And here is the piece I completed at OPUS on Saturday. We had a great crowd of people who competed with the many Winterruption attendees to find a parking space, watched attentively, and asked great questions. Thanks also to the very helpful staff who made it a really good experience. Hope to do it again some time!
Arc & Splash 20.5 x 28.5 unframed $700
I will be doing a demo of painting waves in pastel next Saturday, Feb 20 from 11-1 at OPUS Fine Art Supplies, at their Granville Island location. I understand that registration is now full, but if you are interested you may wish to contact them (604-736-7028) to be put on the waiting list. If enough people get on the wait list, perhaps we will schedule an additional demo!
Rock & Splash, pastel on paper, 13 x 20, framed with museum glass, $550
The phrase "shades of grey" has come to have a particular meaning in our world today because of the salacious novel by EL James, but in this case I am referring to the literal shades of grey that can be mixed with paint!
Respected pastel artist Richard McKinley recommends that pastelists separate out their neutral pastel sticks, storing them apart from the gem-hued intensity of their other pastels, so that the subtle beauty and infinite gradations of the neutrals can be better appreciated and, therefore, used to good effect. Here's a good example of one of his works that illustrates the point:
Indeed, "grey" can be skewed across the entire spectrum, from a rosy-hued pinkish grey through warm yellowish greys through to cool greenish, blue-ish and purplish greys. What they all have in common is the low level of saturation, or intensity. The more pure pigment in a colour, the more "saturated" it is considered to be. Fully saturated colours are a bit like strong spices--a little goes a long way! And if you have one very spicy dish on your menu, it's good to have a number of palate-calming bland foods alongside. Otherwise, your diners will be overwhelmed by the clash of strong flavours, and nothing will be discernible from the cacophony. In the context of McKinley's quiet greyed tones above, the few stronger hues and the small areas of strong value contrast along the left bank of the stream draw our eye, just as he intended.
The other thing greys have in common is a fairly low-to-middle value range. Let's look at McKinley's image again, in greyscale.
Note how little range there is in the dark-to-light scale. Almost all the colours he used are in the mid-to-low value range, with a slightly lighter value in the sky and the small areas of water where he wants higher value contrast against the dark edge of the bank. Again, the effect is quiet and subtle, helping us as viewers to appreciate this gentle scene. It's not a screaming parade---it's a lilting lullaby.
If you are using liquid pigment (watercolour, acrylic, oil) as opposed to pastels, you can mix an infinite range of beautiful greys to suit your needs. Yes, you can, of course, begin by mixing black and white in various proportions. But these greys are often flat and rather dead.
Instead, try mixing complementary colours (violet/yellow; blue/orange; red/green) in various proportions, and then add a small amount of white or black to adjust the value of the resulting grey. As you will see through experimentation, a huge range of neutral greys is thus obtained.
In a recent lesson in acrylic, I used this technique to produce my demo painting. The only paints used in this painting were naples yellow, light blue violet, black and white. As you can see, a full range of warm and cool greys were produced just from these four colours.
On a Quiet Afternoon; acrylic on panel; 16 x 20; $550 framed
While such paintings don't necessarily drag people across a room, they do reward intense and prolonged consideration, making them long-lasting pleasures for discerning collectors.
For a recent lesson in pastel painting, I created an image based on an old photo taken on a trip to New Zealand. The painting is quite naturalistic, and conveys both the "reality" and the "feeling" of the scene and the event, and I'm quite pleased with it as a good example of my typical style.
The Sunlit Path pastel on sanded paper 14 x 21 unframed $500
The following week, I gave a lesson in acrylic painting, and decided to explore abstracting the same motif in acrylic paint, primarily using a palette knife technique. I had a wide black deep-set frame I wanted to use, and a canvas to fit it, so I chose this exercise to match the drama of the frame.
This time, although the composition is the same, I pushed the colour palette by saturating the colours throughout and adding brighter accents. As in the pastel painting, I first created an underpainting in a range of pinks and purples, and left some of it showing through the final layers. I also simplified the shapes and strengthened the textures. Using the painting knife in various orientations, I created wide flat swathes of colour contrasted by fine linear accents, and used a rubber wood-graining tool to generate more grass-like textures in some areas.
Nearly There acrylic on canvas 20 x 24 framed $750
The result is not as typical of my style, but I like the effect just as much as the more naturalistic pastel. Which work is "better"? The question only has meaning in a subjective sense. Both works are successful in terms of concept, composition, contrast, colour, and clarity. Each one expresses and fulfills my intent for the specific piece. The only question for a collector is, "Which one do you like better?" And every answer is valid!
I am delighted to report that I have successfully navigated the jurying process to be accepted as an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. This association provides a great promotional opportunity for me via their bricks and mortar gallery on Vancouver's Granville Island, where I hope to show more of my work on an ongoing basis. I'm pretty pumped to be a member of a society that once counted Lawren Harris among its members! The FCA also provides a variety of other services, as follows:
The mission of the FCA is to advance the knowledge and appreciation of art and culture to all Canadians, offering education, exhibition and communication in the Visual Arts, and to support and promote emerging to professional member artists.
The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) was founded in 1941 by a group of Canadian artists, including the Group of Seven luminary, Lawren Harris. The FCA continues to operate as a registered not for profit society with members throughout the world and Chapters in Western Canada. The FCA is dedicated to raising artistic standards by stimulating participants to greater heights of knowledge and achievement by offering what is believed to be the first completely artists sponsored gallery in Canada. The Federation Gallery is located on Granville Island, Vancouver, BC, featuring bi-monthly juried exhibitions of works by emerging and Signature members as well as two juried international shows held annually, Painting on the Edge and AIRS. The FCA also holds special collaborative shows with other art societies. An extensive education program which is open to non-members as well as members, offering workshops, classes, critiques and lectures in the fine arts media, with instruction by successful established artists who can help all artists to explore and develop their artistic interest and talent. Membership in the FCA is open to all who appreciate art.
