Sky light, 12 x 18, Wallis

During some hot, humid weather last week, I opted to stay in and work on a new portrait of Charlie. I got a photo of him sitting in the front hall with light from the sky light casting his shadow on a red Turkish kilim. A main challenge was the composition, given his shadow moving off to the left and his tail to the right. So I positioned him pretty centrally to make it all fit. I didn't want his face to be too far to the left. The 12 x 18 format worked perfectly. The next challenge was to simplify the background, leaving out the staircase. I just brushed in various green Giraults, with some added rose color and blue greens and it worked nicely. The biggest problem was the rug. I wanted to simplify it, but my first attempts didn't work at all. I finally had to draw in a pattern (simpler than the actual rug) and indicate where it was in light and shadow through value and temperature changes. Of course, the beauty of the picture is the reflected pink light on his white fur.  Charlie is a beautiful cat and I feel fortunate to have such a lovely model!

Clarksburg Farm, 16 x 20, Wallis Belgian mist

This is the farm I was looking for when I discovered the old house in the last post. On the top is the finished painting; on the bottom the underpainting done all in hard pastel and sprayed.  I got up early and spent the day in the studio painting and enjoying every moment! 

Years ago I painted this farm in a 9 x 24 format and I made the farm buildings yellow to give them some color. This time, I wanted to retain their off-white color, using soft blues and blue violets.

I like the 16 x 20 format as it gives me enough room for sky, fields and buildings. One of the things I love about farms is the grouping of various sizes of buildings and how well the seem to work together. This farm has always been one of my favorites. 

Abandoned, 14 x 21 pastel on board

Another plein air begun outside and finished in the studio. I found this wonderful old house in Clarksburg on a road I hadn't been on. I was actually lost and looking for something else when I found this!  The house is abandoned and the windows are broken. There are locust trees growing in the front and several large catalpas on the other side. I know I will return to this subject again.

This is painted on matboard with two coats of tinted Art Spectrum liquid primer. I used a combination of burnt umber and burnt sienna to tone the gel. It makes a nice warm neutral on which to work.

Spring Wheat, Sugar Loaf, 12 x 16, pastelbord and House on Peach Tree and Comus Roads, 12 x 16, pastelmat

It's plein air time again and I took advantage of a beautiful day on Saturday to paint two scenes from the same spot. I was taken by the deep blue green of Sugar Loaf (our only "mountain" in Montgomery County) and the light color of the wheat, which sometimes looked warm and other times looked cool.  After finishing this picture, I turned my easel around 180 degrees and painted this house. The view from the window is exactly what I had just painted! When the light hit it, I knew I had a great subject.