give an idea of distance.

Creating an opening was easy, but what to put behind it? I used my artist license and created more hills, thus giving me the chance to use aerial perspective. The grass, I have to admit, was the the area that took me the longest. I had to look at Richard McKinley's paintings to get an idea on how to deal with it. Sometimes there is nothing like a challenge to get you going!  

A Glorious Autumn Day, 14" x 11"

This Fall has been one of the most beautiful to me. Maybe I'm seeing things in a different way but I know I'll be sad to see the last leaves on the trees being carried away by the wind... Although I have not done any decent plein air this season, I have been painting a few fall scenes from photos and reworking some old ones.

I had started this painting during the Susan Ogilvie workshop back in May, but I had issues with the shadows on the road. This time around I reworked the shape of the shadows and their color, lightened the red of the house, and finally cropped the painting at the bottom. I'm happy with it now.