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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.
0.6 hours today. More ice and water adjustments. Slowly evolving.
0.8 hours today. More work on the ice and water. It's going to take awhile to get it right.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ok, made those few changes, and I think it's (finally!) done now.
Another hour today. It has been an embarrassingly long time since I've put any work into this piece. I've been doing sketches and little one-off pastel paintings and whatnot, but nothing time intensive. It's time to get back in the swing of things. (As long as I don't end up getting the flu.) It's almost there. A couple quick fixes that I didn't realize needed to be done until I was looking at the photo, and then (finally!) it'll be finished.
Finally back at this one again. I spent an hour and fifteen minutes on it today, mostly working on the trees/reflection to the right. That side still isn't done yet, but it's starting to take shape over there.
I really have been bad about updating this blog (along with just about everything else). Here's the current painting in progress:
Day 1 - I did a very loose underpainting with pan pastels, sticking to a (somewhat) limited palette and defining large shapes for later.
Day 2 - I finally overcame my fear of Ruining Everything and did an alcohol wash over the underpainting, which had some odd effects. I'd never done a wash on this type of paper before, and I wasn't prepared for how much pigment got lifted up and deposited elsewhere! Still, it's just an underpainting...it doesn't have to be perfect. And to be honest, I kind of like the random pigment deposits. Sorry about the shine -- I took this photo while it was still wet.
Day 3 (today!) - Using pan pastels, I started to lay in more color on top of the underpainting. I was going to use regular stick pastels, but decided against it -- and I'm glad I made that choice. Sticks would have covered up all the color in the underpainting much too quickly. I'll save the sticks for finishing touches.
There were some other stages in here, but I didn't record them or post them. Ah well. Now it's off to the framer.
Sorry for the dearth of updates! I've been doing more small sketches (and a ton of calligraphy practice), and I've done less work on larger things than I'd like. Here's the latest work on this piece; another 1.3 hours today.
Finally started to work on this a little more in the studio. I worked for about 45 minutes today -- I'm starting to bring in some deeper darks into the left side.
As you might know, I once did another painting of the beach at Slea Head. I decided to try another painting of the same location from a different angle. (This one is also considerably larger than the other painting!) Today was the first time I worked in my newly rearranged studio. I moved everything around over the weekend to make room for a second easel, and it feels great in there.
Today was also the first time I used PanPastels on Pastelbord. It goes on very nicely...but unfortunately, the toothy surface chews right through the PanPastel sponge applicators. That's how they get you, I guess. Sure, yes, PanPastels are much cheaper by volume than traditional sticks -- but you don't need special sponges to paint with sticks! Ah well. They're a lot of fun to use, so I'll happily get more sponges when I destroy the ones I have.
1.7 hours on this today.
My full set of PanPastels arrived today! Here's what I started with them. It's nowhere near done:
I walked down to the Mamaroneck River again, sat somewhere else, and painted the bridge on Tompkins Avenue. I worked on this for about an hour before I was chased away by BEES! D: I really, really dislike bees. I took a photo and will continue this in my studio, which is completely bee free.
As you can see, I spent the most time on the water...most of it is still pretty sketchy:
I walked down to the Mamaroneck River and did a quick plein air painting today. It was a little awkward trying to juggle things without an easel (I have a fractured wrist, so I can't manipulate anything with my left hand), but it was still a lot of fun! It quickly reminded me how very rusty I am at plein air painting, but that is something that is only fixed with practice. So...I will do this some more very soon. I.e., tomorrow. (Although I also do need to finish that poor neglected Twisted Pine painting at some point.)
This was just over an hour of work -- nothing too involved. Got a basic layout down. Not too happy with the value pattern in the foreground; if I ever do anything else with this, I'll fix it. Otherwise it will hang out in my sketchbook.
