Water Abstracts #4 - Continuation

Due to the unusually wet winter we've had, the creek behind the hotel has been flowing continuously since the first set of water abstracts were taken back in early Feb.  The water never looks the same on the rocks, proving just how ephemeral each of these images truly are.  I find both the movement of the running water and the sound of it both mesmorizing and soothing, and could probably spend all day hanging out down at the creek.  We got more snow last night, so I'm confident that the creek will continue its flow for as long as I'm still in Bisbee.

These four are so very different, yet were all taken on the same day and within about 15' of each other.  

Yin and Yang

Mosaic #2

Starry Night

Golden Crossing

Three faces of a sunset - pastel

After photographing some recent and particularly pretty sunsets lately, I was inspired to paint some.  The skies here, and subsequently, the sunsets, are so varied that nothing ever looks the same or even close to the same when I go out. 

These paintings show radically different perspectives of a sunset, based on location and type of cloud.  There is the high-drama, high-chroma sky in the west where the sun sets.  These are the real attention grabbers and fun to paint due to the use of bright, saturated reds, oranges and yellows.  An eastern sunset sky gives a more muted presentation:  pinks, purples and blues, but beautiful all the same. 

The cloud type is of course what gives the sunset its character - thinner, diffuse cloud layers transmit the rays of the sun, transforming them into color.  Cumulus are lower, dense clouds of small droplets absorb little and reflect more.  Mid-level clouds, such as altocumulus, can surprise or disappoint, depending upon their location relative to the setting sun. 

The first two paintings are based on photos taken at the same location on the same evening.  The last one was based on one of the photos I took this past Saturday, also at the same location south of town on Swan Rd. 

"Cirrostratus Sunset" - 12 x 9"

pastel on Colourfix paper with black underpainting.

After taking the photo, I see some adjustments that can be made.  As before, the surface of this paper was a challenge and made the painting time-consuming.  It looks grainy and a bit stiff in the photo, but I do like the way the colors turned out.  First chance I had to use the MV sunset colors I purchased last month! 

"Cirrus Sunset to the East" - 12 x 9

pastel on Canson Mi-Tientes paper, smooth side

I completed this study relatively quickly last night.  Inital layer is blended into the paper and clouds scumbled lightly on top.  It doesn't translate so well in the photo; the colors aren't quite so saturated or the cloud edges so rough. 

"Cumulus to the East" - 11 x 9"

pastel on 320-grit sandpaper using alcohol wash underpainmting

$85 ppd, ready-to-frame

The alcohol wash was quite effective in this painting, allowing me to get the well-defined edges of the various layers of cloud seen here.

I look forward to doing more sunset paintings, and definitely plan on doing larger size paintings once I'm back to CT. 

Tennessee Barn - pastel with underpainting

Based on this month's WetCanvas pastel forum spotlight challenge, this painting was completed Sunday evening.  The purpose of the challenge was to use a wet underpainting for the painting.  Paula Ford hosted the challenge, and as usual, provided a lovely selection of photos to choose from.  I've used underpaintings/washes a few times, but after this exercise, I think I'll use them more often.

I chose a photo of an old barn in Tennessee.  I have a fascination with old, abandoned buildings and barns, so this was an easy choice.  Aside from the appealing subject matter, the image, with its layers of hills in the distance, was a good example of aerial perspective [by which elements will become cooler and greyer in color as they recede from the viewer's position]. 

Photo was cropped to a 9x12" scale, and I chose to keep the barn the prominent feature (not just the focal point) in the picture.  The Colourfix paper I used has a rough surface that doesn't allow for precise and small detail to be added, so that was another good reason to keep the barn a bit bigger. 

I used pastels of different values to lightly block in the main shapes of the sky, hills, trees, barn and foreground.  Using a small wash brush and rubbing alcohol, I then painted them quickly into simple shapes into the paper.  Rubbing alcohol is great because it dries quickly and does a good job of spreading the pastel pigment onto the paper. 

