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The surface was 24"X30". The shadows raced into the canyon and hills lit up with the last hour of daylight. The tall grasses in the foreground were tall and blocked my view. Hikers and mountain bikers were accomodating as I was painting on a trail that was no wider than 3'.
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The painting far from done but thats what you get when you paint large and start late.
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It has been very hot recently. It is either the morning, the evening, or the beach. I did not get to start painting till about five in the afternoon. I was painting on masonite with pumice gel and acrylic paint for the tone. With so little time there is no going back. Although I was painting on a surface 24"X36"; I could have used another foot in the width. My compostion missed the valley fading off into the distance and the highlights on the oaks as they faded into the atmosphere. This painting was all about adjustments to what did not go as I planned. When I look at this painting I see all of the mistakes that I wish I could have avoided. However, there is enough truth in the painting to remember what it was like in the canyon.
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This painting was inspired by the Irvine Park. This studio painting was the result of several trips to the park during the winter. The dusk changed the colors of the trees as the sun got lower on the horizon. The long shadows ran into the wilderness. The last foliage hung on the branch as the warm summer like evening lit them up. This pastel painting is done on La Carte pastel card and measures 23"X29".
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This was the second painting of the day. The previous painting of the sandstone boulders is to the left of these rocks. I will come back to get both of these elements into the same painting. This painting measures 24"X24". As in the previous painting this one is done on masonite with pumice gel and acrylic paint. This is the best two paintings that I have done in the same day.
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This pastel painting was done in the studio. It measures 12"X24". It was done on Wallis sanded paper with a watercolor underpainting. This park has some of the oldest and largest sycamore trees that I have come upon. This park has been around since 1909 and has been used by many plein air painters such as William Wendt. The shape and color of these trees is what drew me to them. They are each unique and seem to possess their own personality.
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This plein air pastel measures 24"X36" and was done a couple of weeks ago at Crescent Cove in Laguna Beach. This is the north facing end of the beach. This is one of those paintings that grow on you. When I first painted this I was not too happy with it but the more I reviewed it the better I liked it. The light on the sandstone cliffs turned out nicely. I also really liked the silhouette of the cliffs against the sea and sky.
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This pastel painting is done on birch plywood with a ground of pumice gel and blue acrylic paint. The painting measures 24"X36". I saw this scene the week before when I went painting and decided the next time I was down in the area I would paint it. I parked about a mile and a half away though. I could have parked in the Big Bend Wilderness Area and been right there. So I packed my 40 pounds of gear to the site. I really liked the contrast of the blue ground with the color of the dry grass on the hills. I let the ground show through as shadows in the grass and also in the shadowed areas of the oak tree.
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So I get down to the beach and there is Frank Serrano. I did not know it at the time because I had never met him before, but I knew of his plein air painting. http://www.pleinairgallery.com
After talking with him for a moment I had to go get my gear and paint. I only had about an hour and a half to paint and the only surface I had was huge. The masonite panel I had made with the pumice gel and acrylic paint measured 22"X48". I had no time for second guessing.
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The surface I was working on was one of my acrylic, pumice, and masonite panels that I have been making for the last couple of weeks. I really like how durable and steady they are. The one pictured above measures 22"X48". The backlit walls of the canyon were very warm and subtle in their range of color.
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The colors in the walls of the canyon are a little different from what I usually paint. I had to trust my judgement. There was not enough time to do anything over again.
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I chose Paynes Gray paint because it was a dark gray with a touch of blue in it. I like the effect of light pastels on a dark ground or underpainting.
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For my purposes the Fine Pumice Gel worked best. I also tried the Corse Pumice Gel but it had too much tooth on the surface and ripped my pastels up at an amazing rate. It made painting almost an excercise in abstraction. You had to stand about 30 feet away to see the subject I was painting. I ended giving the painting to a bus driver at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach www.crystalcovestatepark.com as payment for the ride to the parking lot. The best thing I can say about the experience is that I learned from it.
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The process of creating these panels is very simple and quick. I have never been a formula or recipe kind of person. Each time I have made these panels I have experimented with the amount of Pumice Gel and Acrylic paint. Other than using the wrong size pumice all of my panels have turned out really well.
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As you can see I use standard house painting stuff. I am using a Purdy 1 and a half inch all purpose paint brush. I really like the thickness of the bristles for adding texture to the panel. All I do is make my mixture of pumice gel and acrylic, mix it up to an even consistency, and brush it on with random strokes. I insure that I have covered the entire surface. Sometimes I try and imagine the type of landscape I will paint on the surface and do a rough sketch of that subject with the pumice gel mixture. The panels have been taking about 10 minutes to dry once I have completed covering them. This is a very economical way to create surfaces. The surface below measures 24"X36" and would cost me around $30. I figure my cost is about $8 for the same size panel.
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