Painting the Oregon Landscape

Returning home from the beautiful state of Oregon, I have been challenged to paint the Oregon landscape.  Balancing watercolor with pastel is always a challenge but I find it especially true when painting in hues of green.  Even with many shades of green pastels on my palette it is hard to find just the right one.

I found it helped relieve some of the green by adding a body of water in the mid-ground and a contrasting land mass in the foreground.

Another thing that kept me away from too much green was working other colors, yellows and violets into the greens. 

To avoid the forest of trees becoming overwhelming, I have limited the number of tree shapes, grouping them as I created visual pathways through the painting.

Southwest Rock Formations

Inspired by the beautiful rock formations found in the southwestern United States I was led to produce this series of paintings using watercolor and pastel.  The rocks cried out for the vibrant, transparent watercolor and the surrounding and supporting areas for the opacity of pastel.

Painting #1
Predominantly watercolor, this painting could have stood alone but I chose to enhance the textures and shadows on the rock faces with pastel.  Then to create a foreground that would support and not detract from the amazing formations I again turned to pastel for a subtle suggestion of trees.

Painting #2
Her is another view rendered in watercolor.  In this painting the rock formations could stand as watercolor alone.  The reflections were all produced using pastels.  I chose pastel for the reflections because it tends to be softer and more subtle.  The subject of the painting is the rock formation, not its reflection. Therefore the rock formation needs to be strongest.

Painting #3
Soft, illusive formations emerging from the earth.  Beginning with a light value under-painting I developed this painting with lots of pastel.  The rock formations are secured with pastel in the sky and foreground areas.  I pretty much left the formations alone, allowing them to remain an emerging, mysterious surprise.

Paintings #4 and #5
My intent here was to capture the character of the formations.  Using a strong watercolor under-painting as a base I developed the rocks with pastel. I added texture and shadow with pastel to increase the strength and solid character of the rock formation.

Painting #6
In this piece I purposely altered the pallet to create a different mood and time of day: Early morning perhaps. 

It has been both and joy and challenge to work on this series of paintings.  As with every project I have learned much and experienced great pleasure. 

Paintings to Celebrate our Rainfall

Below are two paintings I have enjoyed executing in response to the heavy rain we have received.  Everywhere I look I see standing water;  the creeks are running after being dry for several years.

 The Ducks Are Happy

 

Trees with Wet Feet

Both paintings make use of soft pastels worked over watercolor underpainting.  All the lightest values are watercolor.  The darks and textures are executed with pastel sticks and pencils. 

 

Painting the Colors of Fall

Fall color is so inspiring; the artist within me can not leave it alone.

In attempting to capture the beautiful colors on display in the fall, I found myself getting way to heavy with my foliage.  I guess this comes from wanting to emphasize and communicate fall color to the viewer. 

This one is more successful: a rendering of a cottonwood tree decked out in in fall foliage.  I was able to keep the feeling of light-weight foliage supported by this fast growing tree. 

     The first image is of the tree alone and gives you a chance to focus on my method of how the leaves were applied.
Over a watercolor underpainting, I scumbled my pastel sticks in shades of yellow and warm browns purposely using a light touch and leaving plenty of the background color showing through.

  The second image is a more complete painting.  I really enjoyed working in the background with the contrasting colors of lavender and blue.  I felt this helped  bring the tree forward while creating some more interest in the painting as a whole.  The limited pallet worked very well. 

 

Painting Spruce Trees

Alaskan Spruce Trees offer an exciting challenge especially when developed over a watercolor underpainting. The trees can be suggested with pastel sticks but the trick is to keep them simple and not overworked. At the same time one must use different values (layers of pastel) to give the trees recognizable identity. 

 

Spruce Trees on the Gastineau Channel 

Watercolor underpainting in warm yellows was applied to the land mass area and where the trees would be developed.  Using three different values of pastel the trees were developed increasing the value and intensity of the color in the closer trees and allowing the background trees to remain a lighter, cooler color.

The color of the water was also executed in the initial watercolor underpainting stage of the painting. Reflections were strengthen with pastel.

The entire painting has a misty, ethereal feel so typical of the Alaskan landscape. 

Alaskan Spruce Forest 

The approach to this painting was much the same as the previous painting but the watercolor underpainting was done with cadmium scarlet, permanent rose and cobalt blue.  Care was taken that the red and scarlet colors were laid in the area designated for the forest.  Some of the cobalt blue was allowed to mix with the scarlet to produce lavender to suggest distance.

The distant trees were painted with light grayed green.  Warmer greens and stronger values were used as the trees move forward.

Again, care was taken to avoid overworking the trees, suggesting shape and growth rather than a detailed rendering.

 

 

 

 

New in the Studio

I am enjoying working with Nu-pastel sticks and have recently increased my supply.  The narrow, square sticks encourage me to make angular, directional strokes giving an energy to my painting that I was not able to achieve with the soft, rounded pastels.  I also find that I have more control and can see what I am producing better.  

Here you can see the Nu-pastel sticks grouped 

according to warm and cool colors.

Painting Glacier Faces with Watercolor/Pastel

Glaciers are awe inspiring.  They are so huge, cold, exhibiting a silent, creeping power.  The glacier is not just white ice but radiates colors of blues, greens, oranges and pinks.  So much to study and communicate with my paints. 

Here are a series of glacier faces I have rendered using the watercolor/pastel technique that is demonstrated in this blog.

This was my first attempt. 
For the watercolor underpainting I used viridian green, aureolin yellow, cadmium scarlet and cobalt blue.

I secured the top edge of the glacier by developing a mountain behind using soft pastels.

Pastel was also added to the sky area to create a misty atmosphere, blending it
into the mountain edge. 

Only a minimum amount of pastel was applied to the glacier face.  

Working more detail in this glacier face I secured the top edge of the ice with muted pastels of dark green, violet and gray. 

The base of the glacier is defined by the water also executed with pastel.

 

Perhaps my ice would be more credible if I placed in into a glacier-environment: Mountains, water and a second glacier in the distance. 
 

I did not find this composition satisfactory, so . . . . . 











 




I redesigned it!

One of the great things about working with pastel is that it can be reworked I removed the pastel from the top of the painting, first with bristle brush and then with a kneaded eraser.

I then added a mountain contour and a water line. 
 
 






Here is the finished painting.

The snow covered Alaskan range identifies the location.  The soft, cool colors make the viewer think "ice". 

Notice all the color in the mass of ice.  Glaciers are not simply white ice. 

 This rendering is done in a horizontal format. 
 

 

I originally thought that a vertical format would be the best choice to communicate the glacial ice.

I am glad to have tried the horizontal format because to my eyes it represents the massiveness of the glacier better.