Here are the two paintings for comparison:

"Summer Comes to the Old Barn" - pastel

9x12" Colourfix

$85 ppd, ready to frame

A trip to Council Rocks - a photo-essay

Yesterday, two local artist friends and I took a day trip out to the Dragoon Mtns.  Mike is a photographer/web designer and Liz is an encaustic painter and photographer.  Destination was the area known as Council Rocks - a historical site known to be a meeting place for Apache tribe members Cochise and Geronimo.  The rock facades also have rock art believed to be 1000 years old and created by the prehistoric peoples living in the area - the Mogollon. 

The weather report was a bit sketchy, with a 30% chance of rain predicted for late afternoon/evening.  During our trip, the fair-weather cumulus transitioned into rainclouds that luckily bypassed us as far as precipitation went.  They did, however, enhance the landscape photos we took. 

Below is a selection of some of my favorites from the trip.  I ended up heading out later that evening to shoot some sunset photos, and I'll be posting that series perhaps tomorrow.  Winter is taking its time departing, but it's providing some beautiful skies in the meantime!

A look to the past

Important communication symbols or just ancient graffiti?  No one knows for sure, but these enigmatic designs continue to enchant and fascinate those who see them.

Close-up of pictograph panel

Two figures - human, perhaps? - are shown in detail.

Council Rocks

The actual Council Rocks are between the large balanced rock to the left and the large boulder to the right.  A path leads to the pictograph panels, which are on the second large rock to the left.  The meeting room area is formed by the large group of boulders to the right.

Sky reflections

This small pool of rainwater adjacent to a huge boulder reflects both the nearby grasses and the clouds from above.

Geological and botanical still life

A variety of contrasting shapes, colors and testures add interest to this landscape/still life image

Easter Island meets the Dragoons

This balanced slab of rock has recognizable facial features sitting atop this weathered granite monolith.  Oddly, I didn't even notice the face until I looked at the photograph later.

Sheep's Head rock and rainclouds

The dark stormclouds add a sense of drama to the sunlit face of this portion of the mountains.  Scrub oak and desert grasses make up the foreground.

I will probably post the rest of the photos I took to a picasa gallery of the Dragoons at some point; new photos will be visible in the picasa feed at the bottom of the blog page when they're up.

Water Abstracts - #3

Here is another set of water abstracts taken in the Agua Fria NM area, along with a few from the Mazatzal Mtns. area. On my drive back from Flagstaff, I stopped at a trailhead just south of Payson and went on a short hike. The trail was very scenic, and eventually lead to a small drainage called Deer Creek.   I got a variety of photos, some of which will probably make it into future blog posts, and certainly some reference material for paintings. 

The large, colorful rocks in the Deer Creek drainage give a very different look to these abstract photos than the previous series posted.  Enjoy!

Green not with Envy

Precious Metals

Networking

Color Cache

High-Rise

More to follow soon!  Besides clouds and skies, these abstracts are probably my newest obsession, and while I thought I might run out of new ideas or subjects, that hasn't been the case.

Sky Friday - Sunset from March 2

The sky above Bisbee was filled with cirrus and other higher-level clouds in the late afternoon on Tuesday, so I headed out with my gear to the location south of Warren, and waited. When I got there, the sky had beautiful cloud formations going on, as well as a pair of parahelia (aka "sundogs") in the altostratus clouds. Very cool.  The sunset was beautiful for 360 degrees, from the intense, high-chroma colors to the west, to the pinks, blues and purples to the north, east and south. 

I may do a second part to this sky Friday post to include some of the non-sunset clouds, as well as a couple of the photos from the other views of the sunset sky.

In the meantime, here are a handful of selected images from the sunset sequence to the west.

Enjoy!

Higher-level cirrus clouds have just barely begun to take on some color, while the lower altostratus clouds are already in shadow.

The cirrus clouds are gradually disappearing, and now the main cloud group is taking on some golden color.

This zoomed-in shot shows more of the color and texture detail in the clouds as they continue their color change.  The cirrus clouds are now a glowing, pale pink.  The Huachuca Mtns. are on the right side of the photos in this set.

The colors continue to deepen as the angle of the setting sun's rays passing through the clouds shorten, and the cirrus clouds have all but disappeared from the sky.

A final photo, showing a full range of reds, oranges and yellows, with some dark purple-reds on the eastern-most edge of the clouds.

