A view from the river - pastel painting, plein air

From an earlier trip.

Near the Footbridge - 12x12"
pastel on cardstock
© S.Johnson

Since I have not managed to keep with my schedule this week to get out and paint, I at least managed to finish up this piece, done two weeks ago.

The title refers to the footbridge where the Animas River Trail crosses the river, a stone's throw behind where I stood to paint this.

The hardest part - and that which I didn't finish on location - was the mid-ground row of trees.  Most are cottonwood and similar in color, save for the shadowed areas.  Massing them in was not easy.

During the time I was painting this, I had a guy who appeared to be quasi-homeless come down to converse with me.  After telling me of his misfortune of having someone steal some of his ink drawings and telling me he'd never been able to paint well with pastels, he then hit me up for money.  Does anyone bring money with them when they are out painting?  I certainly don't.  After realizing I was a financial dead-end, he wished me a good day and headed back up over the footbridge...which is how he'd seen me to begin with.

Later, a Canada goose paddled upstream past me to the second little grassy extension you see, and busied itself looking for food.  Later, I noticed it had moved out to hang out on one of the larger boulders in the river.

I think it's for these things that I also enjoy being on location.  In addition to the prolonged observation of place that location painting affords, I witness the small events such as these that add to the experience.

Redbud Tree - pastel, 11x14

Here's the bigger version of the ACEO:

Redbud Tree Along the Road

11x14 inches

pastel on 140# w/c paper with Golden pumice ground

I started this later in the afternoon, and worked on it for a few hours.  If nothing else, it was a good exercise in blocking in shapes and drawing trees.  The background?  Completely made up, evolving as things went along.  The original reference had a house and some other building maybe 50 ft. behind the tree, which wasn't at all what the painting is about, so they had to go. 

Simplifying it into a large meadow seems to work to keep the detail on the tree, and even more - its shadow.  I'm fascinated by the shadows cast by trees - they are always intriguing abstract shapes that are fun to look at and always a challenge to paint.   The road just got extended from a totally uninteresting driveway to something that perhaps leads to...the beach?  You, the viewer, get to decide where you go from here.  

I used warm, saturated vs. cool, grayed greens to manipulate the sense of distance here - one of the beauties of working in pastel is the scumbling and layering one can employ to obtain such effects.

Tomorrow, the road traveled will be a radical departure from this:  we are heading out early morning on an overnight trip in Bluff, UT.  Destination:  Butler Wash and Cedar Mesa - to spend 2 solid days hiking the area and see a tiny sampling of the hundreds of Anasazi cliff dwellings and rock art panels in the region.  One could literally spend a lifetime exploring the area, which is remote and literally off the beaten path.  This is a special trip, and I'm hauling my tripod along, which I normally don't do.  

Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to posting on Sunday.  Everyone enjoy your weekend!

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Last night's sunset; photos taken approximately 3 min. apart:

Spring trees in bloom - ACEO

tags:  eastern landscape painting - original pastel painting - for sale - redbud tree - dogwood tree - barns - magnolia - cherry tree

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More ACEO-sized mini-pastels....for a new series on spring:

Redbud Tree

White Dogwood

Magnolia

Cherry Tree & Red Barn

During the time we lived in CT, my favorite season was, hands-down, the spring.   Around mid to late April, the land transformed from a dreary winter drab to acid greens of new leaf growth and blooming trees set forth to put on their show, and it was always exciting to see everything come to life again.  In our neighborhood, you didn't have to go far to find lots of different trees in festive spring blossoms.

But, they don't last...the magnolia trees are among the first to bloom, but they begin to drop their petals almost immediately, producing a carpet of creamy white below them.  This one was on a huge property right near downtown.  

I'd never seen redbud trees (I believe that is what this tree is) before moving to New England.  This particular tree was short and stocky, almost dwarf-like in its appearance.  I knew back when I took the reference photo last year I had to paint it.  It will likely be the first in a bigger size I do.

Dogwood trees are special to me.  I was born in MD, and although we moved to AZ when I was very young, I still have memories of them, and they are probably my favorite of the east coast trees.  Their graceful, curving branches always remind me of a Japanese painting.  

The cherry tree was situated on the corner of our street and New London Rd.  And, then there is the barn...an old, but well-maintained barn that I became quite fond of.  It is in many of my photos, and I was indeed lucky to get the photo of the tree in bloom with the barn.  The barn is an integral part of this image to me.

So, one or more of these will make it to bigger sizes, possibly in oils.  It's part of a series on spring I want to do.  

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Cats are great to have around for their entertainment value.  Sometimes, Nelson forgets to put his tongue back in his mouth.  And, sometimes, I happen to get my camera before he remembers to.  It never fails to make us laugh.