Substitute Pastel and Progress

I never posted about the work on the painting last week (see image at bottom) or about the substitute pastel... Well, I went to the Art Alliance ready to rescue and complete the damaged pastel only to discover that my model was at home! I was determined to do work there and not go home in a huff, so I rooted around and found part of a brick outside the building and some wilted tulips and bleeding hearts in the trash from a weekend art reception. After cutting the stems, I put them in a narrow glass vase and placed all my objects under a strong spotlight. I decided it was a decent subject and would merely treat it as a memory exercise. The key was to remember Ron Monsma's instructions on recreating the gritty texture of the brick in pastel. I have to admit it was more fun than I'd had in a while since I was not committed to making any finished Art. I was quite pleased at the end of the session to discover my memory is in tact and that I had the beginnings of a lovely painting. I intend to complete it next week and will post images then.

As far as Gala goes, I've avoided it. After getting the canvas mostly covered I was thinking it's going to be work from here on out - a big ugly struggle. Not something I wanted. Yesterday, I began slowly on the teacup and saucers since I knew the ellipses were all wrong and I needed to fix them. I made a pot of coffee and got down to work. After an hour I was very frustrated and wondering if I should just do something else entirely before I became too exasperated. I took a 20-minute break and remembered how I felt working on the brick and eventually decided to just do it. That did the trick! I not only resolved the ellipse problems, but improved the values in addition to keeping everything nice and loose! I even began to work on the Ferrero Rocher candies because I had the appropriate colors out. Now my attitude is MUCH better and I don't dread going down there today to work. I am sometimes amazed at the emotional roller coaster ride I can take when making paintings. Enjoy the ride - I will.

Let The Gala Begin!

The last couple of weeks I've finished up a collage experiment, framed three pastels and worked a still-life pastel over an old figure drawing. The last was ruined because I forgot to tie up my cloth supply bag in the car and took a corner too quickly. Two days of work down the tubes. It is salvageable, but I still get entirely too angry to work on it.

I am scheduled to speak in May about my figurative work and how it relates to my still-life painting for the Art Alliance of Central PA and to teach 4 classes of Theory of Knowledge (the Art Unit) for my friend Karen down in Fairfax, VA a few weeks later. Feeling like I need to re-evaluate what I bring to the events and where my head is. Given I have a break in commitments now, I decided to get moving on Gala in hopes to have something in progress to share with the VA students!

I rearranged the light to give it more drama and a bit of lurking darkness - something in my life now that I hope will come through in the end - and got started with the under painting. Here is is so far:



I've decided to try harder to keep it loose and will try to stick to my guns with only getting crazy details nearer the end. I'm hoping the large size of the canvas will help! (It's 48" x 60") In looking at my latest art mags, I wonder about the surface more. That and using more medium. Wait and play it by ear.

Time to get to work.

Phil's Wright

Here it is as promised. Friend Phil's mug is a collectible mid-century Russel Wright design made by Steubenville Pottery on lovely woven paisley I picked up in New Hope, PA. I'm thrilled to already have a frame, so all I need are spacers and some glass!

Enjoy.