Handmade Pastel Palettes

Here's a photo of a wonderful gift from my husband! He used his woodworking skills and ingenuity to create five shallow wooden boxes to hold my pastels for in-progress paintings. This temporary storage system allows me to keep a 'palette' for each painting that I'm working on, saving the time and sometimes challenging hunt for finding just the right color for a given work. It also suits my style of creating, often working in bursts over weeks to months on each painting, resting the work until I'm clear what it needs. The curly maple box (foreground) and walnut box (on left) each contain pastel pieces which I am using for paintings this week. The boxes stack (see three stacked boxes at top of photo), an are easy to store on a shelf away from my working surface- also helpful since my studio space is small. Another nice design feature that Tim invented is the use of different woods for each box- easy to tell apart, and pretty to boot! Thanks, Tim!

Paintings Off to New Home!

I spent much of the morning today packing two paintings snugly in foam-padded Airfloat crates, and delivering them in to the hands of FedEx to ship to their new home! One of the paintings, pictured above, was recently included in a national juried exhibition in VA. I'm really happy that the works were selected to become parts of the lives of others and reach farther out in the world!

Start and Finish!

"Field and Fall Woods in Mist", Pastel, 11 x 16 in

In-Progress

Here's a pastel which I just finished (top photo). Looking back to where it started (bottom photo), I'm surprised to see how much it 'grew', and some of the ways in which it needed to change that I couldn't know until I got going with it- kind of like a trek in to uncharted land. Unlike most of my works (which begin en plein air), this one derived from a photo which my husband took at Camp Woodward. I began the pastel as a demo during the pastel workshop which I taught with the Standing Stone Art League this fall, and the bottom photo shows the wash technique which I wanted to teach (see brush strokes and transparent passages). I like to keep starts loose and simple, to establish energy and related shapes, which can be built upon and refined once present, yet are hard to add on as 'retrofits' late in the process. I liked the mood of calm interest (mist and bright colors), and arc forms, and centered the painting around these elements. Part way through, I extended the arc in the left foreground (lower left field) all the way across the image to 'support' the right side and balance the arcs elsewhere in the painting (in trees, background ridges, and the negative space of the sky). I'm pleased with the 'wholeness' of the finished work, and can look at it a long time and still find more to notice. It's fun and instructive to see 'before and after'!

Pears Are Ripe!

"Three Pears and Reflection", Pastel, 9 x 12 in

 

 

 

Here it is! Off the easel and ready to frame! I enjoyed the powerful color and seeing unexpected colors as I worked, especially in the areas where color reflected. The fruits were influenced by the background color and vice-versa, and the shadows had rich color as well.

Some Snow and Sketching

Alice Kelsey sketching at Shingletown Gap

 

 

I enjoyed hiking and sketching with a friend at Shingletown Gap this weekend. The light snowfall accented the woods colors, and the sounds of the stream were peaceful to be near. We sketched with pastels for as long as the cold air permitted, and I came back home feeling renewed, and with a field sketch and memories of the time and place which may lead to a studio work this winter. I'm so glad to live close to woods and streams and open places.

In the Works

Yeah! Color on the loose! I've been working on this still life of colorful pears today, luxuriating in the bright colors, and the warmth of the wood stove next to me! I'm hoping to put the finishing touches on tomorrow. The photo shows my portable pastel box, a basic set carefully chosen for a range of values and colors, ready to drop in a backpack and go anywhere to paint!

Time for Still Lives!

I'm in the mood for color as the great outdoors has turned to neutrals, and spent much time today setting up a still life in the studio. This 'set-up' process, of selecting items, and turning or moving them this way and that, and choosing lighting surprises me again and again in how much time and attention it takes. I don't know of any sure fire short-cut to finding a pleasing arrangement, so allow for trial and error to try things out until I feel an 'ah-ha!' about shapes, and 'oh, look at that!' about color, and then I'm ready to paint! I also cut and mounted paper today, so I'm all ready to start painting tomorrow morning. Can't wait to get at it!