The Overlook, 7x5" - Sold

The Overlook, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

    I have been painting a lot but almost everything needs still more work to even consider taking pictures of it.  That's why I'm posting this little study which I did for last month's OAG sale. I'm happy that a friend of mine owns it now.
    I'm working on a larger version of it, but as my tendency is to paint night scenes too dark, now I'm at the stage where I have to carefully push the lighter values so that  I don't end up with a dark rectangle on a wall.

Barn at Night, 9x12"

Barn at Night, 8x10" pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

Last December, I had some paintings on exhibit at a local library and instead of  having a reception I thought that a pastel demonstration on how I approach painting night scenes would be more interesting.

The night before, doubts crept in and in panic mode I felt the need to do a small version of what I planned to paint:

Barns, Study, 5x7" pastel on board

 Next day, feeling more confident, and taking into account that I had just an hour and a half to do the demo, I decided to simplify the scene. This is a far as it got:
 

Barn, Demo

  Back home, I made further changes in color and composition to the demo painting. I had forgotten to leave enough space between the silo and the top edge so in order to make it work I had to reduce the size of the main objects. I'm happy with the result and can even imagine a similar scene with a light in the distant barn...

City Glow

Since some of you have commented or contacted me expressing interest in nighttime paintings, I decided to post this one (14" x18"), painted a year ago, and the second of this kind. At the time, I felt challenged by the idea of turning a daytime scene into a night one.



After looking at the reference photos I had, this one offered a lot of possibilities. By the time I was ready to sketch, I knew I wanted this painting to be about city lights behind the hill. I looked at Maxfield Parrish's landscapes for ideas about how to handle the sky, but ended up relying on my memory.
As I was finishing the painting, the large expanse of empty foreground became problematic -- which happens often when I don't plan a painting thoroughly. I thought about all the possible things I could add, but settled for these bales. Now that I look at it, I see so many things that need fixing, but I'm not touching it again. Some paintings are like stepping stones, leading us somewhere. The results aren't always what we expect but in trying we learn something. This piece helped me get rid of the apprehension involved in painting a night scene. Next year, when the weather is nice, I'm hoping to paint at least one entirely outdoors.
Share with me your thoughts on this subject or about something different you've tried, that made a difference to you.