August Wildflowers

One thing I love about the farm is being able to just go out into the fields and pick wonderful bouquets of wildflowers! Usually August is past the height of the best of the wildflowers, but you can still find plenty. I used to have a great book that helped me ID them - but I could not find it this year so was clueless about most of the flowers.

I had a fairly sunny day so decided to pick some flowers to paint. The only ones in this bunch that I could ID were red clover and goldenrod. No idea about the others and this picture does not really give you that great a clue, LOL.

Evening Glow at the farm

I'm on my way home from two weeks up in New Brunswick, Canada at the old farmhouse my family owns. I was there all alone my first week (with three dogs) but my son, daughter-in-law, and her sister came and joined me my second week.

I'd made a vow to do a pastel painting at least every other day, and I managed to do it! Not that they are all masterpieces (LOL, not that *any* of them are). But I did it, and hope to be posting them now that I'm back to the world of broadband. It rained every day my first week there, and so this first painting is more a "wish" - but we did end up having some nice days and evenings the second week.

A Bee and Butterfy feast

I could not think of any imaginative title - not that titles are my strong suit anyway! "Purple Vase"? "Black-eyed Susans"? This is from art class tonight, and the flowers are from Christina's garden. But I have purple coneflowers and black-eyed susans in my own garden, and the bees and butterflies seem to love them.

This was done on my usual Canson, smooth side, a slatey-blue color, 12x16. Mostly NuPastels and Rembrandts and some nameless others.

And a NOTE to update: This painting has now been *sold*. Hope it's happy in its new home, where it will join a previous painting of mine.

White Pitcher - Hugging the Lemon - Sunset

In the workshop today we mostly experimented with different supports, and different assignments, working on color concepts. This one was done on a Richeson support - a fairly roughish sanded sort of surface, and a very thick, hard board. The assignment was to do a white pitcher using*no* whites or grays or blacks in the pitcher (though you could use white for one or two highlights at the very end). And this was my pitcher.

Then just a chance to experiment on a very TINY piece of LaCarte paper. We were supposed to work with complementary colors as underpaintings and then build up layers of color to what you wanted - and I just lined up a few fruit to give it a try.

For the last project she suggested I look in her Best of Pastels book, pick out a landscape I liked, and just try to copy a fraction of it - so this is my version of the top left quarter of one of the landscapes in the book!

Barnegat Light

Well might as well post my other picture from my workshop today. For the last third of our workshop today Christina did a demo with a watercolor underpainting. She did it on a support she called "pastel canvas". Funny, pastel canvas is something I've never heard of before. But she had a book for us to look at called "Best of Pastels 2", with some gorgeous works in it, and at least 2 of them said they were done on pastel canvas.

Hmmm. anyway .... so she then gave us each a small piece to try, so we could do our own watercolor underpainting, and then pastel on top. Mine is from a photo of NJ's Barnegat Light. I've never done a watercolor underpainting before, and the canvas support was quite rough and did not take blending or layering very well, so it was interesting to work with. It did take *some* layers - but I could not achieve the smoothness I like, which I get with Canson. Though as I added more layers it got a bit better. I'm not sure this would be a support of choice though - but good to try new things, and the watercolor underpainting was rather fun.

This is also only about 6x9 inches, far smaller than my comfort zone. Christina also pointed out to me that I apparently was going for the 'leaning tower of Pisa" effect. I didn't even see it until she pointed it out! I did my best to correct it, but there was not much that could be done with this support - so mostly I just had to accept it and move on. But this was a fun experiment

Copper Pot and Fruit

I had signed up for a weekend workshop with Christina Debarry this weekend. There were only 5 enrolled in the class. But 2 dropped out at the last minute, and 1 just never showed up. So there were only 2 of us in the class! Wow, it was like having your own private workshop. The other woman had never done any pastels before. But we started out with a still life - and lo and behold it was my old friend the copper pot from Wednesday night class.

But this time we had some fruit added to the comp. Christina just let me work at my own pace while she went over a lot of pastel basics with the other woman. But it was interesting to listen in as I worked. So this was what I managed for the beginning of the class, though I got interrupted a few times - first with a trip to the dentist for an abcessed tooth and second with a call from work, so I didn't get quite as much time with this as I would have liked.

NOTE: This painting has been sold!

Copper Pot

Christina is working on a little series on "metals" with us, and gave us a demo tonight on doing copper. Then we were on our own to try this copper pot and flowers. I'm not sure it looks "coppery" but it was fun to try it out. She says next week we will try silver!

