Windswept

"Windswept" -  8x10  pastel 

This little tree, bent by the wind, was standing all alone and unprotected in an open field.  The day I was there, the wind chilled me despite the intermittent sunshine.  I really liked the bend in the branches and the shape the tree took on from years of being exposed in that breezy spot.

Change of Weather

Change of Weather  -  5 x 7"  pastel SOLD

I was out painting this morning on a beautiful day with bright blue skies. This is the second of two paintings. Gradually, the clouds came in, the temperature began to drop and the wind really picked up.  Wasn't sure if I was going to get this done before I got really chilled.


I usually scan my smaller pastels for my own records.  I have noticed the scanned images don't look as nice as the real painting or the photographed image.  Not sure why.  The scan seems to catch every weird thing on the page and make it look even weirder.

So I put up a photo of the same painting as it appears under glass and framed.  Looks much better in the photo!

Summer's Over

Summer's Over  -  4 x 6"  pastel SOLD

The title kind of says it all.  Went up to the beach and no one was there.  That's the way it is here by the end of September.  The beach was pretty anyway.

Quiet Day on the Marsh

"Quiet Day on the Marsh"  4x6  Sold

I was out walking the other day in an area I had painted before, but this was from a completely different vantage point.  I took a ton of pictures and of course, because I was out exploring, didn't have time to paint on site!  The next day, I painted this based on what I had seen.  Beautiful area.  I'll have to go back.

Looking Through

"Looking Through"  5x7  pastel  SOLD

Sometimes I just need to paint, but for whatever the reason, can't get out.  This is the product of one of those times.  I used a photo as reference, but the way I use a picture is as a reminder of the scene - not as something to copy. I sketch in the basic composition, rearranging things as I see fit, note the basic values and where they are, then make it up as I go.  If you ever see me do a demo using a photo reference, you would notice that I don't use the photo very much at all. It gives me a chance to really use my creativity.  SOLD

Misty Morning

Misty Morning - 9 x 12   NFS

Last weekend I participated in a workshop given by Thomas Kegler, a wonderful artist who is also located in Western NY.  While he is an amazing oil painter and I am a pastellist, a lot of the knowledge he passed on during the workshop applies to both mediums.  I really enjoyed watching him paint.  He managed to paint 3 paintings that day and travel all over Emery Park (near East Aurora, NY) to personally talk to and offer suggestions to us students several times throughout the day.  He really has a great understanding of what it takes to create art.  His work is incredibly beautiful and I was very grateful for the chance to take the workshop.

I was also very happy with my own painting done that day, despite the horrible weather - it rained the whole time and got cold as the day progressed, or was it just because I was so wet myself?  Thank goodness I had my winter coat and waterproof shoes with me.

Field of Wildflowers

Field of Wildflowers     5"x 7"  pastel  SOLD

I spotted this amazing field of wildflowers while out and about one day.  Even on that over-cast day, the intensity of the color and the size of it made it appear to glow.  I stopped and took a bunch of photos since I was short on time, took them home and painted this later in the day.  I also took some time to look them up the flower on the computer to see what it was.  It's wild mustard.  Now, I have seen this stuff growing around here before, but not in such a large area.  It really was spectacular.
SOLD

Summer Cornfield

Summer Cornfield   4"x 6"  SOLD

Today I had the opportunity to paint on the property of my friend Karlene.  When we got there, she gave us the grand tour - complete with all kinds of lovely scenes, making it hard to choose just one!  After a delicious lunch of BLTs, salad and cheesecake with fresh berries, we headed to the location where we had left our gear, set up and painted.  There is nothing nicer than talking and sharing the joy we have in the natural world with other artists.  It was a great way to spend a beautiful day!  SOLD

4"x 6"   pastel

Walk to the Beach

Walk to the Beach    4"x 6" pastel  AVAILABLE

We have had some wonderful weather, which  is really great since I am on my vacation!  I have been taking every opportunity to get out there and to paint outside since I know how long winter can be around here.

