A Pastel Plein Air Week

Cross the Gully, 18x12, pastel

Occasionally, I get students clamoring for a workshop with a theme.  This past week, we did a “pastel-only” advanced workshop.  It was good to get out with those dusty old sticks.  They seemed to fit right in with the dusty warm weather we're having now – and with the dusty pollen.  The junipers are blooming, and even a slight breeze causes a small explosion of pollen.  (Note to self:  Don't set up easel right next to junipers again. *Sniff*)

We got some good painting in.  The day I set up next to a particularly pollenaceous juniper, I was able to make a really good start on a vertical 18x12 piece.  I usually work much smaller in pastel – 9x12 or less – so I enjoyed having a little more time to work on something bigger.  (The workshop was a paint-along, so we all painted together.)  After about two hours, the shadows changed significantly and I moved on to another project.  But it didn't take more than another hour in the studio to finish this one off.  (See above.)

I also did a study – starting with a grey block-in that I washed in with alcohol – of one of my favorite hills.  The greys helped a great deal in capturing the sense of distance for this one.

Evening Glow, 9x12, pastel

I also did a couple of small studies of some short-lived effects – snow in the hills and water in ordinarily dry Dry Creek.  (It's hard to believe that last week we had snow, and this week we have temperatures hitting 80.)  Dry Creek was rushing with beautiful, golden water, water that was colored with the Sedona dirt.  Thunder Mountain had some little scraps of snow left in the cliff shadows.

Snow in Shadow, 5x7 pastel

Three Rocks, 6x9, pastel

These pieces are all available for auction at my Daily Paintworks page.

Starting with Greys, Again

Secret Mountain Study, 9x12 oil/paper

If you've been following my blog, you'll remember that I have been experimenting with starting my plein air paintings with a grey block-in.  The reasons, as I've explained before, are two-fold.  First, starting with grey allows you to focus on the value structure of your scene without getting mired down in color-mixing.   (Establishing the values is, as you know, key in capturing a moment of time.)  Second, the greys will naturally "mute" the intense colors of the split-primary palette.

For awhile, I'd been using Gamblin's Chromatic Black for mixing my greys.  But then I realized I have all these tubes of "Torrit Grey" from Gamblin sitting around.  What is this? you may ask  Here are a few paragraphs from the Gamblin website to explain:

Every spring, Gamblin Artists Colors collects a wealth of pigments from our Torit® Air Filtration system. We filter the air around the areas where we handle dry pigments so that our workers are not exposed to pigment dust. Rather than sending any of our high quality, expensive pigments into the landfill, Gamblin paint makers recycle them into "Gamblin Torrit Grey". 

"Pigment dust should not go into the earth, water or landfill, but into paint," says Robert Gamblin. 

The mix of pigments is different every year, so Torrit Grey is always unique and will never be repeated. Torrit Grey tends to have a greenish tinge because of the great strength of the Phthalo Green pigment, which is a dark bluish green. Torrit Grey varies from a medium dove grey to a dark earthy grey.

You can read the full story here.

Torrit Grey is given away free with a purchase of Gamblin products at your local art supply store.  I think I got some from my online orders, as well.  I have several tubes of it - what better use for it than these grey block-ins?

The tubes I have are dark enough for my darkest darks.  From this, I mix three lighter vales, and then use the four values for my block-in.  If I need a dark accent, I can turn to my Chromatic Black (lightened a bit, of course, and usually with cadmium red for a nice warm note.)

Above is a demonstration I did of one of Sedona's local formations.  I left a good deal of the grey showing so you can see how nicely it works in the piece.

Varnish, Revisted

March must be my month for varnishing paintings, because a year ago this month, I wrote here about varnishing.

Well, I'm varnishing again.

Recently, I received a bottle of Gamvar from Gamblin.  Gamvar is no longer, except by special order, available in its previous, concentrated form.  Today, you can buy it conveniently premixed with Gamsol and ready to go as a final varnish.

I was excited to try the new Gamvar, because I have gotten tired of the spray cans of varnish I've been using.  Once, the spray nozzle got so clogged I couldn't clean it even by soaking it in OMS, and had to throw away a nearly full can.  Also, nozzles are notorious for spitting and applying varnish unevenly.

Gamvar requires a brush, and that, of course, requires cleaning, too.  But I find cleaning a brush less onerous than trying to clean a clogged nozzle or to get it spraying evenly.  Also, less solvent goes into the air, which means fewer toxic fumes.

Gamvar has another benefit.  It can also be used as a retouch varnish upon diluting one part Gamvar with five parts Gamsol.  This is a real plus, in my mind.  I don't have to keep a bottle of retouch varnish handy as well as a bottle of finish varnish.  When I'm varnishing, I can bring out all my paintings at once - those needing retouch, and those needing a final varnish.  I don't have to split them up into two separate batches.

One important note.  If you plan to do more work on the painting, Scott Gellatly, Product Manager of Gamblin, recommends that you use an "oiling out" procedure rather than use Gamvar as a retouch varnish.  The reason for this is that the Gamvar is designed to be easily removed with OMS.  Any paint applied on top of the Gamvar will also be removed when removing the varnish.  If your purpose in applying retouch is to bring up the color for further work on the painting, you should "oil out" instead of using Gamvar.  Here's the procedure, from the Gamblin web site:

• Apply a liberal coating of 1:1 Galkyd Painting Medium and Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits to a dry painting. This can be applied to the entire painting or just to the area that needs to be enlivened.
• Allow the medium to be absorbed into the painting for approximately two minutes.
• Wipe off the excess painting medium with a soft, lint-free cloth.
• Continue painting.

