Some Mountains Need Editing!!!!!

"Sierra Buttes Meadow"

One morning, we drove down the road and went into a lush meadow with a terrific view of the Sierra Buttes.  I happily painted away (as did others) of these rock formations with snow in the crevaces.  Once I worked my way down to the trees and the meadow, I got so frustrated with my dumb looking meadow and willow bushes.  I was so absorbed with them, that when Bill came by I asked if he could help me with the meadow - my attempts weren't working well and I wanted to see what he would do.  Swipe, swipe, swipe and he was done.  Very simple, but so much more effective than my rendition.  Then, he mentioned that the mountain looked like a big hand with curling fingers like claws!  He was right!  The mountain really did look like that!  Just goes to show that nature doesn't always make a good subject to paint literally as it is!

Observing Light Hitting Water Ripples and the Rocks Under Water

"From the Bridge"

One thing Bill paints that is so amazing, is streams and lakes where you see the rocks below the surface.  I hope I can learn to do it as well, although I seem to have a different style than he does.  Here is one of my attempts.  When he came by, his critique was that I did not have enough color and light on the rocks, so he added a couple of strokes of orange.  When I look at my paintings from this workshop, I gave him permission to make a few strokes or corrections on my paintings.  That way I can see the difference.  I can actually see the part I did , and the part he did and the difference.  His strokes are bolder and simpler.  This is what I seem to need to do.  I have a habit of doing little whispy strokes.  Good learning experience.

Back from Artists' Boot Camp!



"Morning at the Camp"

 I am back from Bill Cone's pastel plein air workshop in the Sierra Buttes area.  It was a LOT of fun, a LOT of work, and the group of artists a GREAT bunch - not to mention Bill himself!  We were such a fun group that a few members of a different study group (the Spiders of the Sierras!) hung out with us at mealtimes.

Bill demonstrated on the days that we were in wide open spaces where 14 people could gather around.  Other times the terrain did not allow many people to watch him work, so many of us did our own paintings nearby and when Bill was done he made rounds giving us pointers.  Each night we had an informal critique, and many evenings he had slide shows and lectures. 

We all were so appreciative of his giving us a week of his vacation time from his full-time job, to give us instruction and guidance.

Most of us artists stayed at the campus "camp", staying in tents, and eating meals prepared by the staff in the dining hall.  We had no visiting bears, but we were warned not to have food in our tent.  One night I SWORE there was a bear outside our tent, scuffling around, but it turned out to be my tent-buddy, my artist friend Ida, searching for her flashlite!

Going to a plein air workshop with Bill Cone

I'm packing my pastels and sleeping bag - for a 5-day pastel plein air workshop with Bill Cone.  Bill's full time job is an artist at Pixar Studios.  But he is a fantastic pastellist on the side!  See his art on his blog:  http://billcone.blogspot.com .  This workshop is taking place at the San Francisco State University Extension Campus in the Sierra Buttes area of the Sierra Nevadas in Northern California (sort of near Sierra City).  The campus is a camp - complete with tents and someone cooks for us at the camp dining room!  I don't know if we get cell service there.  And I don't know if they have wifi for us artists.  So, again, I will post my experience when I get back.  See ya then!

"Little Sprinkles of Sunshine" a pastel painting

After getting home from Albert Handell's workshop, I worked on this painting and finished it.  I had only done about 20 minutes at the workshop before we adjorned to the final critique.  It was a wonderful workshop and I learned so much and felt I went to another level. 

So much excitement when I got home - the pavers are putting in the backyard patio and walkways, a friend has been putting a TV on the wall in the livingroom with speakers and other such techno gagets for listening to music, I did more schlepping stuff over and unpacking and trying to "set up house", and I finished the office set up.  So today was the first day I painted in my studio!  Yay!!!!

"Cone Flowers" Albert Handell Workshop Day 5

On our last day we spent the entire day at a private home and gardens.  This was my morning painting.  We had the option to do a paint-along, but Albert was in the gazebo and there wasn't room for any more in there, and with SO many beautiful flowers and scenes to choose from, we all dispersed.

This painting of cone flowers and it's neighboring flowers was done with watercolor first, then the pastel over it.  Albert showed me a little technique up in the right-hand side under the white flowers.  He drew little curved lines under the white flowers with vine charcoal to subtly give texture like leaves in shadow and also add to the rhythm.  His theme for teaching us to paint nature scenes was to capture and portray "rhythm".  I think this was an important lesson I learned, and now I try to think of music while sketching the scene and how it might relate to the rhythm of the plants. 

"Forest Vignette" Albert Handell workshop, Day 4 late in the day

4:00 pm is a pretty time to paint.  The light comes through the trees at an angle.  This was done again by paint-along method.  This time, I was directly behind Albert and actually could not see what he was looking at, so I just looked at his painting and tried to copy it as he went.  Some of my pastel colors did not match, so I had to blend two together to try to get the same color.

This was a painting done in a vignette style - where the painting doesn't go out to ever corner and some of the paper shows around the edges.

Not bad, if I say so myself!  I think I'm getting it!