Yesterday the weather was a bit iffy with rain predicted for the afternoon.  I got a late start - around noon, but headed to the Irondequoit Bay outlet looking for a spot to set up.  This little path to the beach caught my eye.  Luckily, I was able to work right along.

It didn't take long to see that a change in the weather was coming - very quickly.   The wind picked up and the temperature dropped 10 degrees. I managed to get it done and take a few photos before the rain began.

Hundred Acre Pond

"Hundred Acre Pond" - 4"x 6"  pastel  SOLD

When I was a little kid, my mom and dad would often take us to Mendon Ponds Park for a picnic and to swim at the beach located on one of the ponds.  I drove out there to look for a nice beach scene to paint and to reminisce a bit.  Well, guess what!?  No beach!  I could see where there had been one at one time, but grass had pretty much taken it over.  Probably the victim of county budget cuts or some other stupid thing that makes cool stuff go away.  I was disappointed, but I still have the memories.

This little painting was done on the other side of the pond from where the beach area was.  It really was a perfect day for painting.  I sat at a picnic table in the shade and enjoyed the light breeze that came from the west.  I pretty much had the place to myself.  I don't know what that purple flower was in the foreground, but I really liked it.

Day at the Beach

Day at the Beach I - 4"x 6"  pastel  SOLD

I am fortunate to live only a few miles away from Lake Ontario.  The lake is very important to anyone who lives around here.  It's really a beautiful place, even though pollution has been an issue here for as long as I can remember.  It's still very lovely, especially on a hot summer day.

Day at the Beach II - 4"x 6" pastel  SOLD

Today I grabbed my gear and a blanket, sat down in the shade on the beach looking toward the west at Durand Eastman Park and painted "Day at the Beach I", then turned toward the the east and painted "Day at the Beach II".  I even put people in them.  (Most of my paintings look post apocalyptical)Didn't have to fight with my easel either.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

Both paintings are pretty small - 4"x 6" actually, and they look like old fashioned postcards to me.  I really like the fact that they fit right into a little ready-made frame.
SOLD

Distant Blue

Distant Blue 5"x 7"  SOLD

Beautiful weekend - cool and sunny! Wanted to paint. Couldn't get out to paint.  Needed to paint! Still couldn't get out!  Getting down to the end of the weekend - got out finally!  Managed to get a keeper done (along with a "Not your best work, Colette." painting).  I will work a bit more on the second one, but this one looks good enough to post.  It's a little one, but will fit right into a standard-size frame.  I like that!
SOLD

5" x 7"

Sackets Harbor Plein Air Festival

Sackets Harbor, NY hosted a great plein air festival in mid July this year and I was luck enough to attend. The town and harbor are very picturesque with loads of old historic buildings, boats in every shape and size, friendly people and a very artsy main street.

I decided to camp to save some money, and my son and his girlfriend joined me at Wescott Beach State Park. The weather started out very hot and humid, making me thrill every time I had to get into my air conditioned car to drive someplace.  However, the weather changed drastically when a cold front came through in the wee hours of Friday night, scaring the day-lights out of us as the storm slammed into the eastern end of Lake Ontario, bringing incredible thunder, lightning, wind and rain.  Thankfully, I'd had the foresight to bolster the poles on the tent earlier in the day or I would have been sleeping in the car because the tent never would have survived.  By the way, although Wescott Beach is a very nice park, the camping area is more like a parking lot than a camping area.  The sites are too close together, right on the park road and with no buffer of any kind between sites.  We were literally right on top of our drunk neighbors who were up too late, who spent the rest of their time shooting off fireworks (illegally, of course) and swearing at the throngs of kids they had brought along for the "fun".  But I digress...

Back to painting.

"Cascading Colors" 9x12

The town is very scenic and I managed to get 3 descent paintings done.  Although 3 isn't a lot, I was pretty happy with it considering never having been there before and the whole camping experience. I did spend a lot of time sight-seeing.  I also had a very nice time going out to dinner with a group of other Rochester artists who had come to paint in the festival, talking to the locals and taking in the scenery.  Here are the paintings and photos of the scenes that inspired them.