On the way home I stopped at the Montclair Art Museum to visit Alex Piccirillo's class. Alex has had a rough time, but he's feeling better now and was looking good. The class was busy working on a nude model. LOL, I adore Alex, but all I could think was how happy I was with my pots and flowers rather than doing more nudes.

Getting a Round Tuit

This was done on Canson, and already multiple layers there - so hard to add any more. But I wanted to de-emphasize the background to make the vase more prominent, so I worked on that last night and reached this point. Not a prize-winner, but I'm happier with than I was after class on Wednesday night.

Rushing Around

Art class was a bit of a rush last night. I didn't get there until 7:20 PM which meant I had only a little over an hour to accomplish anything. The luscious still life set up with dozens of flowers of all different colors was *way* too complicated for a mere hour. But this little cute round vase with a single flower in it was set up also, so I decided I could spend my hour on that. It was still not enough though. I'm not very happy with the flower, and the background fabric detracts from the vase - but this is where I got to at the end of my hour. Maybe I'll see if I can mess with the background, and maybe I'll be less disappointed in it.

Pewter Pot

This is from last week's art class, so I figured I'd better get it uploaded before tomorrow! Michelle asked if I really liked fruit better than flowers? Well I like flowers in and of themselves, but I much prefer to *paint* fruit - they are just more fun, sort of senuous and rounded.

But in this case we had a pewter tankard filled with gorgeous hydrangeas - but I just loved the tankard and could not fit both the pot and the flowers in without having to work too small - so I chose the pot and lopped off the flowers at the top!

The flowers were pretty though, and beautifully backlit. But the little bit I did was enough for me. My friend Lynne from Canada liked this picture well enough to want to *buy* it though! Now I just have to get it packaged to ship.

Honeydew

Not much to say about this one - another from a few weeks ago before my crazy trips to NC. It was fun, though, and I do love fruit more than flowers. LOL.

Off Shackleford Banks

This is just a quickie (about 45 minutes) done on a not so great support - a 16x20 piece of mat board, so not much tooth, and a grainy texture I didn't like, like the "bumpy" side of Canson. But I had a little free time and decided to play with my Pan Pastels - which I have tried a little, but not been crazy about them other than as an undercoating medium.

But in this case the whole picture was done with Pan Pastels. I guess I was influenced by all the cloud pix I've seen people posting at Wetcanvas, . This is done from a photo I took a week ago Saturday when I was down in NC, and my sister and BiL took me for a ride in their new boat.

Of course I *still* can't do water, but I yearn to be able to! Not really sure how I feel about the Pan Pastels either, but I'm still trying.

Red Roses

I'm so behind in keeping this blog up to date, but things have been crazy in my life, and I've been having to rush off and make lots of trips to NC to see my dad, and other things have just fallen by the wayside. . I've had to miss a lot of classes too, and not gotten to do anything in my personal time. But there are a few pictures from lessons past that I never got posted, and now that I'm starting a new summer session I hope to have more. This is one from a few weeks ago, as I try to catch up. I still a not crazy about doing flowers, but it's a different challenge from doing the human figure at least. :-)

Last Hurrah

It's my last hurrah for figure studies that is, I hope. Last night was the last class for my "Expressionism" class -which was half still lifes and half figure studies. This last night we had another figure - but I was trying for a bit of an abstract feel to it rather than representational. That makes the figures a bit more of interest to me.

So now I'm moving on, doing more still lifes I hope, and maybe even more landscapes when I grow up. I see my dear teacher Alex Piccirillo is teaching his evening class again this summer, and I love Alex, but just can't take another figure study class, at least not right now. I'll stay with my classes with Christina Debarry, and give figures a rest, a *long* rest I hope! But this is the last one from last night.

A basket of veggies

In art class on Wednesday we had a choice between a vase of peonies or a basket of vegetables. The peonies were utterly gorgeous, but flowers are not usually my first choice. I much prefer veggies. These were much more fun to do. The dark eggplant looks pretty black in the photo, but it's really dark maroons, purples and blues.

Apples in the Sun

I made a whirlwind visit to my dad in NC this past weekend, and I brought my pastels and swore I would produce two pictures from life. The first one is still not ready for prime time, but I may work on it more with some suggestions from Christina. It's a water scene and I still can't do water for beans. This one is the second, and it was fun to do. My dad had a couple apples on his kitchen counter that were pretty well past prime time, so rather than waste them I took them and lined them up on his porch railing and did a portrait of them. They looked quite pretty in the late afternoon light.

Hat and Peaches (fast and loose 4)

This is my second-hour painting from last night's "fast and loose" session at art class. I think I was getting tired by this point. I thought I might like this best as I loved the hat, and the peaches were so lovely looking. But I'm not very happy with it. I think it's the flowers I dislike the most, actually. Working on a one-hour time limit does put the pressure on, and I just could not seem to get them way acceptable. Maybe I can figure out some way to erase them, and just add another peach!

