Aspen on Black #9, and fall color photos

I got a late start today, so only one aspen painting finished.  The surface for this was a mix of the acrylic chalkboard paint and Golden fine pumice ground, applied in two coats to the w/c paper.  It was the best so far of the black surfaces I've worked on for this series; the pumice ground really helped improve the tooth.

For those interested in making your own black surface, here is the method I used:

- approximately 1:1 mix of acrylic paint and Golden pumice ground mixed in small container.  I have a spray bottle, so I added enough water to thin the paint to a thick spreadable consistency; adding too much water will result in more than two layers required.

- tape watercolor paper to masonite board or other hard surface with blue or pale yellow masking tape (made for going around corners; its adhesive isn't as robust as regular masking tape, making it easier to remove), leaving a 1/4" border on each side.

- using a 1" el-cheapo house painting brush, apply in linear strokes to cover the paper with an even layer of the acrylic/pumice mix, insuring that the entire surface is covered.  Let dry.

- apply a second layer, either perpendicular to the first or in the same direction.  Let dry.

- once paper is completely dry and the tape is removed, there may still be some curling of the paper.   I then place them between the pages of a heavy book for the rest of the day to completely flatten the sheets.  They're ready to go the next day.

Aspen #9

12x9 inches

The fall colors here in the Durango area are pretty much at their peak now - that includes the cottonwood and various species of oak that cover the hillsides of the mesas surrounding town.  One of my favorite locations to go for photos is out by the town of Hesperus, out towards La Plata Cyn.  We first went there last summer on our trip out here, and again shortly after we moved to town.   

Here are some photos from that drive, including two from the road south that leads to Farmington, NM.  I will be going back there probably tomorrow during better light to get more photos of the road to the south - the cottonwoods and other river trees were stunning!

Towards La Plata Canyon.

          Waxing moon over oak-covered hillside.

Clouds to the east, and rich browns and yellows of fall foliage.

Aspen, spruce and oak.

Sunset sky near New Mexico.

Approaching twilight.

Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #20, 21 & 22

Back to the oils today.  And, the last two I'll do on the canvas paper - it was just a tedious chore to try and get any wet-in-wet work done; the paint layers were tacky within minutes of going on the paper, so it seemed like a fight between myself, the oils and the paper.

Out of frustration, I decided I'd at least try and get the first layer/underpainting done on the next in the series, using OMS-thinned washes of the existing paints on one of the primed canvas boards I have.  Paint went on much easier and even with the thin layers, allowed for blending.  So, there you have it:  canvas paper pads (Strathmore) = exercise in frustration.  No mas.

At this point in the road trip,  Hwy 160 terminates on Hwy 89, which runs N-S, south to Flagstaff and north through some small towns in the Navajo Nation (Gap and Bitter Springs), splitting to Hwy's 89 and 89A, which lead to Page & southern UT, and the north rim of the Grand Canyon, respectively.

It is an incredibly scenic drive, and starts at the 160 junction in the Chinle formation, more commonly known as the Painted Desert.  This Triassic period rock, created from colorful mudstones from Mesozoic-era river sediments, forms flattened hills and slopes.  Once its overlying harder rock layer (Wingate sandstone) is worn off, the Chinle formation quickly erodes away.

Painted Desert Intro

6x8 inches - canvas paper

Initially, the hills are separated from the road by a wash with sagebrush and other high desert vegetation

Painted Desert #1

6x8 inches - canvas paper

As we head north, the Chinle slopes cover more of the landscape and their mauve, yellow and red layers line the highway.  I love the abstracted shapes and contours they form.

underpainting for Painted Desert #2

9x12 inches

canvas on board

Photo taken indoors with a flash...

Here are a few photos from the sky this afternoon - we had clouds and rain throughout the day, and some snow was visible on the highest peaks of the La Platas northwest of town.

Series intermission

I didn't manage to get any painting done yesterday - just a page of thumbnail sketches.   I was originally planning on working in oils today, as I don't have sheets prepared for the aspen on black series yet.

Then, I decided that I wanted to just pull out the old standby - 400-grit sandpaper - and do some "for the heck of it" pastels.   There were two ideas bouncing around in my head for paintings, and so those are now actualized.

First up is an idea that I've long been wanting to do for a while - an abstracted landscape based on the dark, brooding storm sky against a bright, sunlit foreground.  Inspiration came from multiple sources, including pastelist Wolf Kahn's work, my blogger friend Jala's abstracted paintings, the work of Marla Baggetta, and my observations and photos.   In fact, the trees in this piece were based on a snapshot I took from the car during our drive back from Aztec, NM, about 2 weeks ago.   This was done with no photo reference directly handy - just a mental idea of what I wanted.

Plus, I love the compliments of blue and orange together.

Forboding

11x9 inches

pastel on 400-grit sandpaper

Foreground is all NuPastels; sky is all MV Thunderstorm Grays, and the trees are Sennelier and Unison. Looking at it now, I think it would be improved with some of the foreground cropped away.  

The second piece is a more traditional landscape, but with effort to avoid extraneous detail.  Interestingly, it's also based on a photo taken during a drive back from Aztec about 2 months ago - the clouds were glorious, so it was time to get a sky fix in.  I knew at the time I took the photo I needed to paint it.  Plus, I really like painting roads [even though I can't seem to get the divider stripes to turn out the way I want].  I left out the telephone poles and some buildings.  The fence and group of trees stayed.

South of Town

9x11 inches

pastel on 400-grit sandpaper

Here are a few more photos from our Canyonlands trip:

Left:  faded flowers of some Rabbitbrush in front of the sandstone walls on the drive towards the park.  Right:  A lone pinyon pine stands against the sandstone cliff outside the park.

