Back from a blogging and painting break

Because sometimes a break from everything is in order.  I've been caught up in non-art creative ventures that have taken my attention away from painting for a while.  It happens during this time of the year, as I transition from eight months of exhilarating outdoor painting to the doldrums of the studio.

Our area is expecting its first snow of the season tomorrow and Saturday.  So, probably no more plein air work for me this year.

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I want to do this winter, and one thing is returning to oils and working on my drawing skills.  I'm also going to spend more time reading and studying the paintings and drawings of the Old Masters; library books on drawings by Picasso and Michelangelo are sitting on my night stand and I look forward to working my way through them.

In the meantime, here are two paintings done in the past two weeks.  The first is a plein air from the 4CPAP paint-out in Simone Canyon, in New Mexico.   I ended up going with the purple sky here because I forgot to bring my box of sky colors along.

Roadside Cottonwoods - 12x12"
pastel on black cardstock

The second is a studio piece, from a photo taken during our Escalante trip.   The afternoon of the quick-draw event, after I'd dropped my painting off, we drove west of Escalante, to the town of Cannonville, and then headed south along the road that leads to Kodachrome Basin State Park.  This is a view of the Kodachrome area further down the Cottonwood Wash road:

Cloud Over Kodachrome Basin - 12x16
pastel on dark gray Mi Tientes

While at the Escalante Canyons Plein Air event, I was delighted to meet a local area pastelist whose work I've enjoyed since I first discovered it in the past couple of years - Scotty Mitchell .  A few of her paintings are featured in the book Painters of Utah's Canyons and Deserts, which is one of my favorite coffee table art books.  Talking shop with another pastelist is always interesting, because we all use such different techniques and materials, so of course, I had to ask her what surface she uses for her paintings.  Turns out, she works exclusively on the dark gray Mi Tientes.  Between the chat I had with her, and the studio painting I did - Wash Wall Shadows - on Canson, I was inspired to try this paper again.

I like it, especially this dark gray.  So much so that I ordered a 10-pack of 19x25" sheets from ASW.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now.

Two more plein air pastels from Escalante Canyons Art Festival

Not posted in the order painted...

Storm Over Escalante Canyon - 12x16", plein air
pastel on gray Artagain paper

This piece was done (and still not quite finished) in two afternoon sessions.  I'd intended to head back out for a third session to finish it up completely on location, but time and weather/light conditions didn't permit that.  So, after dragging it around on my easel for the better part of a week, it's now finished!

It was started Wed early evening, less than an hour before sunset.  The location is along the road to the Escalante State Park/Campground, where we spent the first two nights in Escalante.  It is about 2 miles west of town, so this view is to the east.  The late afternoon light lit up the beautiful sandstone cliffs and canyon walls, and I knew I had to paint it as we drove back from picking up my Quick Draw entry.

I jumped right back in the car when we got back to our campsite, drove to this location by a cattle ranch, and quickly established the main composition and the basic colors of the rock  and foreground while the light was still good.  I had to stop when the sun went down behind the distal plateau behind me, and the light had completely disappeared.  

I returned around 4PM the next afternoon, and was in luck that the stormy skies that had provided the contrast for the original view were staging an encore, albeit a bit different.  So, I worked quickly to capture the ever-changing clouds.

One thing I love about painting skies such as these, are the edges.  Hard, soft, lost and found - these clouds had them all.   

Buttes Near Harris Wash - 9x12", plein air
pastel on toned UArt #600

An "unofficial" piece done (not stamped) on Friday, along the trail leading to the Zebra slot canyon.  We loved this hike when we did it back in May, and I wanted to do a painting somewhere along the trail, or in the washes.  These stunning striped buttes, of Jurassic period Navajo sandstone, are a stand-out feature along the hike, and these are about 2 miles into the hike.  When I found a large juniper to provide shade right near the trail with this view, it was a no-brainer.  I spent about an hour or so working on this while Wayne explored Harris Wash downstream.

I even had him take a picture of me at the scene after he got back:

Two more pictures from that hike:

Forming cumulonimbus anvil looking north from where I painted

Clouds against sandstone - Halfway Hollow wash on the hike back

More Escalante, UT studio works on new papers

Fifty-Mile Cliffs - 9x9"
pastel on toned UArt #600
© S.Johnson

I spent a good portion of yesterday morning "processing" some of the larger sheets of various papers I have been accumulating, and getting them ready for possible inclusion for the Escalante Plein Air festival.

I had planned to take a piece of acrylic-toned UArt #400 paper that I had toned with a thick wash of sienna acrylic out yesterday to paint, but ran out of time.  Instead, I decided to experiment with smaller studio pieces.

For some reason, when Blick sent me the paper order with the incorrect surface of UArt, they also sent the incorrect size:  27x21", I think.  I ordered 18x24", which I can trim down into smaller sizes I use on location.  Anyway, to get some 9x12" and 12x16" pieces, I was left with an odd size:  this 9x9.  But, hey - it's a square, and a workable size.   I toned it with a dark warm gray acrylic wash.

