Fog at McCauley Mt, Adirondacks, 12" x 9"

Last October, I was invited to participate in a two-weekend plein air paint out and auction to support the Arts Center at Old Forge. The only day I was able to participate turned out to be drizzly and foggy. We were given some locations to choose from, so I headed for McCauley Mt. since I had never been there. I had to work from the back of my van because the drizzle had turned into rain. Half an hour into my painting, the sun came out, and a little later hordes of people started to head for the chair lifts to enjoy the great fall colors. I had good time talking to a group of Amish or Mennonite women who showed interest in what I was doing and seemed fascinated by the pastel sticks.

When I considered the painting done, I headed to another location to start another scene. I ended up donating my second painting because although I liked the first one more, I knew it was not quite right yet.

At home, I did several changes to the painting, and still was not satisfied with the results. Finally, I realized what the problem was. The change in weather conditions at the time, had made me change colors in the middle of my work, and mentally, I was fighting with what I wanted to represent. After serious consideration, I decided to paint what had struck me the most, which was the fog coming down the mountain.

Sunrays, 7 1/2" x 19" (tweaked)

This is as it stands on my easel, after some good ideas from Wet Canvas members. I'm much happier with this. If I were to paint sun rays like these again, I would probably work on Wallis or Uart paper (this is Colourfix). The key is to use fixative and let it dry completely before attempting the sun rays. I dragged a TLudwig pastel for the rays and then, pressing hard, I slid my finger from where the ray peaks to the ground to achieve the hazy effect. I wiped my finger (as it can still catch pigment from the fixed layer underneath) and proceeded with the other rays.

Sunrays, 7 1/2" x 19"

This painting started as a procrastination piece when I was in the midst of serious house cleaning these past holidays. I think I'm done with it, but will let it rest for a while as I'm sure I'll find something to tweak.

In my family, we call sunbeams through clouds "the glory" because it's so awe inspiring.

2009 in review

2009 was a great year for me: I participated in my first national competition and won and award, had more sales than the previous year, and made some interesting connections. But one thing I learned is that you need to spend time getting out there and promoting yourself.
Also, two of my large paintings have new homes, which has given me the encouragement to continue working in a larger format.

My studio is clean and rearranged so it looks spacious. Now if I could only overcome this artist block...

Corn Field at Noon, 19" x 27" SOLD











Indecision at the Flower Farm, 19" x 27" SOLD

Iris Field, 7" x 5"

The last mini of the series. The whole garden is surrounded by tall trees, so I look some liberties with the reference and I decided to break the wall of green a bit.

I'm hoping to go there again this coming year, but this time to paint on location if the owners do not mind.

Garden Bed, 7" x 5"

This is the third of the Flower Farm small paintings series.

While working in such small format I had to keep reminding myself that the important thing was to convey the "idea" of flower beds. Although this might give the impression that doing so is liberating, it actually required a lot of effort on my part not to give too much detail to the irises in the foreground.

Daylilies, 7" x 5"

This is the second painting of the Flower Farm series, done also on Ampersand pastelbord.

A while ago I started a small painting from the same reference, but never finished it. Now I know why: I was trying to be too true to the photo and didn't know how to handle the mass of greens. With this one though, I just took a few ideas from the reference and asked myself what kind of day and atmospheric conditions I wanted to represent.

I hope the idea of a hazy summer day, with chirping insects comes through.