I would definitely do this festival again.  Not so sure about camping though, but then again, you never know.

"Haybales at Dusk" 9x12

"Parade Watchers" 9x12

Scam Again!

Well,it's been a while, but I got another scammer email.  This is how it went:

Hello,
These  particular artwork of yours that you have for sale, is it still available,if yes let me have the detailed price and more information about
it.
Regards,

Amy Bacon

And this was my reply:

Awesome Amy! 

So glad to hear from you.  The detailed price of the particular artwork of mine is $4,000,000,000.00.  Any questions?  Please feel free to contact the United States Attorney General's office.  I am sure they would LOVE to talk to you!

XOXO

LOL!  Effin idiots. 'Nuff said.

"Walking In July" and "Summer Splendor"

       
    

Walking In July - SOLD

 I am always on the look-out for little out of the way places that  pique my interest and which really grab my attention. I found this  little spot in a small local park and I really liked the way the path  just disappeared into the woods.  I didn't even bother grabbing  my easel.  Just sat on the ground to paint. Walking In July" was  done yesterday after I got out of work. That's one of the  benefits of working summer school - half days!

"Summer Splendor" was done this morning after I dropped my daughter off at work.  I hated to make that trip without making it productive by doing a painting.  Now I need a decent map to find out where else I can go that's near her job.  I really like this particular location - lots of nice scenery.  And everything is so lush from all of the rain we've had.  I plan to head back there soon.  Both paintings are 6"x 9", unframed.

Summer Splendor - AVAILABLE

                                      

Both paintings were on the same piece of paper.  I cut them apart after they were done.

            

Summer Marsh

Summer Marsh - 9"x 12"  SOLD

Been a very rainy summer.  I have a week and a half off between the end of the school year and when summer school begins. I try to paint and focus on art things, but getting out to paint was beginning to look doubtful due to the weather.  I finally got out on Friday and did this one between rain storms.  I hope I can do more over the rest of the summer, weather permitting, of course!    SOLD
9"x12"

Shady Grove

Shady Grove - 9x12   Available

I don't always finish the paintings I start.  There's lots of reasons why; other things have to get done first, I lose interest, I never really liked the subject, there are problems with it I can't resolve right then...  I never toss them out, though. I just set them aside in the hope that I will finish them someday.

This is a painting like that.  I started out going gang-busters on it, but became distracted.  I was working in a small town and had lots of people stopping by to talk.  I really like to talk about my work, but it's hard to paint and talk at the same time.  Eventually I just quit.  I had enough of it done to show people what plein air was all about and that was enough.  I set it aside and rediscovered it several years later (yesterday).  I realized it had a lot of potential and decided it was time to finish it up.

Can be seen at the Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery in Canandaigua.

Values in Painting

Finger Lakes Farm  - 12x18  pastel  SOLD

Yesterday I presented a workshop for the Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters, a very dedicated bunch of painters who have a love of painting outdoors like I do.  The theme of the workshop was how to use value to improve one's paintings.  Value is the range of dark (black) to light (white) and everything in between.

I am very in-tune to value in my own work and feel that once the correct values are established, the rest of the painting comes together more easily.

For this demonstration, I had to work inside from a photo due to the possibility of rain.  I worked over an old unsuccessful painting which had virtually no value range.  It's no wonder it was unsuccessful.

I drew in the basic shapes with a pencil.  Then using 5 values, blocked in the painting with pastel - black for the trees, dark gray for the grassy fields and barns, medium gray for the driveway, lighter gray for the sky and white for the roof of the barn and silos.  That's it.

Next was color.  I went right over the value sketch with color in the same values as in the value layer.  I used a variety of colors in each value.  This can be done only because each of those colors are of the same value as the grays, black and white which I initially used.  If I put down a color which was not in the correct value, it was was glaringly obvious, making it easy to correct at that point.

