The Diva of Cullosaja Falls

Last fall I was traveling up the Highlands Highway in North Carolina and stopped to take my tourist shots of Cullosaja Falls.The shadows were long. The river poured out of the blue forest before me onto the giant golden-rock falls caught by the hot evening sun. At the top of the falls stood this distinctive tree. She reached into the spotlight and presided over the crashing drama below like an Opera Queen in her final aria. I knew I would paint her one day.

I've removed her from the big stage so I could concentrate on her unusual structure and the fall foliage. Second in the tree series.

'The Diva' 8x13" Pastels on Wallis museum grade paper

The Goldenrain Tree

She just seems a bit shy to me, as though she would happily hide, but the harsh afternoon sun and her own exotic foliage conspire to make her a star.

'Reluctant'

5.5"x11.5" Pastels on Wallis Museum Grade

The challenge to myself was to take an utterly boring photo and do a painting using Richard McKinley’s watercolor under painting technique…and try to make the painting more interesting than the photo. You see the journal entry here with color sketch and photo.

The first time out I used a rather strongly colored under painting like I see so many artists use. My colors got too hot though and I couldn’t get harmony between a lemon-lime sky and hot orange leaf litter.

Version 1

So I tried again. Here is a series of snapshots as things progressed toward what was the final piece at the top of the post. This time I spent much more time on the sketch, trying to get the radial arms placed properly as shapes. When I wing it, my drawing mind gets lazy trying to keep up with my color hand (as we see in the first attempt). In the end I could see from the watercolor where the painting was supposed to go.  That’s much more than I could say for the first attempt.

So okay—it’s a tree in the woods and it’s not a riot of circus colors...it’s nearly normal looking, and yet I am pleased. 10 hours today from decision to the declaration of  ‘done for now.'

Journey to Horse Creek

Thank you Gary Keimig for allowing me to use your photo from Horse Creek as the reference! It’s been a month getting here. First, I was enamored of Gary’s photo, but wasn’t really sure what was drawing me to it. Maybe it's that I’m a mountain girl at heart and here I saw what could have been my beloved Appalachia and the Rugged Rockies in a single view. At any rate, I wanted to explore this image, and an expedition it became.

'Clearing'

11x17" Soft Pastels on Wallis Museum Grade paper

I took the image into Photoshop and just pushed the contrast and brightness a little. That revealed the shadow lines and the lay of the land in the foreground. Wishing to avoid all the detail of the brush, I simplified the image to value masses and decided to try it as a representational abstract in watercolor. Enjoyed this, but the clouds were a disaster. Removed and tried again until I finally ruined it and gave it up for lost.

 Gary Keimig's Photo from Horse Creek

Determined not to be beaten, I returned to Photoshop just to play and see what I could discover with the painting tools as I had not yet used them. In my mucking around I happened to create a pale yellow sky where there was none at all, and THAT inspired the treatment you see here.  I saw a late (or early) thunderstorm moving off east, with a clear yellow sky, and cloud tailings being pulled away into the retreating clouds. That gave me excuse for the light on the golden hill, and a way to tie the bottom of the image to the top. This time in Pastels.

Update 08.03.10
I have been living with this piece for several weeks and love it more very day, though until today, I was unable to say why. Now I know. I like that the distant mountains seem to be so 'other worldy' as if from a dream. This picture speaks to me in metaphor, the 'mental' clouds beginning to lift the veil between what is beneath my feet and what could lie in my future. Solid obstacles lie between, but so does a path from here to there...and so the name should be simply 'Clearing.'

Moonfire

At last. After 25 hours of painting, she is presentable.
Early one spring morning I was out with the camera. It had rained the night before so everything was drenched and sparkling in the morning sunshine. I was standing inside the canopy of the Moonfire Japanese Maple just to see what could be seen from there. The  foliage  was ablaze with translucent fire and reflected violet. This is the sort of subject that I really enjoy painting...though I'd starve to death if I needed to make a living from it!

11x15" Wallis Professional Sanded Paper, Pastels

The challenge to this piece was it's complexity. I did have to simplify some, and to invent a couple hands of foliage to fill in where I omitted visual chaos. I knew that once all sketched onto the sand paper, it would be hard to keep up with what the lines 'meant' so I outlined with red, violet, or green pastel pencil as I went. This proved to be very helpful. I knew that 'value' was going to be a real challenge for this piece. #1 because the darkest and highest contrast objects were in the foreground and these were 'cool' colors #2 because behind them were flaming reds. It's just the nature of even a dark red to be brighter than any blue or blue green.

Thought it might be interesting to show the reference work. First is the original snapshot. Second is the crop from that original that I used as the inspiration.

Sawnee Art Association - 3-D Show

I joined my local artists association recently, Sawnee Art Association. They put on a lovely little '3-D' show this weekend in the historic Brannon-Heard House in down town Cumming, Georgia. What is a 3-D show? That was my first question.. 3-D to 'me' sounds like holograms and funky movie glasses. 3-D is the art of making a 2-D image 'look' 3-D.

Apparently I am mistaken. 3-D is what 'Fine Art' is not...free of the wall. I understand the need for a descriptive label, but if you ask me, this one is awkward and does not communicate to the 'non-art' community the nature of the show. And don't get me started on the snootiness of 'Fine Art' as a label that means 'paintings and photography'. There. I've said my piece and I am well aware that the Gods of art nomenclature are taking no notice of my pedestrian opinion.

I did say it was a lovely show. It featured over 30 artists in pottery, sculpture, glass, fiber, gourd, metal, jewelry, and  wood turning and scroll work with elegant live music playing in the background. Here are some photos from the show. I don't know any of these artists, so I was not being partial...just looking for interesting photos and to show a bit of the space.

