How it starts (About Me)

Looking West (Pastel on Ampersand pastel board)

I have an open western view, and does mother nature accommodate me with many a powerful scene!!! Here an approaching storm’s cloud deck is visible moving in. It was already evening, so the drama of the pending change is stunning.

Writers put together a series of well thought out words and what flows from those words are emotional themes, personal perspectives, wondrous events or fictitious journeys. I paint.

I strive to put well thought out color combinations together to capture emotions felt, details observed or record moments now gone.

Watercolor is a joy to work with, especially if it is on Yupo Paper (a slick plastic paper). It gives a whole new dimension and looseness to my work.

But, soft pastel is my true love! I can take the purest form of pigment in a stick and layer them one on top of the other to create colorful silhouettes. Using my hand I can sculpt a portrait or skyline. With blending tools I can add more dimensions to the picture I am painting. Forever forgiving I can follow a painting and make changes easily when opportunities once invisible come to life during the painting’s progression.

I always loved to draw. That love took a huge leap on a family vacation when I was around 12. Our western trek led us to Las Vegas. Not being able to go past the lobby of the casinos, I was all to happy to stand behind the many street artists and just watch them work. Here is where I first saw soft pastels in action! How wonderful to watch how these people could layer a peach on top of a yellow then progress to a rosey hue to burnt sienna, layer and blend, sculpt and refine and then voila!!! A beautiful face emerged! I was in heaven!!!

And so, here is where I share what I’ve learned as I continue my own artistic journey in pastel and watercolor.

Italian Folk Dance (Pastel on Canson)

I had just got some new Terry Ludwig pastels as a gift. Happy as a clam I immediately set off to do some one hour 9×12 portrait and figure paintings. Choosing Canson was to make help minimize detail and to keep it loose.

The Tourist (Pastel on Canson paper)

Part of my quick figure paintings, generally tried to stay minimal detail and with in an hour time frame.

Close-up of The Tourist

Detail of the face of ‘The Tourist”. Note the blue hue of the paper coming through to help with the coolness of the painting.

Cannon River (Watercolor on Yupo Paper)

Yupo paper makes water scenes pretty simple, it’s the rest that presents a challenge. Here I painted a realistic scene in an abstract way. Yupo being a plastic lets the water sit on top without absorbing. I wet the area I want to work, drop large globs of color into that area then manipulate the board the paper is on, virtually holding it topside down and drip to the table. As it dried it created very abstract foliage that the eye makes into bushes, trees leaves, etc!