"The Blacksmith"

11" x 17", Oil Pastel on sanded art board

While visiting Patricia's family in Calgary (Alberta, Canada) we did a family outing at Heritage Park Historical Village. We both took a number of photos thorough-out the park of the various attractions. In one particular area we noticed a blacksmith working at his anvil so I took a few photos in hopes that one would lend itself for a drawing in the future. The above painting was done from one of those photos. It took a while for me to finish but it was well worth the wait as I felt like this particular drawing really push me to a new level. Out of my comfort zone. Going to try to get a few prints made up before framing it.

Misty Thistle Bag Piper

"Misty Thistle Bag Piper"

Oil Pastel, 8" x 10"

Decide to make a shift to oil pastels just to change things up a bit in the studio. I took the photograph about a year or two ago and felt the time was right to work up a drawing. This drawing was done on deep blue Art Spectrum paper and decide to go solvent free for the under painting. Discovered a really nice rubber tip blending tool that helps with controlling details in tight areas and blending large areas. Duel purpose tool! I found things also work well if you let layers dry between applying more color. Deciding not to seal this one with shellac until it dries for a period of time.

Kingfisher Study

"Kingfisher Study"
8" x 5"

Winter Sky

"Winter Sky"
10" x 16"

Guess I was a lot closer to being done on this painting than I thought. Added a few more highlights and finished off the lower right hand corner. The trees by themselves are not really that interesting, but add a sky with some clouds at an angle and it will capture your eye. This is a scene outside our cabin which is perched upon a hill during the winter. There are a few more photographs like this that I've taken over the years that would make just as good a painting. Now to figure out what to paint next.

Winter Sky - Stage 2

Back at the drawing board tonight to work out the next stage in completing this drawing. At this point I start working on the tree tops working my way down the drawing. At times I will do a little work in the sky but for the most part stayed on rendering each branch on the trees. A mug of hot tea and music on my iPod helps to pass the time.

You can see here that I've worked all the way down the trees; there is still much to do on the tree on the far right. Thinking the sky is pretty much finished, perhaps it needs a hint of light yellow in the colors and an accent on the tree tops. In any event one more evening on this drawing and it will be complete.

Winter Sky - Stage 1

This is the under drawing using a dry pastel media and a little charcoal to outline the initial image. Since this is a winter scene I'm using lighter hues and white. This is necessary as I start to use rubbing alcohol to spread the color around it on the paper it darkens a bit.
You can see here that I'm using a half inch wide flat headed Bristol brush on the sky. You can see the alcohol mixing with the dry pastel with the hue darkening up. You have to be careful to clean your brush after about 3-4 brush strokes. The alcohol cleans the pigment from the brush quite easily so it not a huge problem. The cleaning permits you to keep each hue some what separated on the paper. In other word the white remains white and the blue remains its own color. There is some mixing of the colors along the edges where they meet which is a good thing at times.
In this close up you can see how the colors remain separated and how some of the edges will actually mix together. As you can see I'm also using the direction of the brush strokes to add to the drama of the sky.The directional aspects of a brush is a very important way to add drama to any work.

This is the finished under painting and must dry for about 30 minutes before moving on to the next layer of pastel. I left some areas untouched by the alcohol to denote sky holes or snow on a branch. Again don't feel like you need to fill in all areas of the under painting with a color, white space adds a very powerful design element...sometime less is more. Tomorrow I begin the next stage of this painting by adding some details.

Butterfly Crossing

"Butterfly Crossing"
Oil Pastel on Paper
6" x 11"

Tug Boat & Peacock

"Mariner's Landing"
Oil Pastel, 6" x 11"

Decided to work in oil pastels versus dry pastels this weekend down in the studio. Oil pastels historically were first made by a Japanese artist at the end of World War 1 to enhance the educational schooling in that country. Oil pastels consist of pigment mixed with a non-drying oil and wax binder. The surface of an oil pastel painting is therefore less powdery than dry media pastel types, but more difficult to protect with a fixative. I use a clear shellac for protection on many of my oil pastels. Picked up this protection technique 20 years while attending Atlanta College of Art.

The above drawing (painting?) was done in my sketch book to experiment with the media. I did some earlier experiments, but thought it best to stay on that track for a while before working on a large piece. Started with a pencil sketch, followed by filling in with large swatches of color while using solvent to move the oil pastel around more easily. Once I got the under painting done then I applied a single layer of clear shellac. This not only protects the under painting it also creates a fresh new surface to continue drawing on. The tug boat has two layers of clear shellac with varying layers of oil pastel, then finished off with single layer of shellac. Shellac dries very quickly, solvent on the other hand does not, so either use very little or wait until it dries before reworking.

"Peacock Study"
Oil Pastel, 5" x 8"

The peacock study was done on wallis paper, which is used primarily with dry pastels, but works fine with oil pastels none the less. Used too much solvent for the under painting so I had to let things dry over night before reworking certain areas. I also used clear shellac on this painting, but used only one coat for protection. We when to Calgary Zoo a couple of years ago so I had several photos to choose from of this peacock. Thinking of doing another study of this bird, or perhaps I'll do a much larger and more refined painting worthy of framing. One last thing is that it very difficult to photograph these paintings, so I recommend scanning them if possible.

Avalanche Chute

"Avalanche Chute"
10" x 16" (Finished)

Under painting after an alcohol wash.

Laying down the under drawing & blocking in zones of color.

Here is the latest pastel painting that I've been working on over the past two days. I've included a few more photos showing a before and after progression using rubbing alcohol once again for the under painting. This approach has really been a wonderful process to execute and permits to me to work much more quickly. One of the delightful things I've discovered is this process has really loosen me up.

The reference photo was taken last summer while on a hike with my nephew Ethan up to Lake Silvis (video). As we were hiking up the access road we came across an ice cave at the end of an avalanche chute from the spring run-off earlier in the year. It was such a beautiful summer day I will never forget our time together that day. This pastel was a great way to began a new year, remembering the past while moving towards the future.