I gave everyone a value-finder which I made to help them to see value without the distraction of color.  Then they were given the chance to do value sketches and at least one finished painting before ending the workshop with a critique and ice-cold drinks provided by GVPAP.  I really enjoyed myself and was very pleased by the results of the workshop.  Everyone's paintings had a beautiful range of value that seemed to show a better understanding of how of value can make for a better painting.    SOLD

Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival

I was recently a participant in the Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival, held in Canandaigua, NY. In spite of the challenge of terrible weather, it was an amazing event and I would happily do it again.

I had to work on Wednesday and didn't expect to make it to the artist's reception at the Pat Rini-Rohrer gallery that evening because it was my daughter's birthday. But despite that and other crazy stuff going on at home, I made the mad dash to Canandaigua in time to have my paper stamped and to pick up the info packet and goody bag. I also got my key to the college dorms at Finger Lakes Community College, took a look at the suite (very nice), met my roommates (also very nice), and headed back home to pack.

Thursday it rained all day. It was unbelievable. The one thing that I can't deal with as a pastel artist is rain. It will totally ruin a pastel. So I packed up the car and waited for the rain to stop. But it didn't stop. More craziness at home thanks to one of my kids, make me unsure if I should even think of leaving home, but for the sake of my sanity, I finally left for Canandaigua late in the afternoon.

Once I got to the college, I unloaded my gear in the rain, then went to see a demonstration presented by our judge, David Lussier, at the Inn on the Lake. Very nice demo, complete with hors d'oeuvre and wine. Met up with some old friends and had a very nice time. Back to the dorm and to bed.

We were allowed to submit up to three paintings for judging, so I woke up early, as I always do and headed out into a damp, dank morning to paint. I needed to do 3 paintings today to make up for Thursday's wash-out. I noticed a very nice scene as I was putting my stuff in the car, and since it was threatening to rain, I set up my easel in the parking lot of FLCC and painted this.  One down two to go.

Thendara

I headed down the east side of the lake, aware that it could pour again at any minute. I found this little park off East Lake Road called Deep Run. Two other artists were set up there, but I set up, too. I got about half way done when it began to sprinkle. I ran to the car, grabbed a plastic drop-cloth and some clamps and clipped it to my umbrella. I sat under my make-shift tent working as the rain continued until the umbrella took a dive.  I figured I'd done as much as I could in the conditions. Two paintings done.  

Not good weather for pastels!

I put a lot of miles on the car looking for a spot that was sheltered and still had a good scene.  I should have just done a car painting like a lot of my fellow artists did.

High Tor - West River Access

I drove on to the southern end of Canandaigua Lake to an area called High Tor, a beautiful flat marshy area.  I parked in the access for the West River which runs through High Tor. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes where everywhere, so I took refuge in the car. I was glad I did because it began to rain - again! The scene shows a distant hill shrouded in mist and clouds with the foreground being the duckweed-covered inlet surrounded by trees. I like the hill, but it's hard to visually understand that you're seeing algae not grass, so I may change it so that it looks more like there is some water showing through. Three paintings done.

Ready for the show

Later, I met some friends for dinner and had a really nice time, headed off to the dorm to frame the work from the day then crashed for the night.  Up early again on Saturday to drop off paintings at the carriage barn at Sonnenberg Gardens, then into the city to stake out a rain-sheltered place to paint from for the “quick-draw” competition. The quick-draw had to be done within a specific 2 hour time period and within a certain distance from Main St. The painting was just so-so and I hope to do some adjusting to it later.

Skies clearing -finally!

The painting I did of the scene

I went back to the dorm afterward and caught a nap. Afterward, I headed out to paint again. The rain had finally stopped and I found shelter (just in case it rained again) in Kershaw Park at the northern end of the lake. I listened to some awesome music being played at a party in another section of the park while I painted. It was great.

I got cleaned up and headed to Sonnenberg Gardens for the Preview Party and Sale. Holy cow! I have never experienced anything like it in my life. The art was fabulous, as was the food, flowers, wine, music and everything else about the party. It was completely catered by a local restaurant called Nolan's and was free to the artists and a guest. I have never been treated like royalty, but I think this is what it must feel like. Awards were handed out and we all had a wonderful time.

