fresh off my dusty easel, pastels by christine dimauro: March 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

My Uncle's House..... Tuscany for Dan, another update

I've worked on this a bit more. I refined the windows, worked on the stone wall some more, and added the path. I think I will start the tree next, then I'll know if the path is right. I think I also need to refine the greenery coming off the left wall, it's looking a bit fuzzy.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

My Uncle's House.... Tuscany for Dan, Pastel 10" x 15", Painted on Uart 400 grit sanded paper

I thought I would post a work in progress here. I'm currently working on a commission for a dear friend that visited Tuscany Italy recently. This is a painting of his uncle's house. I started out with a watercolor underpainting on Uart 400 grit sanded paper. Here are a couple of stages, this top one is where I'm at currently.

This is the previous stage:

And some more steps:

The watercolor underpainting with the sky blocked in using pastels (I forgot to take a photo before starting the sky - oops!):

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The challenge to simplify, a slide show

You may remember that just a short time ago I posted a painting I call "6th Street". I painted it as part of a challenge by artist Terry Miura to simplify a city scene. Artists from around the world took up the challenge, and they've submitted their paintings to Terry. He has taken all the paintings and made a slide show. You can see the slide show here. If you want to see the paintings as a collage, take a look at them here. It was a great learning experience, it really forced me to do something out of my comfort zone. I will forever look at cityscapes differently, and now maybe I'll be more encouraged to paint them! Thanks again Terry!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Sanctuary, Pastel, 17" x 11" Painted on Wallis sanded paper

I call this painting "Sanctuary" because it really is of a bird sanctuary. It is a beautiful, peaceful place full of georgous birds. There are cranes, heron, kingfishers, hawks, and all of the "ordinary" birds one might see at home. I'm sure there are more unusual ones, I'll have to go back and take a look. I'll use any opportunity to get more great reference photos.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A challenge to simplify...... "6th Street", Pastel, 11" x 14", Painted on Uart sanded paper

Artist Terry Miura posted a challenge on his blog to simplify a citiscape. Artists from all over the globe are participating, and you can see the results on his blog. There is some really beautiful work, thank you Terry for challenging me to work outside my comfort zone - waaaay outside my comfort zone!

I found I really enjoyed painting this, so much so that I just may try another sometime. I honestly thought that I wouldn't be able to accomplish the goal but I did, for me this is pretty 'simplified'. No windows on the buildings, not much detail in the cars, and the distant ones are just dots! The trees don't even have much detail, this was a real accomplishment for me.

I took the original photo and cropped it to what I thought would be a pleasing composition. That was one of his "rules", crop the photo, don't paint everything you see.

Here are my steps, starting with a watercolor underpainting done on Uart sanded paper, 400 grit.

For my next step, I just started pasteling. I worked from back to front, just because it felt right. No real reason other than it felt natural. I used strictly Ludwig pastels, and this painting just intensified my need for more of these lucious pastels. They are just georgous, fantastic for working on edges.

You can see in this step I started painting the cars. They were much easier to paint knowing I didn't need to put in any detail. I just concentrated on the larger shapes. I used the colors I used in the buildings, I tried to keep my palette harmonious. The same reds were used in the signs as were used in the cars. Even the blues and purples are the same. Terry is right, selecting a color palette and sticking to it keeps everything harmonious.

Here is my final step, I completed the cars, put in the distant red lights, and added some street "lines". I'm calling this painting "6th Street" because the street sign actually reads 6th Street. I have no idea where this is, but it is "6th Street".....

This blog features mostly pastels, however I do enjoy working with gouache, watercolors, inktense blocks and pencils, charcoal and graphite pencils. My easel is always dusty, but that doesn't stop me from experimenting and trying new things. Keeping a sketchbook has become my new second passion, and these other mediums allow me to sketch in color; pastels are not the best medium for sketchbooks, so I had to find something else.

As long as I am creating art I'm happy. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy creating it.

Recommended reading

I love books, especially art books. Here are a few of my favorites.

The Changing Seasons in Pastel or The Pastelist's Year, by Elizabeth Mowry (Her work is magical, her paintings just sing. I also love the way she writes, I own every book she's written.)

Landscape Meditations, by Elizabeth Mowry (You know why....)

The Poetic Landscape by, Elizabeth Mowry (If she had more books, I'd own them.)

Painting the Landscape in Pastel, by Albert Handel (It's Albert Handell, need I say more?)

Intuitive Light, by Albert Handell (Another Albert Handell, need I say more?)

Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting, by John F. Carlson (The workhorse of landscape books, not an easy read but full of useful information, always a go-to book when a question arises.)

Landscape Painting, Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice, by Mitchell Albala (some excellent information on landscape composition for any media.)

Pastel Pointers, by Richard McKinley (An all around great book for pastel landscapes.)

Powerful Watercolor Landscapes, by Catherine Gill (this one has excellent information on composition, great for all media not just watercolor.)

The Painterly Approach, by Bob Rohm (It's just that, a painterly approach, and can be easily applied to pastels.)

Your Artist's Brain, by Carl Purcell (This book is great for a beginner, it gives you basics not always touched upon even in advanced books. For advanced painters these reminders are great, we all get moments of brain fog. Much of what is in this book I learned the hard way, I wish I had known about it at the very beginning of my art journey.)