A juniper casts long shadows across sandstone slickrock by our campsite at Hamburger Rock.

Another view from our campsite, looking to the east.  A twisted juniper is wedged in the sandstone dome I stood on to take the photo.

Aspen in Black - #7 & 8

After a day immersed in the beauty of Canyonlands NP, hiking, driving and taking hundreds of photos, I'm back to studio work.

Two more of the aspen series.  Different black acrylic paint here - chalkboard paint - after I ran out of the existing black acrylic paint.  I figured that if it were used to create chalkboards, it might have some grit or at least a more matte finish to it.  The dried surface was actually pretty slick, leading me to wonder if it would even hold pastel at all.  It does, but it's not what I'd hoped for.  Plus, it required two coats to adequately darken the paper.

I'm not overly thrilled with either of these; the second is a re-do of the "Fail." piece posted a few days ago.  However, despite that, the practice painting trees was useful, so they were definitely not a waste of time.   Even a failed painting is practice and a learning experience, and the path to better paintings in the future; I think as artists we have to remind ourselves of that, and be okay with the fact that not everything that we create works the way we anticipated it would.

Also, if you're the teacher who left the comment that for some reason went into the "moderate" box, I apologize:  I hit "publish comment", but it never showed up under the post it was linked to.  Thank you for the comment, and I'm glad these aspen paintings are an inspiration for you to use with your students!

Aspen #7

12x9 inches

pastel on black toned w/c paper

Aspen #8

Here are a few images from our trip to Canyonlands NP.  For those that haven't been there, it's composed of three "districts"- the Needles; the Maze and the Island in the Sky.  The Needles district is to the east, and bordered by the Colorado River, and is probably the most popular/visited district of the park, and where we spent this visit.  

It is like Disneyland for hikers, backpackers and geology nerds, so I was in heaven.  I decided it is now my second favorite canyon area behind the Grand Canyon.   It only edges out Zion NP because of the scope and size.  

A view to the northeast along Hwy 211 towards the park.  Red Wingate sandstone forming an imposing vertical cliff is topped with a horizontal bed of Kayenta sandstone, and overlies a slope of Chinle formation.  

Continuing west along the highway.

A colorful cottonwood within a wash amongst the fanciful eroded forms of Cedar Mesa sandstone within the park.

A view to the north along the short Slickrock Trail loop hike, showing the La Sal mountains in the distance.

Another view along the trail, with the view to the west.  Mid-day light is a buzzkill for great photos, but this gives you a sense of the amazing landscape.

Four Corners & Colorado Plateau series - #17, 18 & 19

The latest three completed on Tuesday.   These also mark the end of the Hwy 160 journey to the west; I am thinking I'm going to do this as a round-trip series, so there will be more, but not for a while.

In Profile

6x8 inches

oil on canvas paper

Interestingly, this sloped mesa, or hogback, is rising in the opposite direction to the rest of the Organ rock monocline.  I'm not sure what the deal is, but I loved its strong profile.  The foreground hill is covered with pinyon and juniper, and one of my goals here was to treat them as a broken-up mass, vs. lots of individual trees.  You can see I didn't care to spend that much time making them into perfect shapes.  The cloud?  It was actually in the photo; I rather liked it, so I moved its position to a better location.

The Corral

6x8 inches

On Navajo Nation land, just about everything is rangeland.  So, corrals for gathering cattle can be seen in random places.  I don't know if this one is still in use, but I felt it adds an interesting element to the land.

Winding Down

6x8 inches

As we head west, the monocline recedes to a well-worn gentle slope of slickrock, eventually disappearing for good.  A windmill and water tank are a reminder that water is a scarce and precious commodity.

Aspen on Black #6 & out of town

Today was a pretty productive day in the studio - finished up this latest aspen painting that was started yesterday, and managed to get three oils done for the Four Corners series.  Sometimes, it pays to just forge ahead despite reservations or technical difficulties, and today was one of those days.

This aspen painting was the most difficult of the bunch so far.  I thought it would be pretty simple prior to starting it, but not so.  I found myself futzing too much with it yesterday, so today, I made myself just "do it", for lack of a more eloquent term.

Aspen #6

9x12 inches

pastel on w/c paper toned with black

We are heading up to Canyonlands NP tomorrow for an overnight camping trip.  One of the joys of living in the far southwestern corner of CO is that the heart of the CP canyons are only a few hours' drive.  We are heading to the Needles district of the park, which is about 2 1/2 hrs. away.  A short day hike tomorrow and a hike out to the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers is our plan for Thursday.  Weather is supposed to be in the mid-70's and sunny, which is perfect.

The trio of oils I'll set to post tomorrow, and hopefully, I'll have something finished to post on Friday.

Tonight's sunset:

Aspen on Black #5

 I am about 3/4 finished with #6, but probably won't get it finished in time to post tonight, so here is #5.

I'm considering framing [with or without a mat] this series and displaying them together; they are currently pinned on the corkboard above my studio table, and they do look nice as a grouping.  With pastels, I sort of waver back and forth between whether to mat or not.  I have matted and framed several of the small works I've done (~5x7") that are hanging here in our place, but in general, I store and sell them un-matted and un-framed.  I've seen other artists frame them sans a mat, and they often look very good, but I do love the look of a light neutral-colored mat and a simple frame for pastels.

Number 5 is a switch to landscape format, as is #6.

Aspen #5

9x12 inches

pastel on w/c paper toned with black acrylic