I had earlier selected out this photo from our May trip, near our campsite off Hole-in-the-Rock road (HITR), of afternoon light on the Fifty-Mile Cliffs.  These cliffs, which run parallel and south of the HITR road, look most appealing to me in the late afternoon as distal bluish silhouettes.  I could easily go back out and paint at the exact location on this upcoming trip.

I painted this as if it were on location:  quickly, no fussing with details.   It handled so much better than the #400 or Wallis, in terms of not having an overly aggressive surface; it may even be the Goldilocks of the sanded pastel paper continuum, at least for me.  I'm betting I'll also dig the #800 surface.

Next, two small and quick studies on Artagain paper, from trimmings, surface prepared with #400 wet-dry sandpaper:

Wash Study - 6x3"
Artagain "Moonstone"

Verdict:  love it.  Turquoise skies look great on this paper.

Boulder, UT study - 3x6"
Artagain "Gothic Gray"

Another winner (the paper, not the painting).

I could easily paint this same view - overlooking the small town of Boulder, UT, south from Hwy 24 - on this trip.  I got to use several of the new MV pastels I ordered, including the two dark greens and those sandstone colors in this study.

Revisiting Escalante & Mi-Tientes in the studio

Despite the radio silence, I've been busy.  Some painting, but I've also been preoccupied with transforming our spare bedroom into a dedicated studio - my "girl cave", as it were.  Photos of that in a later post.

Anyway, with the Escalante Canyons Plein Air Festival starting this Friday, I've been wanting to do some paintings of the area as practice.  I put in an order for some Mt. Vision pastels as an accompaniment for my Utah canyon plein air set, and those arrived last week - exciting!

From Wed, at fellow 4C member Jane Mercer's studio, when rain canceled our plans to paint at Baker's Bridge:

Wash Wall Shadows - 10x20"
pastel on Mi-Tientes
© S.Johnson

As much as I love my smooth, black papers, they have their limitations, so I'm trying to expand my repertoire with surfaces.   I previously haven't had much luck using Mi-Tientes, but had this piece, in a medium value tan, and decided it would be good to practice on.   Also, some of the most masterful pastels I've seen have been done on this lowly, old-school paper.  Specifically, I wanted to see how the Unisons in my sky set handled on this paper; on the black paper, they just sheet off.  

They worked like a dream on the Canson.   Perhaps it's because my painting and pastel handling skills have improved, but I am thinking I need to give this paper another shot.  I learned many-a things with this painting, about what works (layering), what doesn't (dark over light - I can do that on my black paper).  This is possibly the first painting I've done on Mi-Tientes that I didn't want to immediately toss in the trash, so that's a plus.

I also ordered some 800# UArt, which may turn out to be my sanded paper of choice.  I do know that Wallis and 400# UArt are just too aggressive for my current painting technique, so we'll see how the finer grits of the UArt go.  Unfortunately, Blick sent me the #600 instead (but are shipping out replacement sheets), so I may try that on my next plein air painting, slated for Horse Gulch, tomorrow afternoon.  

Oh yeah - here's a small study I did last week with Connie, who paints with the Friday group:

Smelter Rapid Study - 6x8", plein air
pastel on black cardstock

Connie said she has struggled painting water and rocks (and thus, doesn't paint them), and wanted to watch me paint.  So, we went down to Santa Rita Park and I gave an informal lesson, which, odd as it sounds, was more about "seeing" than painting.  

Valley of the Gods - plein air, pastel, Utah trip wrap-up

After sitting in my studio for over 2 months, I finally sat down and finished another plein air piece from our Utah trip in May.

Morning Shadows, Valley of the Gods - plein air, 12x24"
diptych, pastel on black cardstock
© S.Johnson

I actually got the majority of this finished on location, and was reminded why I really prefer to finish the piece to completion on location:  I tend to get too fussy back in my studio, and then it takes 2x as long to do the last 25% as it did to do the first 3/4 of the painting.

Anyway, it is done.   I do have another unfinished piece from our campground in Torrey, but I'm not sure I'll finish it, and quite frankly, it can't top this one.

I sat to paint this one.

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Photos from our drive on the second-to-last-day of the trip, from Capital Reef down to White Canyon.  We left the gale-force winds and unpleasantly cold temperatures in Torrey, and were rewarded with beautiful, gradually clearing skies and warmer temperatures as we headed east and south:

East along Hwy 24, towards the San Rafael Reef

Factory Butte, Hwy 24

Henry Mountains, along Hwy 95, south of Hanksville

Wash and sandstone canyon

Lake Powell

Approaching White Canyon along Hwy 95

More from southern Utah - plein air and canyons in photos

With so much local/regional CO painting going on, the Utah trip got a bit sidelined by the paintings that needed some final work or adjustments.

A while back, I did sit down and finish up a couple of them, and this seemed like a good time to post them since I didn't make it out to paint today.  