A trio of landscapes in pastel

This is a bit of a catch-up post, since I haven't had regular internet access for the past several days. I'd intended to post these throughout the week, but I've got plenty of new material to be adding, so I'll just include all of these together in a single post.

All are based on photos taken at various locations and dates, so there's no real continuity of subject, other than mountains and sky. Details follow each painting.  They're posted in the order completed.

"Winter Storm Over Mule Mtns" - 5x7

pastel on sanded paper mounted to acid-free matboard

$45 ppd, ready to frame

This small painting was based on a photo similar to this one.  I loved the way this one portion of the mountains was sunlit in an otherwise overcast sky, and the small area of precipitation adds to the sense of drama.  I also was finally able to use the pastels in the much-anticipated Mt. Vision thunderstorm grey set I recently received.  In fact, other than the foreground greens and yellows of the mountain, the rest of the painting was done with this set, demonstrating its versatility as a southwestern palette as well.

"Towards Ramsey Canyon" - 9x12"

pastel on Colourfix sanded paper

$95 ppd, ready to frame

This painting could be described as a "reclamation operation" based on both the paper and the reference photo.  The original painting, done from a photo taken at Saguaro National Park, was my first time using this particular surface.  It's quite different than the sanded papers I've been using, where the pastels go on like butter.  This is much more textured and I found myself fighting the surface.  Despite the effort I put into the original painting, I was not pleased with the result, primarily as a result of the paper surface.  So, out came the paintbrush and off came the pastel!  I then applied black pastel to the remaining ghosted surface, used an alcohol wash to unify the surface color, and it was back to the beginning. 

I didn't want to try and re-do the same SNP image, so I decided on a photo taken during this same hike.  While the photo was nothing to get excited about due to the poor light, it is one I felt would translate well into a painting.  Simple shapes and strong values of the land elements contrast with the muted greys of the stratus cloud-filled sky, which is what I did .  The location is not far off the trailhead for the Brown trail, off of Ramsey Cyn. Rd in Sierra Vista, at the base of the Huachucas.  Residual snow is visible on the north face (although I'm not sure if that reads as such in the painting...) and the granite cliffs contrast with the evergreen slopes of the adjacent mountain.  Scrub oak and juniper dot the foothills and foreground along with the bright yellow grasses.  After looking at the photo, I think I will go back and adjust some of the areas of grass to the lower left side - they are a bit too dark and tend to pull the eye away from the center of the painting. 

My photography and PP editing skills aren't doing this painting justice - I think I may have reduced the contrast a bit too much, since the actual painting is more vibrant when viewed in person. 

"Cumulus, Rising" - 9x11"

pastel on sanded paper

$65 ppd, ready to frame

Here is another somewhat "experimental" piece.  It is based on a photo I took shortly after arriving in Bisbee, in early Dec.  Taken from the Mule tunnel overpass in late afternoon just before sunset, I was in awe of the very top of this brightly-lit cumulus cloud that was just peeking up over the hills of the Mules to the north. 

The surface is a 220-grit aluminum oxide sanded paper that I've used before, and while it has a good tooth for the pastel, there is a tendency for the pastel to come off if the paper is tapped vigorously.  Since I do this after finishing all my paintings to remove loose dust, this is a problem.  I'd decided not to use the paper anymore as a result, but then thought I'd try the alcohol wash with black pastel and use a bit of fixative and then do the painting on top, just to see how that worked.  It definitely was an improvement over the original surface as far as this technique went.  I never use fixative on my finished paintings, but decided to just try it here - a light sweep of Krylon Matte Finish spray.  It didn't appear to dull the painting down, which is usually the reason pastel painters don't use fixative. 

I modified the original photo slightly by shifting the hills over to the right so that the "v" didn't fall right in the center.  The cloud mass has been slightly enlarged and yeah, it's still mostly in the center, but I think it's okay here because of the lines and curves of the hills keep it from being too staid.  I kept the dark cloud tatters in the photo to add some depth and context of a cloudy sky to the painting.  They read better, as do the pinks and creams of the center cloud, when the painting is viewed in person.