Studio Notes and Reflections

I was especially surprised and pleased last October when I was notified that I had earned an Honorable Mention in the prestigious 22nd Pastel Journal 100 competition for my painting Sentries to the Sunset.   I began this painting because I thought I could finally use a particular frame I had,  I needed something that would fit into a 20 x 30 format and would go with a silver/gray frame.  I wanted to try and keep my purchases down through the pandemic, so I started off with a vague plan to work in a cool colors for this one particular frame.

A Bad Beginning

I believe in careful panel preparation and making a good under-drawing.  I really do.

However, when I began my panel preparation for  Sentries to the Sunset I failed to notice that I was mixing marble dust instead of pumice into my ground recipe.   

Right off when I began adding the green pastel at the top of the painting, I realized I had two problems:

1. My ground color was too light, I’d be filling the tooth everywhere to get to the main darker value I needed, and
2. My ground was not gritty enough, I could not get the texture I needed.

Checking my mixture I realized I had used the marble dust instead of the pumice.    I quickly mixed up more ground, this time tinting it with Paynes Grey and a cool yellow.  It turned out a cool, and darker blue green color.   

I’m not a patient artist.  I hoped that the ground was semi-transparent and went ahead and reapplied it over the panel.  I dried it with a blow dryer hoping the under drawing I had been so careful with would come through, even faintly.  Well, all that Golden liquid acrylic made a nice opaque ground.

Even getting more disgusted with myself, and impatient as ever, I loosely drew in the composition with vine charcoal and started over.  Now about this time, I am of the fairly certain belief that this painting is going to be snake-bit from here on out, but I persevered.

Having the Right Ground Hue and Value Really Helps

Laying in the green and blue of the background bluebonnets, I immediately felt the perfect bite in my ground, and the color of the ground was working very well.  A small flame of hope appeared in my heart.  The ground color allowed me to scumble over the surface without too much contrast. 

The Two Edge Sword of Texture

The texture had the right amount of grit to withstand application of soft pastel, which I wanted to use for the particular kind of luminescence it provides, but I was not getting a smooth edge.  I decided to break out the SpectraFix Degas Fixative.  I poured a little bit, about two tablespoons in a small jar and using a soft brush, painted over the cactus pads. I now had a very slightly darker underpainting for each cactus pad. 

This allowed me to apply a very a lighter color to give the pad the texture and color I wanted.  And with the existing texture of the ground, I could continue to model the light on the cactus pads without losing a crisp edge.

I generally work from top to bottom and from left to right.  As you can see here, I continue to sharpen the under drawing and to model the individual cactus pads.  

This painting is really a study of light. Cactus pads angle ever so slightly, and under strong light, they change in hue and value.  Paying attention to how light affects the surface of the pads, including the thorns, give life to the painting.

I really enjoy painting cacti.  They are abundant here in central Texas, which has been a huge aid this past year of pandemic.  They remind me of the positive gained from perseverance.