Day two hundred and sixty-eight: Oh yes, my friends, we’ve been here before! My same favorite beach, looking in the same direction, but on a very different, hazy morning. Using pastels, I thought I was finished several times while I was working, however, repeatedly found myself returning to the picture, continuing to layer and blend […]
Also tagged pastelDay two hundred and sixty-seven: On my way home from the the Undine Barge Club’s Captain’s dinner, I was walking on the bike path along the river. I noticed the repetitive arches of this stone bridge, and the shadows created by nearby street lamps. I decided then and there that it would be the subject […]
Also tagged architecture, pencilDay two hundred and sixty-four: Unsure what to draw, I found a photo I took in Maine of a sunset over pine trees on Burnt Coat Island at Phippsburg. I thought that pastels might be a good way to capture the phenomenal play of color and light in the wispy puff and streaks of clouds, […]
Also tagged pastelDay two hundred and sixty: I found myself in a pastel mood today, and wanting to play with the rich chalky layers that I began experimenting with a couple of weeks ago. Turning to my photographs to find a suitable subject, I expected to choose a colorful sunset or ocean scene. Instead I was drawn […]
Also tagged pastelDay two hundred and fifty-nine: My father’s comment about the sketch I made yesterday reminded me of an old family photo of my younger brother and me around the ages of two and five playing in an old row boat. It had been abandoned on the edge of a wild pond on my parent’s farm, […]
Also tagged self portrait, water, watercolorDay two hundred and fifty-eight: Today I was helping a curator from another museum who was studying 18th-century French etchings, and we both appreciated a charming landscape with an empty boat by Claude-Henri Watelet (1718-1786). Shortly after we were browsing a book of Rembrandt (1606-1669) etchings, and came across one of the same boat in […]
Also tagged Rembrandt, Watelet, water, watercolorDay two hundred and fifty-six: As I suspected, picking a concrete subject to paint with watercolor rather than scratching it out from my imagination certainly made today’s sketch more relaxing. I don’t know that it’s fundamentally any better than the landscape study I painted yesterday, but I like it despite its tourist picture qualities. This […]
Also tagged water, watercolorDay two hundred and fifty-five: Continuing to explore watercolor, I opted to play around with the medium in an imaginary landscape. I’m still wresting with all the variables in the Corel program, and often forget which brush I used for certain effects. Yet, somehow I managed to tease my way into what looks something like […]
Also tagged watercolorDay two hundred and fifty-one: More playing around with media today: this time a mix of black pen and dusky watercolor washes to create an imaginary mountain lake at nightfall. This study was inspired by my memory of landscape etchings by D. Y. Cameron.
Also tagged cameron, pen and ink, watercolorDay two hundred and forty-three: My work this afternoon led me to stare closely at a large pastel by Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), an activity which led, in turn, to a discussion with my co-worker Sharon about creating art with pastels. I commented that I had never really tried it – even on my digital […]
Also tagged art on art, pastel