Speaking of Dogs

Dogs touch us in so many ways. They provide comfort and friendship and become cherished members of the family. Since dogs are social creatures surely they see us as part of their pack. Misha, the aged Golden Retriever who is the subject of this pastel painting, was with us for 14 years and was greatly loved by our family. During her last year I decided to do this portrait of her which was influenced by A. Wyeth's painting called, "Christina's World". Misha had a morning routine in which she took a skinny dip in our farm pond then enjoyed rolling and laying in the cool grass. I've been kidded about this painting and it's been dubbed "Christina's Dog". Pastel on terra cotta colourfix..not for sale.

The Cob in Winter

Several years ago I decided to get out of horse ownership. It wasn't an easy decision but it was the right one for me. Regardless....I'll always love horses and cherish my memories of the great experiences we had together. Unfortunately there are few photos of my horses that are suitable for reference in my art work( we didn't have a digital camera then)...so, I rely on my horsey friends to get good shots of their wonderful equine companions to paint.
The photo of this Welsh Cob mare reminds me so much of the winters here with my own mares. Their coats became thick and woolly in preparation for our notoriously long cold season in Maine. The luxurious fur fluffed out on especially cold days and it was such a treat to bury my face in their soft warm necks...in my mind I can still smell the hay and fresh clean scent of them...
This is a 10x12 pastel on terra cotta Colourfix paper(what else!)..Available for purchase as well..

Velvet Night

In an earlier blog about my painting called, "Whispers in the Moonlight", I mentioned that nocturnal paintings have always fascinated me, so I added another book to my growing collection of books on artists called ,"The Color of Night". It's about Frederic Remington and contains 75 of his most well known nocturnal paintings of the American west. After many years of experimentation and constant study Remington became a master technician of the American wild west genre but especially paintings of the night. In the books foreword Earl Powell III of the National Gallery of Art explains why night paintings draw such interest, "...nocturnes thus reflect both the external beauty of night and the internal threat of darkness".

This is a 10 x 12 pastel painting executed on dark blue Colourfix paper. Kathi Peters, my good friend and fellow artist provided the photo of her Welsh Cob mare, Victoria, with her first colt, Legacy. The background scenery and barn don't exist in the photo....I made them up.
"Cut down and out...do your hardest work outside the picture and let your audience take away something to think about..to imagine." Frederic Remington 1903.

Green Apples

One of my grand daughters, Sydney, is the thoughtful, tow-headed girl in this piece. The scenery is the view from the front yard of the house you see in my painting 'Summer House-Parker Head'. I wanted a more expansive landscape beyond her so I opened up the trees and removed rock formations that are actually across the marshy inlet. Also the apple tree is closest to the viewer and much larger in the photos I worked from. The shots were taken during a family picnic and the kids were having a ball playing around the tree and stuffing fallen apples into the crevice left by an old injury.
The bright green colors of the unripe apples and the halo of golden hair, hit just right by the sun, caught my eye......
I realized recently while looking at this image with a fresh perspective, how feminine the tree form is...an interesting revelation to me, since it wasn't intentional.
My grandchildren are so sweet and innocent at this young stage in life. They have so much to learn and experience...will they be tempted by the forbidden fruit?

The Little Chair

The subject of this pastel painting is an antique children's chair that's been in my family for several generations. Many toddlers have climbed onto this pint sized seat including my own grandchildren, but now it's kept in the studio because of it's deteriorating condition. The arched piece that makes up the back rest is one solid piece of wood that's been steamed and bent into that U shape.
This was done on Terra Cotta colored Colourfix paper...some of it shows through in places. I used a spot light hung low to get the long interesting shadows reminiscent of evening light.
If this chair could talk what stories it could tell.... it reminds me of my grandmother. Her parents(my great grand parents) came from Vienna, Austria, and were very poor. Their first five children died before they came to America where they settled in Philadelphia. They were very hard working but the times were formidable for immigrants and they were destitute. There were long periods when the only food they had to eat were potatoes and milk.
It was difficult for my grandmother to talk about her childhood but she felt it was important for us to know about the family's past and where we came from.
By the way...my grandmother was born right after her parents arrived in the US. and she was the first of five siblings who all survived. This was her chair...

Portrait of Ada

Last year I participated in a Terry Ludwig Portrait Workshop sponsored by the Pastel Painters of Maine.
Our model for the workshop was a lovely older woman named Ada who had worked as a professional model when she was younger. Terry started the workshop with a talk about his working methods then gave a demo that took 45 minutes and after that we all jumped in.
The materials list for this workshop included Kitty Wallis paper which is a heavy paper covered with a fine grit surface and lots of tooth, meaning it can grab heavy layers of pastel and hold on to it. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any before the class so I brought Colourfix which is very similar but comes in different colors. I chose a warm Terra Cotta that I use mostly for my landscapes because it makes the colors vibrate and really sing. It also seems virtually indestructible and can be used for oil paintings, and all water mediums. I decided to bring some inexpensive pastel paper to try, the name of which escapes me, that had little tooth and holding power.
Ada-1 was done on the Colourfix Terra Cotta. I started by lightly sketching the arabesque, just a faint outline of her head, profile, hair and neck. After some scrutiny of Ada’s facial features and the light effects, I started blocking in large shapes such as her nose, cheek, ear and eye areas. Placement for these features is really important…just a small degree off and suddenly you have someone else staring back at you! Terry’s pastels were great for this…they’re rectangular, not round as most brands, so you can use the flat side for blocking in large areas and they won’t roll away when put down.
When the big shapes are in and properly placed the fun begins…This is where the real personality startes to emerge. Large areas are gradually broken into smaller and smaller areas using different tones, and varying strokes. The finish is in the eye and getting the placement of light reflected on the eyeball is really important. Terry’s help here was invaluable.
This version of Ada makes her look very strong and severe. I was trying too hard I think. Ada-2 was done on the cheap pastel paper, and though I didn’t enjoy working on it, the finished portrait is much more accurate in portraying Ada’s delicate features and sensitive expression. The paper’s poor surface wouldn’t allow for a heavy handed method so I had to use restraint and a lighter touch…not my usual style…I got two lessons for the price of one!