Sold

Sunday, the last day of the weekend dawned with clear sunny skies, so I headed out to Rt. 12 to paint the incredible overlook there.  

Afterward, I got back to the dorm, packed up and went to Sonnenberg again for the exhibit and sale which was open to the public. Once again, everything about it was top-notch. It was one last chance to talk to fellow artists and share this incredible experience. I went home tired, but very glad I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival.

Clara's Lilacs

Last fall I sold several paintings depicting local scenes of Rochester to a lovely lady I have never had the opport-unity to meet.  She is not from Rochester, but her husband is.  She buys the paintings as gifts for him so that he can have a little bit of Rochester with him, even though he doesn't live here anymore.

She asked me if I have ever painted the lilacs.  Rochester is well know for it's lilacs, but I never had.  Well, this year is different.  The lilacs this year were spectacular!  I HAD to paint them.  So, I picked a big bouquet of them and went to town.  It was wonderful fun and here's the painting.

Pastel Demonstrations - Sunset Marsh

Sunset Marsh - studio piece   Sold

Sunset I - a demonstration

Sunset II - a demonstration

Over the past couple of weeks, I've done two demonstrations.  The first was for the Batavia Society of Artists and the second was for the Penfield Art Association.  

In both demos, I used the same reference material.  The references I used were photos, sketches, on-site observation and an actual painting of an area that's fairly close to where I live.  I visit and photograph the scene often, in a variety of weather conditions.  I really like the scene, but it's along a roadway and isn't the kind of spot where I would just set up and paint on site.

Anyway, I was pretty interested to see all three paintings right next to each other for comparison. I think both are decent, especially in light of how quickly I painted the demo pieces (about one hour each), plus the fact that I was talking and explaining what I was doing at the same time. I may try to refine them and come up with a more complete painting, but maybe not.  I really like the looseness of each one of the demos compared with the studio painting although I see some things that would improve both of them.  We'll see.

Camp

"Camp" - 12"x 16"  pastel

Well, spring break is here and it's been snowing all day.  Pretty typical weather for Rochester, however.  The weather this week promises to be cold and windy.  Not so great for working en plein air, but perfect for studio work, which is how this painting was completed.  I am trying to think ahead to warmer days and anticipating getting away to someplace like this.

Honeoye Lake Heat

"Honeoye Lake Heat" - 12"x 18"  pastel

One super hot day this summer, I found this beautiful little park at the northern end of Honeoye Lake in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate NY.  There is an absolutely spectacular view straight down the lake.  When I painted this in August, I knew I wanted to enhance the intensity of the color in the sky.  It was a hot, humid day with loads of haze and some of the color was lost. Today was the day to take care of that issue!  Punched up the color and now it's finished.

Last of the Snow

Last of the Snow - 12 x 16    SOLD

After I finished posted the demonstration from the other day, I knew I would need to correct the color in the final image of the painting.  The camera had not done a good job of getting those colors right.  The colors were WAY too cool!  So here is the color corrected version.  

Can be viewed at the Pat Rini Rohrer Gallery in Canandaigua, NY.


12"x18"

Pastel Demonstration

I was very inspired by Wednesday’s demo by Liz Haywood Sullivan.  So much so, that I immediately went to work painting.  I had wanted to paint all week anyway, but finding time is always a problem in my world.  Finding inspiration is not. Luckily, my granddaughter spent some time at the babysitter’s and with her grandfather, allowing me some uninterrupted time to complete this painting and to photograph it as I went.

First, I decided to reuse a piece of Wallis paper which I had painted on a few years ago, with less than mediocre results. 

I brushed it off, leaving a ghost image on it.

Using a sketch done from a photo I took last spring, I blocked in the basic shapes.

I laid down the darkest and lightest areas first.

Then, using alcohol and a brush, I liquefied the pastel in those areas, making large areas of solid color.

From there, I began to actually paint, putting down many light layers of pastel.

And after some tweaking, the finished product. 

"The Last of the Snow" 

12" x 18"

It felt wonderful to get something accomplished and I have to admit, I think it came out pretty well.