If the purpose is just to protect the painting while waiting for the final varnish, you'll have no problem with using the Gamvar as retouch.

Gamvar is a great solution for the busy painter.  Now if I can just find a way to keep the dog hair out of the varnish.

I have to confess that I've always varnished my paintings reluctantly, mostly because of the bother.   But because I paint on a fairly absorbent surface, varnish is vital.  Although the plein air pieces look really good when they are glossy and wet, once dry, they die.  The darks lighten, reducing contrast, and the colors become duller.  Varnishing does wonders - the paintings truly come back to life.

Here's a painting that is unvarnished on the left half but has had Gamvar applied to the right.  The arrow marks the line between them.

Monjeau Peak, Revisited

Here's the "after":

"October, Monjeau Peak" 12x16, pastel - 2013

$1000 - purchase in the Pumphouse Studio Gallery Page

and here's the "before":

"October, Monjeau Peak" 12x16, pastel - 2003

And now here's the story behind this metamorphosis....

One of my favorite spots in all of southern New Mexico is Monjeau Peak, high in the White Mountain Wilderness near Ruidoso.   Access is by a twisty, windy dirt road that goes uphill steeply to a stone lookout tower built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.  The lookout is at 9500 feet, and from here you have sweeping views of aspen-dotted alpine meadows and 12,000-foot Sierra Blanca.  Many beautiful trails wander over the meadows and beyond.

I should perhaps use past tense in the above paragraph. In July 2012, the lightning-sparked Little Bear Fire burned over 44,000 acres and 254 buildings.  The lookout tower was burned, but the structure remains and will be rebuilt; I believe Monjeau Peak is still closed at this time.

We camped there one fall ten years ago, in a little aspen grove.  While hiking, I became enamoured of the rock boulders that were scattered around.  They made fascinating, beautiful compositions with the fall colors.  I felt compelled to paint them.

I did a studio piece in pastel, which at the time I was very proud of.  I had it framed - quite expensively.  Not long after that, in a workshop with Albert Handell, I had an opportunity to share a slide of the piece with Albert and the group at our critique night.  When the slide flashed up on the wall, Albert exclaimed, "Oy, those rocks!' and suggested that I spend a year painting rocks.  (Which I did.)

As I got better at the craft of painting, I became increasingly dissatisfied with this piece.  Even so, I've dragged the painting around from home to home over the years, and I've kept it hanging on the wall for students and visitors to see.  Why?  For the silly reason that it cost so much to frame.  I suppose I could have replaced the pastel with a newer one, but I had it in my mind that there was something fundamentally good about the piece, and that someday I would "fix it."

There were a number of problems with it.  For one, the mountain in the distance seemed to end abruptly behind a big fir tree; it should have continued on.  For another, the rocks were all evenly-lit, and there was no real focal point among them.  And of course, the rocks themselves, in all their pink-and-purple glory, needed to be pulled back from Cartoonland to reality.

This week, ten years later, I decided to deal with it.  I love pastel because the surface is always "open."  That is, you can go back to work on it at any time without having to treat it in any way.  (With oil, the surface becomes "closed" after a few days, and you either have to "oil out" or use retouch varnish, neither of which is really very satisfactory.)  I unframed it, taped it to a board, found the very same photo I had used originally, and went to work.

I'm much happier with the piece now, and it will go back into its frame later today.

Here are some detail shots, plus one of the painting in its frame:

Setting Priorities

9x12 Sketch of Oak Creek - SOLD

If you like the painting above, check out the others in my 

Daily Paintworks page or on my website.

I just put out an announcement on my personal Facebook page that if friends want to contact me, they should do so by e-mail or phone.  Why?  Because I have reset my priorities and will be spending much less time on Facebook.  Facebook was stealing time away from more productive and satisfying activities.  (I won't go into "Facebook envy," but yes, that is part of it, too.)

For me, life is most satisfying when I create.  Facebook, like most social media, is not a tool for creation.  The clue is in the word "social."  Facebook is for networking and keeping up to date with friends and family.  But in my mind, creation is best done in solitude and without distraction.  Imagine if God had had Facebook.  Would the world have been created in just seven days?  I doubt it.

I, like many working artists, had the false hope that Facebook would help me make sales and earn students.  After several years on it, this has yet to happen.  I know many artists, and not a one of them has told me Facebook has helped them professionally.  Better for me with both of these tasks is my blog and my website.  From now on, I'll use Facebook just as a place for announcements.  You'll see my blog posts show up there, as well as other interesting news, but I will no longer be "liking," "unliking" or commenting on the picture of your latest painting or poodle.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not giving up on friends and family.  I cherish my time with them, and I may still engage with them on Facebook in a limited way.  But time spent there with friends and family is not quality time.  And even though I am a very disciplined person, Facebook simply offers too many distractions that take me farther away from the people I love.

As a self-employed artist who wears three hats - painter, instructor, writer - setting professional priorities can be tough. Mine now are:

• To improve my blog and web site so they are better tools for education and for selling my work; 
• To spend more time on larger paintings for shows and awards; and 
• To become a better painter by improving areas where I am weak and challenging myself where I am strong

And, oh yes, and probably write another book this year.  Who's got time for Facebook?