Reworking: The Moose River in Winter, 5x7-Sold

The Moose River in Winter, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

   In this post I'm sharing something I have learned from other artists: if you have work you believe it's good but has not sold in a while, you should look at it again and figure out what it needs.

    The original below, which I had posted before, was painted two years ago. I loved the painting and I thought it was going to sell, but it came back home show after show.

Before

   It was time to analyze what it needed. The composition was fine, the palette was appropriate; how could I improve it?  I thought or the WOW factor I have read in art magazines and while I don't agree every painting should have it, I thought that something to call attention was needed on this piece. Adding brighter colors to the distant trees to give the impression of glaring sunshine did the trick. I added yellow highlights to the focal area trees and to their reflections in the water, and with very little a cold winter scene became more appealing.

Winter Sunset, 9x12, Sold

Winter Sunset, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

  It seems that I begin to warm to winter's charm only when the season reaches its mid point. And then, I get the need to hurry and paint winter scenes before the snow and cold are gone.

  This scene is from a reference photo taken years ago on Rt 370. I did a drawing in graphite that came out nice so I decided to do it in oils, for the class I'm taking. Given that pastels are great and faster for experimenting, I did this version at home, but with less detail in the middle ground.  Now I'm trying to reproduce these same colors in  my oil painting.

 The feeling of hurry continues to creep up on me just thinking of the many early deadlines for competitions I would like to submit to, and the many half-finished paintings in the studio... Four of them show promise though so at this point it's just a matter of overcoming the fear of ruining a painting.

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.

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!

Evenglow, 8x10-Sold

Evenglow, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

The Plowshares Festival  of a week ago went very well. Six painting have new homes, including an older piece that I decided to bring with me at the last minute.  I'm happy to say that there were five returned customers, so to those of you reading this, keep your mailing list up to date and never forget to let your customers know of events you are participating in. Most important, when sending a mass email invitation, protect and reassure your customers by putting their email address in the Bcc box .

As it often happens to me, I left framing for the last minute, and this time I found scratches on the glass in many of the small ready-made frames I had purchased. Fortunately I had other pieces to replace them with, but now I'm left with glass that will probably have to be recycled if I'm not able to cut smaller pieces from it...

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!

Early Fall in Tully, 10x20"

Early Fall in Tully, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

   Nothing beats a beautiful day and  a great location to put an artist in the mood to paint.
This scene is from late October at the Grey Barn Farm in Tully, where our plein air group had painted just a month earlier.

   The weather and the light were great but the variable clouds almost got me into trouble. I would start painting  the orange afternoon glow in the distant hill only to see it disappear and then reappear somewhere else. After a few minutes I realized that I could end up chasing the light so, I took the time to look at the whole scene in an objective way and figured out the options I had. I settled for what you see here. Painting outdoors puts a lot of pressure on you only because one wants to end  the session with a finished work, and that is rarely the norm. Back at the studio I had more time to study this piece and fix some problem areas.