Blue Vase and Fruit (fast and loose 3)

We had another "fast and loose" session in art class last night, multiple still lifes set up, exactly one hour to paint one, 10 minutes to set up at a new easel, and then exactly one hour to paint a second one. I do love taking classes as it pushes me into trying things I might not do or think of on my own. Fast and loose is the style I strive for, but it's totally different when the teacher is timing you, and you know at the 1-hour mark she will call "Time", and it's time to put your sticks down. That's IT! No more time, what you see is what you get. No worrying about wonky ellipses, etc. No, "I'll just take a few minutes more and tweak a few more things."

She is constantly tell us to look for the "big picture", go for the big shapes, forget the details. It's fun! Somehow I didn't feel quite as in the groove last night as I did last week. But sometimes that's a good thing too - forcing yourself to try to create even if you don't feel the muse is with you. So anyway, this is what I did the first hour.

Fast and Loose 2 (Blue Bowl and Garlic)

This is my still life from the second hour of our "fast and loose" session. It was fun too, garlic has a rather sensuous shape. I think we are going to do the same thing again next week, so I'm looking forward to it already.

Fast and Loose 1 (Blue Vase and Limes)

My Tuesday "Expressionism" art class was fun last night! We had several still lifes set up in the studio, and we chose one to work on (or chose one that had an easel stand open!) and we had exactly one timed hour for the still life. The idea was to work "fast and loose". We were told not to worry about getting shapes right, not to worry about details. Just to go for the "picture", to get the big shapes, the lights and the darks.

It was great! After an hour we got a little break, and then for the second hour did another pictures - either the same still life, or finding a place to move to at one of the other set-ups. I chose to move, but this is what I did in the first hour.

Lilacs at Home

I had such fun doing lilacs in art class on Wednesday that I decided to try doing some of my own today. I don't have great places to set up still lifes, with cool lighting and all - but I figured I'd just set it up on my dining room table, which is what I did.

Hmmm, it came out sort of funky looking, though it was certainly fun to do. I finally stopped as it began to get overcast and I was losing the sunlight and shadows. But I might still be able to work on in another time. Maybe I'll go take a photo before the lilacs die.

P.S. - Since I always stuggle with symmetry on vases and things like that I decided I would try the technique of my fellow student from art class, and set up a comp that didn't use the entire vase.

Lilacs in Bloom

It's lilac season in New Jersey! They look and smell so beautiful. Mine are in full bloom at the side of my house. Christina had plenty in bloom too, so she brought some in for the class still life setup. I thought the dark background she set up was quite dramatic, and I had fun with this one. Maybe this weekend I'll try to do a picture of my own lilacs before they die. Alas, lilac season does not last very long.

Knife and Apples

I didn't have art class this Wednesday as Christina was already committed to a workshop in Cape May, NJ. But one thing she does is take a series of photos of the still life setup, and then emails them to everyone. She tries to get everyone's angle, so we can continue working on the paintings at home if we choose.

But I had basically finished mine in class, and thought it was fun to look at it from a different angle. I'm supposed to be resting this weekend after a minor surgery on Friday - so I decided to paint a picture this afternoon, and thought I would try the same still life as last week, but from a different angle. So this is where I've gotten to so far after about an hour or so. It may not be "done" yet, but it's about at a spot where I need to stop and think about it, and decide if worth pursuing.

A Plateful of Apples

Hurray, today was my second class with Christina Debarry - and I'm loving it more and more. Christina is a wonderful teacher, and I really like all the other students in the class as well. And what *fun* to get away from drawing the human figure, and get to try still lifes instead.

Not they are easier, by any means. While I was trying to do the drawing for tonight's set-up I found myself almost half yearning for a nice simple human torso to draw, .

No, not really! I mean a human torso would have been easier - but I wouldn't have had as much fun. Instead I agonized, but I had such a great time anyway because I was working on something I loved - eating my ice cream, rather than eating my broccoli - as I called the life drawing classes.

Legs 2

I'm really trying to move away from figure studies - so this Expressionism class may be my last one at the Montclair Art Museum, and I only took it because I was told students did work on still lifes in the class. I guess part of the class is supposed to be still lifes - but initially we are working with a live model again, grrrrrrr.

So I tried to just go for an abstract feel with this one, just sort of having fun with colors and shapes. I tried for a more stylized approach and from that standpoint I'm not unhappy with it. It did make it somewhere bearable at least.