Not in chronological order here, but best one first:

Gathering Storm over Duffrey Mesa - 8x16"
pastel on board with Golden pumice + black acrylic
© S.Johnson

Duffrey Mesa is located right near the town of Boulder, UT.  I had this view a short walk up the hill from our campsite, which was about 5 miles east of Boulder along the Burr Trail Scenic Road.  I was the one who found this campsite, and Wayne and I have determined that we will be returning to it - the views were incredible, and I could literally paint in 360 degrees.

I painted this the morning we left to drive up to Torrey.  The storm that was to produce the record high winds over the Memorial Day weekend was starting to build, and the clouds made for a perfect addition.  Boulder Mtn./Aquarius Plateau is visible in the distance.

A rare photo of me + easel in the same shot.  And, it's a bit breezy, which always adds to the excitement of painting on location.  Or not.

Next is the painting done two days prior, while camping on a pinyon forest plateau near Bryce NP.

Table Cliffs and the Old Juniper - 8.5x11"
pastel on maroon cardstock

This painting is one I'd like to revisit in oils; I think it would be more likely to have met with my pre-painting expectations (and we all have those, right?).  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the location, so it would have to be done from this pastel.  Also about 50 yards on a hill from our campsite, it looks east towards the Table Cliffs, with the town of Escalante probably about 30 miles as the crow flies beyond.

And now, I get to share some of my favorite photos from the trip, and the reason I will never stray far from the Colorado Plateau:  the canyons.  Skinny, wide, dry or wet - I love them all!

An unassuming entrance...

...to Zebra, an aptly-named and true slot canyon, located off Hole-in-the-Rock-Road:

Next, in Cottonwood Wash, located on the east side of the Waterpocket Fold in Capitol Reef NP - hiked later in the day after my Duffrey Mesa painting:

Holy Batman - another photo of me (hiking in Tevas for the win!)

 

The chockstone that ended the day's hike for us that day...

And, finally - White Canyon, located on the western edge of Cedar Mesa and not far from Lake Powell:

Climb down into White Canyon

 Abstract reflection in pool

 Wayne under old log...which was deposited there by flood water, a reminder that narrows like these are deathtraps during flash floods

The money shot:  beginning of the narrows section known as the Black Box, and the end of our hike that day:

The next morning's hike down Gravel Canyon, a tributary in White Canyon, and next to last day of the trip:

Thank you, dear readers, for allowing me to share my canyon obsession with you via these photos.  I hope you enjoyed them!

Plein air painting in Zion NP - Day 3 and 4

Zion National Park is certainly one of the crown jewels of the NPS, and painting there was nothing short of sublime.  I could easily spend two weeks painting every day there and not tire of the scenery.

The Watchman - 18x12 inches
plein air
pastel on Strathmore Artagain

The spectacular scenery starts the minute you cross the NPS boundary to Zion:  towering white cliffs and sloping domes of ancient petrified sand dunes known as Navajo sandstone greet you on both sides of the highway.   Wide sandy washes at the base of the cliffs disappear into what appears to be a narrow sliver between adjacent rocks.

After about 10 miles, you come to the Zion tunnel - cut through solid rock and over a mile in length - before the final descent into the valley of the Virgin River and main canyon of the park.  As you head west through the park, you see the Watchman - a huge wedge-shaped formation of Wingate sandstone - to the south, with dramatic shadows and an interesting variety of elements leading up to it.

If you were me, you knew instantly you needed to paint it.

We happened to arrive in the middle of a 3-day heat wave, with temps in the high 90's - about 14 degrees above normal for this time of the year.  Accordingly, I decided to try and avoid painting during the hottest part of the day, so I staged the painting.  In the morning, I spent about 1 1/2 hrs. laying in the drawing and painting the foreground and trees, which wouldn't change much in the afternoon light.

I came back later in the afternoon when the east side was completely in shadow and worked until the sun was just about behind the cliffs.  Happily, I got it about 85% finished.

In the meantime, we decided to spend the hottest part of the day down by the Virgin river, which ran a mere 20 meters behind the campground, so I sat in the shade and painted an intimate view of the Zion area:

River Rock Negotiations - 12x12"
plein air
pastel on brown cardstock

I find it mesmerizing to observe water flow over and around rocks.  This river is quite unlike the Animas, which is much wider, so I got to incorporate essentially the entire width of it, along with these artfully arranged boulders, all their fun colors and the shadows.  

We opted to get an early start the next day in order to do a hike along the East Rim trail before heading northeast towards Bryce Canyon.  One thing that's really great about painting in Zion is that you can easily stage morning and afternoon paintings to take advantage of the light on the canyon walls; I will most certainly do this the next time we come here.  

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Photos from the three National Parks - enjoy!

Zion, as seen along the East Rim trail:

Jolley Gulch 

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Bryce, as seen from the Navajo and Peekaboo loop trails:

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Capitol Reef, from various locations off Hwy 24 going through the park; on this afternoon, the windstorm and cold temperatures were hitting the region - too unpleasant to hike.  The clouds, however, at least provided for great afternoon photos (or, as I like to say:  "helped spruce up the joint")

Next:  up in the high country and down to Escalante