Melting Snow - Day 14

Three hours, and although I swore to myself I'd finish this today, I'm still not sure it's done. Of course, at this point I've saturated the tooth of the paper so much that I can't really do much more. Wish I were more skilled at knowing when to stop. Probably should have stopped the other day. But it's no use thinking about that now. Maybe I'll just call it done and start something new. I don't have to make frame-worthy art every time. And I can always crop it!

This photo came out a little on the dark side (probably because it's getting late in the day, and there's less light in my room than usual); those dark blues are not quite so dark in person.

Melting Snow - Day 13

Still more agonizing over work on the water.

Melting Snow - Day 12

Still not done, inching closer.

Melting Snow - Day 11

Alas, I didn't finish it today as planned. But I did make more progress!

Melting Snow - Day 10 (and a random experiment!)

Didn't work on Melting Snow long today. 20 minutes, maybe. Tomorrow's my big day to work on it -- my goal is to finish it tomorrow. I just wanted to make some headway, get back in the swing of things. Gotta remember that even if I totally screw up the foreground, the background is still salvageable!

Another reason why I didn't spend all that much time on this piece today is because I played with the pastel ground I created yesterday!

Yesterday, I dry-mounted a piece of scrap calligraphy "warm-up" paper (it's covered with random letters, phrases, and practice strokes on it) to a piece of foam core with a dry-mount adhesive sheet and a clothes iron. Then I coated the sheet with a layer of transparent matte medium (to prime it), and brushed on a coat of Golden pastel ground on top of that to make a toothy surface that would accept pastels. It cured overnight, and today I decided to play with it.

It was fun! You might, if you look closely, be able to make out phrases from The Lord of the Rings. The script I've been working on is called Carolingian. I've been posting my hand-scribed edition of the book here. Later today or tomorrow I'll post the next two pages...the party has finally begun! Very exciting. Anyway, here's the result of my random carefree experiment:

Melting Snow - Day 9

An hour today. Worked on the ice and snow in the foreground this time. (The background ice/water isn't done yet, but I wanted to get a feel for how the foreground would look.) I'm not all that happy with it, but hey...worst case scenario, I chop off the bottom half of the painting and frame the top. I do quite like how the mountains in the background turned out.

Melting Snow - Day 8

0.6 hours today. More ice and water adjustments. Slowly evolving.

Melting Snow - Day 7

0.8 hours today. More work on the ice and water. It's going to take awhile to get it right.

Melting Snow - Day 6

No time! Have to run! 0.5 hours squeezed in before game night. Started adding rough detail/reflection to the ice/water in the background. It'll get toned down later. But not today!

Melting Snow - Day 5

Another 0.6 hours today. Subtle stuff this time -- the changes aren't nearly as dramatic as the past few days have been. I worked on the water, starting to (attempt to) make it look reflective. I need to learn/remember to be patient...the last piece I did that involved ice took 30+ hours of meticulous work. Tomorrow I'll start from the back and work my way forward, carefully adding detail (as needed) to the ice. I certainly won't finish that process tomorrow, but I can certainly start it.

Melting Snow - Day 4

Only 0.6 hours today, but at least I followed through on my resolution to work on this piece every day this week. Three days down; two more to go! It was an emotional challenge to break out the sticks and start working with them on top of the pan pastels; I was worried about ruining it all. Once I move from pan pastels to sticks, I can't go back because they saturate the tooth of the paper too much.

But now I've broken that barrier. I started laying in some whites on the ice, and I think I like how it's going. Now that I've started, it should be easier to keep going tomorrow.

Melting Snow - Day 3

Continued work on the closer hills; they're pretty close to done now. Also started layering in some pigment on the ice and the water. Probably going to have to switch to sticks for the ice, at least for parts of it. I've been using pan pastels for all of this piece so far, but the white is just a little too transparent, and it's too hard to make sharp lines. Another hour today. Would have spent more, but a) I'm tired, and b) it took hours to go through the calligraphy paper samples I received...because of course I had to try each one. And then try my favorites with a different kind of ink. And then try the automatic pen. Etc. I'm obsessive, what can I say.

Melting Snow - Day 2

Primarily worked on the background mountains/fog bank -- lots of glazing to make the light and shadow close in value and to evoke atmospheric perspective. Also started laying in some color in the hills. Although I am not sure I'll be able to make the goal I established a couple weeks ago (namely: finish this before all the snow melts), I am definitely going to pick up the pace. Current goal: work on this every day this week.

1.4 hours today. It felt really good to work on art with sun shining into my studio. I know they say south light is bad because it changes so frequently (which is true -- it does change quite a lot)...but it just feels wonderful to paint with the sun streaming in.

Melting Snow - Day 1

Ok, it is high time to start another piece! Here is the initial base color block-in, done with pan pastels. (Don't be alarmed, these are not the final colors...these are just some colors I think it'll be fun to work on top of!)

And here's how it looks after the alcohol wash:

Can't work on it anymore today, unfortunately -- it has to be thoroughly dry before I keep going. But at least I've started another one!

My goal: Finish this piece before the snow melts, so when things finally start turning green, I can paint something green to celebrate.

Rising Tide - Day 1

It was 65 degrees and sunny today -- the first really nice day of spring! I felt compelled to get out of the house, so I doubled down and went on an Adventure. My destination: the Marshlands Conservancy. My mission: do en plein air painting, for the first time ever. First I tried to fit my art supplies into my little blue daypack, but that wasn't nearly large enough to do the job. Up to the attic I went, to fetch down my big old Kelty external frame pack. I hadn't worn that thing in years. Sure enough, it fit everything I needed -- pastels, paper, travel stool, travel easel (strapped to the top), water, a handful of personal items (e.g., lip balm...I don't go anywhere without it), and some warm things just in case I got chilly. By the time it was fully loaded with all my art supplies, it was 21 pounds -- pretty good practice for hiking later this year!

Then I set off.  Quite a sight I must have looked, walking through suburbia with a full pack, wearing sunglasses and a straw hat. Should have brought my hiking stick to complete the picture! The conservancy was a 2-mile walk from my house, and then another 0.3 miles or so to the place I wanted to paint inside the preserve. It took about an hour.

Then I set up all my things, and painted for two hours while the tide slowly rose to fill the mud flats with water. I was facing east; I could see the pale waxing moon rising in the sky above me (it was too high for the painting, though). The sun was at my back, and birds were singing all around me. As I painted, I saw herons, and geese, and many other species that I can't name -- the conservancy is a stopping place for migratory birds.

In any event, two hours of walking (one hour there, one hour back) and two hours of painting made for a truly wonderful afternoon. Then I got home and played my fiddle and mandolin for awhile before I fixed myself a quiet dinner. My legs are a bit sore, though!

Here it is. Not sure if I'll do much more on it -- it was just a quick painting, but I might refine it a little more if I feel so inclined. I'll return to Stream soon. Probably tomorrow. If I can finish it before Friday, I can enter it in the Northeast National Pastel Exhibition.