The Tree x 4 - ACEO pastel landscape studies

Labels:  ACEO, original art, pastel painting, southwest landscape, tree, sunset

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Tree #1 - Yellow Sky & Red Wildflowers

 I seem to be in a bit of an indecisive artistic lull lately.  Can't decide what to do as far as larger works go; the idea of doing something big just seems daunting for whatever reason.

But yet, I still want to paint something.

So, I find myself coming back again to these little mini-paintings.  Not much to dedicate in the way of time or materials, which seems about right for me, at least today.

Tree #2 - Stormy Skies

South of Durango, along Hwy 550, is Florida Mesa.

And, along the highway is some farm or ranch land upon which resides a lone ponderosa pine in an open field.  I really dig this tree, and have photographed it on different occasions.

So, I decided to paint it and vary the background in each version.  This would actually be a great subject for a "Multiple Variations" challenge, similar to what jump-started me back to pastel painting 1 1/2 years ago with this series.

Tree #3 - Overcast Sky Sunset

 I may do more of The Tree, or not.  But, for tonight, it was good.

Tree #1 has maybe a bit of Tonalism to it?  All warm colors.

Tree #2 is similar to this one, based on a summer monsoon storm.

Tree #3 sports one of those intense sunsets with high-chroma colors, of which we have plenty of here.




Tree #4 was what tonight's sky looked like, sunset-wise.  Semi-plein air, I guess.

I guess until I have further inspiration to do a larger piece, these minis will tide me over.

I decided to add the black border around them using GIMP.  Looks neat, I think.

And, on an unrelated note, Blogger's formatting continues to confound me.  The text in Preview mode looks nothing like the actual blog post - large gaps between photos that I can't seem to fix.  So, sorry about that.