Early on a Winter's Evening

There is a certain enchanting beauty about a heavy snowfall on evergreens at the end of a winter’s day. I wanted to capture the peaceful quality of a northern Canadian landscape since this is where I’m from and we certainly have had a peaceful and long winter this year, which has brought several inches of snow although I am getting rather tired of the snow at this point in the year. This will probably be the last snow painting that I depict for a bit and plan on painting other subjects including a few spring landscapes if I can find the proper references or the wherewithal to paint.

I rarely talk about the actual application of the pastel however it might be interesting to some so…Many pastelists like to use harder pastels in the beginning and layer the softer ones over top however I don’t really like the hard pastel I have well enough to use them so I move straight to the Girault which are medium hard to the really soft one’s like Ludwig and Unison and keep layering until I either achieve what I want or I run out of layering surface. I don’t bother with an under-painting or anything fancy. It’s better to concentrate on things I need to work on improving such as the values changes, composition and color application.

Early on a Winter's Evening
Etsy

Redwoods in Color Pencil

I have two redwoods growing in my garden and love them both and really appreciate the beautiful color then turn into in the fall. I found a picture of redwoods that change to bright red and wanted to do a pencil piece about them. I completed this piece about four years ago and found it in my portfolio where it had been left forgotten and decided that I should pull it out and see if anyone would like to add it their art collection. There have been several hours involved in creating this piece as there is for all pencil art. I have a bad shoulder and don’t work in pencil anymore since it’s very aggravating so this is one of my few color pencil pieces. Faber Castel Colored pencils on acid free paper

Redwoods, color pencil on paper, 11x15"

Greywood by Trilight

After creating some landscaping paintings of brightly colored trees I decided to paint a woodland scene with softer and more neutral gray colors. I wanted to capture the cool and tranquil atmosphere of the interior of the woodland in the beginning of autumn. I added a touch of warm orange to add a little color to the scene as well. I used artist quality pastels by Terry Ludwig and Unison on acid free pastel paper by Wallis. 

Greywood by Twilight, Pastel on Pastel Paper, 12x18"

Morning Flight Over the Harbor

This looks like a tropical lagoon as seen from a plane window and this shot does put me in mind of flying if I was a bird. I have had dreams of flying places and being high up in the sky or floating in the air above trees and water. I used cooler tones and tried to capture the early morning light to give this a soft slightly moody quality. I used Unison and Terry Ludwig pastels on Wallis Pro White Paper, 12x18”.

Morning Flight Over the Harbor, Pastel on Pastel Paper, 12x18"

Japanese Maple in the Autumn

I have two beautiful Japanese Maples growing in my garden, one is the burgundy Bloodgood Maple that changes to a bright red in the autumn and the other is a small cut-leaf variety called Ever Red which also turns a bright red so I have affection for bright red maples. Therefore I decided to use some vibrant reds and oranges for the foliage of this tree and like the way it turned out. Some of my work is much brighter than it used to be. I used Terry Ludwig and Unison Pastels on Wallis Pro White Paper in the 12x18” size.

Japanese Maple in the Autumn, Pastel on Paper, 12x18"

Sentinel's Blue Haze, Update

 I decided that this painting needed some improvement since it was very unbalanced due to having so many trees in the darker values on one side so it seems to work better with another smaller tree on the left side as well. I also took the picture using the flash and it turned out much cooler which worked nicely for the blues in the sky and distant land mass and unfortunately not so good at picking up on the warm values in the shrubbery.

Sentinel’s Blue Haze, Pastel on Wallis Paper, 12×18”

The Mighty Waterfall

I seemed to have waterfalls on the mind lately and decided to do a little picture research and discovered the majestic Lauterbrunnen Falls in Switzerland and just knew that I had to give it a go. I haven’t actually painted a waterfall in many years or at least not a representational interpretation of one. I decided to revert to a moody downplayed ‘winter’ palette or neutral colors and hope that the composition is strong enough to hold its own; therefore, this piece is more of a value study. I also find rocks and rocks faces to be very challenging since there isn’t a lot of opportunity to create separate forms so I had to rely on texture and value changes to create an interesting surface. Overall I hope it was successful. Water isn’t scary in of itself unless it’s in the form of a multi-tiered falls…I modified it so many times…oh enough said there. Sometime is best to just leave things alone even if they don’t look ‘finished’.

The Mighty Waterfall, Pastel on Wallis, 12x18"
Etsy Listing

I used my usual Unison and Ludwig sets of pastels; I’m thinking it’s time for some fresh sticks. Another Ludwig set, perhaps the Vibrants…those pan Pastels that Johannes Vloothuis speaks so fondly of have also captured my interest. But first maybe those Giraults are calling my name. You know that your artistically stumped when new materials are calling.