Reason for not painting...

In case anyone is interested, here are 3 of the pieces of the kidney stone that sidelined me for June and most of the month of July.  The stone was originally 7.7 mm.  The largest chunk I recovered was almost 5x3 mm.

Expectations - Revision

"Expectation" Pastel on UArt - completed February 2014.

This painting, though pleasing, seemed to lack something. It was just there with nothing special.

I started my examination by creating a smaller, 5x7, with ink and watercolor on paper to explore new colors, forms, and values.

My first step was to do an ink line drawing from the original.

 

Over this ink sketch I added watercolor indicate the continuation of the pinks and lavenders into the salt marsh to replace some of the green.

 

Adding the color to the clouds, pointed out another basic difficulty with the original piece - that is that the bottoms of the clouds are all too flat.  The study, however, was too far along to make changes in either the drawing or the watercolor, so I sprayed the watercolor with fixative and applied a layer of clear gesso. This will help support substantial revisions when I apply the pastel.

 

 

"Evneing Clouds" - gave this 5x7 and new name.

This is the final rework of the 5x7.  I reduced the clouds by about 1/3, softened all the edges, expanded the water in the foreground, and reduced the colors to 3 - blue, orange, and purple (with just a touch of pink). Then I added just a little green for contrast and punched up the colors and values in the salt marsh.  Took a new photo which is much better.

Dunes Ascending

I started with three pencil design sketches which I reduced to 2-value sketches.  Now I need to decide on one and proceed to a small color sketch or two to decide on color and temp.  I'm working from a couple of photos and memory.

Dunes at Sunrise

Pastel on Wallis, 6x9

This work is a color and value sketch with the anticipation it will become a larger, more formal piece.

I began with a pancil sketch to which I added value markers and notation lines to indicate the movement I wanted to achieve.

After that, I did a watercolor underpaining to indicate basic color and value relationships.  Loved the bloom that happened in the sky. 

From that I added the basic pastel color scheme for the sky, the ocean, and the sand.

 

 

The next step was to emphasize the deeper values, and added the structure of the bushes and grass.

 

I'm pleased enough with the result to use this for a larger work.

 



Summer Sea Oats

Pastel on Wallis, 12x9

The view of the Gulf of Mexico through the dunes at Cape San Blas provides a perfect state to display the aqua of the Gulf against the white sand of the dunes through the ever-changing tangles of sea oats and beach vegetation.  This view holds a special attraction for me because of the fond memories I have of coming here to fish in the surf with my son and father-in-law

As a painting, I find a great challenge to balance the deep shadows of the dune shrubs and grass set against the blazing white of the sand.  Beyond the sand and grass, the turquoise of the Gulf presents its own emphasis and statement of presence.

Thru the Sea Oats Again - Sketch

12 Colors for 12 Minutes (plus one burnt sienna pastel pencil for stems)
Pastel on Richeson, 7.5.5

Sketch from notes, photos, and drawings of the beach at Cape San Blas.  I like this composition and the color sketch in broad terms.  The 12 color limit shows my need for a broader range of blues for the water and sky, more yellows and warm greens for the sea oats, clearer colors for the sand with a broader range of lights blues and lavenders.

Sunrise 1

Sketch - 12 pastels in 12 minutes

This view of the sunrise at Jacksonville Beach has intrigued me for quite some time, so I finally decided to try doing it in pastels.  I started with a much-cropped view and a limited palette in order to simplify the design and colors.

I hope this will develop into a larger, more detailed work while keeping the freshness I see in this sketch.