"Scraping the Sky", Pastel, 8" x 8", painted on UArt 400

Yup, out of my comfort zone for sure.....

Here is something so out of the box for me even I can't believe I painted it. I'm in the middle of painting a portrait, but I needed a break. A student of mine is painting something that has somewhat of an abstract design. She is approaching it in a traditional manner, almost realistic. I, on the other hand, chose to go 180 degrees in the opposite direction...

This doesn't look anything like the photograph. First I did a charcoal thumbnail sketch in my sketchbook.  Then I went in with pan pastels on UArt 400 paper, sprayed it with Spectrafix, let the drips happen, and let it dry. I then went in with charcoal to lay out the design. Then I pulled out my terryludwigpastels and had at it with color..... I only used my thumbnail as a reference to paint this, I never went back to the photograph. 

First, my thumbnail sketch (4" x 5"):

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved

 

As you can see by the thumbnail, it appears to have some kind of growth on the branches.  In the photo they were red berries, and it was my original intention to put them there.  As the painting progressed I felt that it really didn't need the berries, just the red color of the berries. 

 

Finished painting (8" x 8"):

 

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved

 

I really was hesitant to put in those berries.  I liked the simplification, for me this was all about lost and found edges, scumbling and the color palette. 

"Afternoon Shadows", Pastel, 16" x 6 3/4"

This is something I painted two years ago. At the time I was very frustrated with it so it never saw the light of day. I pulled it out a few days ago to see if there was something I could do to "...save" it..... with fresh eyes and a new perspective, I let the painting tell me what it needed... I listened. This didn't turn out the way I had intended, but I am willing to accept what it wants to be. I am calling it "Winter Afternoon Shadows". It is painted on UArt 600 (which might have been part of the problem, as I really don't like 600 grit). I do remember using Mount Visions and Great Americans, anything else is a blur............

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Last Tuesday's Portrait workshop sketch, 15" x 12" painted on Canson MT

I belong to a local art group that meets every Tuesday. Two Tuesdays a month we do a portrait workshop (I wish it were at least three Tuesdays a month... oh well...). I ended up with something I liked this past Tuesday, so I thought I would share it here.
What I want to share is the success I think I had in capturing skin tone while keeping it loose. I spent at most an hour's time painting this, which for me is pretty fast. I'm finding (as I am sure you all know already, as do I) that the more I do this the faster I get, and the more confident I feel. The moral of this story is, "paint, paint, paint, as much as you can, it does make a difference"...

Anyway, here it is, my one hour sketch painted on Canson paper, (the color is Sand), using Giraults, with a smattering of old Grumbachers, and maybe a Rembrandt or two...... I started out with a charcoal value sketch, and went in with the pastels, working dark to light.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

"Timberpoint Morning", Pastel, 7" x 10", Painted on Canson MT paper

Well, I thought I would do a quick sketch using a photo I took at a local marina. A few years ago I had taken a drive there early in the morning to capture the morning light. It's a simple composition, so I thought just a quick sketch to get me painting.... well, after two days of painting, I guess it doesn't count as a quick sketch does it?

It's small, only 7"x10", painted on Canson MT, felt gray, using Mount Visions, Unisons, Art Spectrums, Senneliers, and maybe one Great American. I am trying to work out simplifying grasses, as well as capture the light. 

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Summer Light, "tweaked"......

After staring at this painting for a few days, I felt there were some small tweaks that needed to be done.  For me, it's about the whole package.  Design, value, and color all have their roles to play in a painting, and when something is off, it needs to be addressed.  Even the smallest of changes can make enough of a difference to be worthwhile doing.

Towards the center of the foliage there was a purple flower making an uncomfortable tangent with a green piece of foliage.  I took care of that, along with adding a cast shadow on the light spot on the rim of the pot on the right.  That light spot was too "regular" of a shape, and by putting in a cast shadow I was able to add some interest.  Lastly, I subtly adjusted the value of the pot in the shadow portion, adding some blue to create more of a rounded shape.  It was feeling a bit flat to me. 

This is a better photo of the painting, the colors and values are truer to the painting.

I do believe this is now finished.  It's at the framer, so I can't tinker with it anymore!

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

 

Summer Light, Pastel, 17" x 11 1/2", Painted on Wallis Pro

I know it's been a while since I've posted a painting and I apologize.  I've been working on this one for a few weeks, and I think I am done.  I don't do many floral paintings, but this one caught my eye because of the light.  My goal was to both capture the light and paint loosely.  I believe when there are masses of flowers to paint it lends itself to a looser approach.

I started out with a Pan Pastel underpainting, sprayed it with Spectrafix fixative, and then went in with the sticks.

First is the finished painting:

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

 

Here is the underpainting:

 

 



© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

 

As you can see I ended up extending the bottom of the painting to show more bricks.  That wasn't the plan, it just turned out that way.  I tried to let some of the underpainting show through and it does, though not everywhere. 

 

Here is a step mid way through the process:

 

 



© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.



"Flowers at Meadow Croft", a Plein air, 5" x 8"

I apologize for not posting in quite some time.  I've been very busy this summer, and unfortunately I have not been painting as much as I'd like.  Things are quieting down now, and I'm looking forward to painting what's been in my head for what feels like a very long time!

Here is a little plein air I did this evening at a place called Meadow Croft Estate.  John E. Roosevelt lived there during Long Island's Cold Coast Era and President Theodore Roosevelt visited there regularly.  It is now a Suffolk County museum.

The light there this evening wasn't great, there are a lot of trees which keeps the sun out in the evening.  I chose to paint the flowers because at least I could get color if I couldn't get light.  I painted this on Wallis Pro, using Unisons, Mount Visions and Great American pastels.

 

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.