Sunday, April 21, 2013

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.



Tuesday, April 02, 2013

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.