Perilous Rest

For almost two years I have wanted to paint from a photo of a log jam along the Columbia River in Portland. The image had strong lines, but until now, I could not think how to interpret it. In my sketchbook I worked in pen and then colored with alcohol markers to get a feel for value and colors. I actually love that sketch but I knew that it would not translate to pastels, they just handle so differently. Finally I decided to think in terms of abstracts for pastels: indulging the shapes, the colors, the values, and my 'poetic' concept of what I was rendering.

'Perilous Rest'

6x9" Wallis museum grade sanded paper 

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Anyway, I also decided that I would have to pick up water color so I could try pursuing my ink and color sketches.

Back to the Sycamore with Bill James

I’ve been stalled, art-wise.  I got to a point where I didn’t know what to do next that would keep me growing. I felt like something energetic and emotive was beating on the walls from deep inside, but what I was doing was just not giving it expression. Did I need to move into abstracts? Did I need another couple media under my belt to have some choices in times like these? Did I need to scrap all my reference work and strive to collect only images shot in the dark with a slice of light piercing the gloom?

I bemoaned to my friend that I couldn’t believe established artists weren’t using the internet and Photoshop to reach and teach students coast to coast in a personal way that didn’t require expensive travel, or limit the student to local teachers. Then I discovered Bill James, master of three media, who offered just that.
I submitted my 4 best recent pieces for an overall review. The upshot was that I lacked dramatic lighting and attendant value changes, which would not only add focus and energy, but would also allow 3-dimensional form to be emphasized, adding depth. What I thought was bright light was just too dim.  What Bill did was SHOW me how to envision the life back into my own work. He digitally re-tooled one of my jpgs to show me what HE saw that was missing. This is even better than having a teacher ‘show’ you on your own canvas.

So, here are the Sycamore Branches from November 2009, re-polished.


One thing I confirmed from this exercise is that my Rembrandt pastels just aren’t cutting it. The brightest brights are just plain flat and true darks outside of pure black are non-existent. I was able to get the pop only after finding that a few of my Sennelier were applicable.

This has set me on the great search for better quality pastels. This is going to be a considerable investment, as you know. And I’ve never ever been okay with the 16 color crayon box. SO, I have ordered a few selected super-darks from Diane Townsend Soft Form and Terry Ludwig and some mid tones from Great American ArtWorks to see how these compare to Rembrandt and how they layer.

If I like them, the long term plan is to cover all the bases with a couple sets of Great American, selected Ludwigs, and mostly Unison. This also forces me into a ‘big box’ storage system for all the brands. I’ve spent many hours comparing every pastel storage system I can find….It’s looking like a Heilman box (gulp).

Morning Sanctuary

Soft Pastels on Wallis professional grade paper 6x9”

The ‘Ann’ saucer magnolia in bloom seems crowded with exotic pink birds, her complex curving branches weaving an open air cage. The open weave of this frame was essential to the setting for this uncluttered pair, but it was the idea of ‘Sanctuary’ that allowed me to find the life in the lighting.
The placement of the branches provided the composition lesson for this piece. The curving branches generally spiral from behind the flowers. I included a couple branches I shouldn’t have, and had to minimize their presence late in the game. On the right I used the nexus of crossing branches to accomplish two things: to establish a third ‘point’ in a diagonal arrangement with the flowers for a subtle sense of movement, and to become the bottom frame for the space on the right that features the distant pink spot. To keep that space from spilling off the page, I pulled a branch down from above.
(This piece no longer exists. I tried to 'fix' all the 'official' issues with it and finally threw it away. Lesson? Leave well enough alone. Start again from scratch if you think you can improve it.)

Candlelight Mass

 11.5 x 10.5" Soft Pastels on Wallis professional grade sanded paper

This painting began with a photo of Japanese Maple leaves back-lit by the bright November sun. I imagined I would paint a sunny salute to the winter blues. But I studied the reference, squinting and glancing for quite some time. I wanted to be sure I knew what this painting was about before I began. Christmas music played soothingly in the background. Soon I saw that the leaves looked like little red-robed fairy-angels hovering over a candle lit service in a large cathedral. The blue sky became the cathedral window, soft with the blue of an early evening sky. The little halos of light became distant candles. When I finally finished, I saw the Virgin Mary in silhouette with babe in arms, an entirely unintended likeness.

I liked the process for this painting. Figuring out the background was a trick, but after that I was not plagued by fears that I was toiling over a disaster. I love layering rich color with pastels.

Have a blessed holiday season, everyone!

Ladies of the Court

7.5x13” on Wallis museum grade sanded paper


Rex Begonias sport some of nature's most beautiful foliage. Their leaves, like fancy court skirts are quilted, blistered, crimped, and ruffled. Their fiber optic-like stems can light the interior spaces with an appropriately sultry and spicy glow.

At first I felt that this subject was a bit ambitious for me, especially since I just spent a week working on an utterly lackluster piece that I buried with the other junk. But, this is where I want to go, sharing the intimate spaces of nature that have always seemed to be my secret treasures. I figured I had better start reaching for the hard stuff. With each of the many times I was ready to throw it away, something would go right and I would keep working. I was surprised at the end by the contribution of the final lower left leaf. Its strong design really suggested the 'courtliness' of this scene in a way entirely absent from the photo reference. I was finally able to describe the sense of whimsy that accompanied my admiration of these leaves and their interior spaces.

(I don't yet understand it, even years after this was painted. Whenever someone (so far that means 'anyone') see this painting for the first time, they have an instinctual and physical revulsion to it, as though they have been punched in the gut. I've seen a lot of ho-hum paintings in my life and none made me groan out loud. Very curious indeed.)