For this exercise I used pastels that were as close as possible to the 6 colour wheel tertiary colours. I arranged them as they would fall on the wheel. For the painting below I used these colours plus some black, light blue and cream. It was good working with these chosen colours.
Last week at St Andrews Art Club we were looking at The Old Master Triad. I selected the pastels which approximated the appropriate colour for this exercise. I then set them out like a colour wheel before starting a painting. It was nice to work with these harmonious colours. Sometimes with pastels there are so many colour choices it can get overwhelming.
Last Wednesday after my pastel class in St Andrews I headed down to the West Sands. I decided to do a sketch from the car park. It was so windy my sketch pad was blown out of my hand onto the beach below. I had no choice but to rush to rescue it. Fortunately it had landed on damp sand and not in a wet puddle. It made me realise how attached I am to my sketch pads. Each sketch in the book evokes great memories, sights, sounds, weather etc. I love to refer to them when I need to inject some inspiration into my work. The sketch above is the view from where I found my book.
Yesterday afternoon I went into the Studio to sort out some things and the sky above Dundee was looking really dramatic. It made me think of the challenge I have set the students at St Andrews Art Club. I have asked them to do pastel studies of the sky and promised I would be doing it too. This started out as a sky study then I couldn’t stop and continued painting trying to capture the fleeting light.
I did this tonal study on mid toned pastel paper. I found the negative shapes really interesting in this study. I kept the shapes quite simple so as to strengthen the design.
Last week during our lovely spell of sunny weather I did some outdoor painting. I did the study in ink one day. Inspired by that I got my pastels together to do some field work. It was great to be working outside. I watched a fox cross the field in front of me he was oblivious of me painting away.
Here is a study I did at the cottage in Southampton, Canada. This was the view from the patio. Lovely to look out over the lake and bask in the warm sun and to hear the Canadian geese overhead. There were birds like humming birds, woodpeckers and nuthatches moving about around us. This year I had an art show at the cottage. It was great to show my work in Canada. I have been travelling there to visit my brother and family over the past 30 years. I always find inspiration for my painting from my trips.
I celebrated 10 years at the Pittenweem Arts Festival and this year we were blessed with great weather. Our cat Xena was able to come with us and join us each day at the venue. She did have to spend some time inside but kept an eye on things. Here are some photographs taken during the Festival.
I had some new work in black and white, this painting attracted a lot of attention.
Talking about attracting attention – Xena on display for her fans!
One evening after dinner we got a treat of a fantastic rainbow right over the harbour.
End of the Festival and packing up, what would we do without the wheelbarrow!?
One day to go until the opening night at Pittenweem Arts Festival. I look forward to seeing everyone! On the lead up to the Festival I have been doing a number of paintings on slate. The one above is one of them. I love the variations in texture which is a natural quality of the slate.
The Pittenweem Arts Festival is fast approaching, and is a week earlier this year starting on the 28th July and running until the 5th August. My web site has a page showing some of the paintings I will be exhibiting. See my Pittenweem Arts Festival 2012 page.