Thursday, November 13, 2008

Back at the easel #2


Hmmm. I'm still trying to figure out how to get images where I want them to be in my posts but have not been very successful, as you can see. In any case these two are from a hike in the White Mountains and kayaking on Grafton Pond, in New Hampshire.

Back at the easel

I love the morning and have felt decadent being able to lounge on the couch with my foot up, savoring my coffee and watching the birds dance on the branches outside my window, jockeying into position to reach the feeder. Many mornings have been grey so I can imagine the snow that will be gracing those branches fairly soon. With that in mind, I decided to play around with painting snow.
It feels so good to be in the studio, even if it is a temporary one. I may not have been physically active over the past two weeks, but I have been artistically busy reading, researching on line, and working on a few new, small paintings. I've been trying different surfaces (Richeson gator foam, and Wallis board) in relative sizes of 5" x 7" and 8" x 8". In all three cases I painted the surface with pastel brushed with either alcohol or turpenoid. The alcohol worked better, although I still found that the tooth filled up quickly on both surfaces, probably due to compensating for value adjustments. The turpenoid is thicker and created a shiny surface when the brush was too full. Each experiment was worth it, despite the frustration, so I am ready to work larger and try using lighter strokes.