New Painting on Pastelbord

As you know, the painting surface I normally work on is watercolor paper. I decided, however, to stretch my self on my last piece by using a pumice primed gator board as my painting surface. What a challenge. Today, I am taking another step into the unknown, I will be using "Pastelbord" by Ampersand for my next piece. I tried this board recently during a workshop I took with Claudia Seymour and was very pleasantly surprised at the results.

Pastelbord has a fine sanded surface that is capable of holding many layers of pastel. And, if you are familiar with my work you will know that I am a layering fool! The wonderful thing about this surface is that while I can continue to have my subtle layers of color, I can also have a painting that is pumped with color intensity, which I am crazy about. You can see what I mean with this still life I created at the workshop.

I have to say that trying new mediums and papers is not what I inherently like to do. It's much more comfortable doing what I know and using the materials I am accustomed to using. If I had not forced myself to stretch, though, and I do mean forced myself, my paintings would not be enjoying the color or richness some of these supports offer.

So, I encourage you to try something new. How sad it would be if your work could be transformed by a single sheet of paper and you weren't adventurous enough to try it.

What materials have you tried recently that made a positive affect on your paintings? I'd love to hear about it.

Pastel Painting of Cactus Now Complete

FINALLY, it's complete! This 27" x 48" pastel cactus in full bloom painted on pumice primed board is finally finished. A well deserved thank you to my very kind and very patient clients who never lost hope that they would indeed see their commissioned painting completed and ultimately installed in their home.

During the final stages of this painting, I was fortunate to take a workshop with well known and highly accomplished still life artist, Claudia Seymour. The lessons I took away from her workshop enabled me to complete the last bits of this painting confidently. Learning how to incorporate subtle color in the dark areas on the left allowed me to keep that area in the distance yet still have lots of interest. Also, making sure the elements up front were the sharpest and most vivid, and allowing the elements to become more diffused in color and clarity as they receded into the distance helped give this painting a real sense of depth and presence. Thank you Claudia. It was just what I needed to bring this painting home.

Out Of The Closet

Out Of The Closet

This is an image I started working on last year but had to put aside in order to finish a different series for an exhibit. As you can see, I have the under painting in place, which I do in watercolor on watercolor paper. At this stage I try to develop my values and get all the dark areas established. I also add subtle color through out that will ultimately peek through the final layers of pastel. It is this interaction of layered color that sparkles through and creates images that come to life. You will see what I mean as this painting progresses.