Sally Strand workshop report

My friend and fellow pastel artist Jessie Grant and I spent five days last week studying with Sally Strand.  Sally has long been near the top of my list of "must-study-with" artists based on her magical way of portraying light (see her "men in white" and "player" series of paintings for examples), and when I saw that she was coming as far east as Chicago, I jumped at the chance.  Sally's home base is California, and she rarely comes even this far east--though I NOW know that she'll be in or near Montreal next May with the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada.  Nevertheless, I'm not sorry I went now--the experience was all I had hoped for and more! Sally takes a very scholarly approach to painting.  She is a deep thinker and a natural teacher, and is generous in sharing the results of her many years of dogged practice and exploration. While some artists make the whole painting thing seem mysterious and the result of some unique genius, Sally deconstructs her process into understandable (while challenging) steps, and works very hard to help each student grasp these principles.  Her focus on big value structures across the whole picture plane will help me to develop stronger designs for my paintings before I get distracted by portraying the specifics of the subject, and her unique exercises using various coloured gels on the lighting of still life setups was transformational in helping me understand the effect of the colour/temperature of light. Her workshops are expensive--deservedly so, and you definitely get your money's worth.  I'd encourage you to save your pennies and spring for a workshop with Sally whenever she's in your area, or at least within travelling distance.  Your work will reap the benefits.

And if you get to Chicago, the Art Institute is a MUST see--we spent three magical hours chasing down works by Sargent, Degas, Cassatt, Monet, Renoir, Innes,  and SO many others that my head was spinning and my legs almost fell off--but worth every ache and pain to see these masterpieces.

Here are some shots of our experience: Jessie on the steps of the Chicago Palette & Chisel Club which hosted the workshop (very atmospheric Italianate mansion, but did the studio HAVE to be up six flights of stairs??), a view of students in the workshop tackling the still lifes, my results of the same setup under two different lighting conditions (really--all that changed was the colour of the light), the final day's unfinished project of a live model laundry setup, Sally teaching energetically, and a view of the Chicago skyline at night from our 43rd floor executive apartment rental (recommended by the Palette & Chisel Club and a  great pied-a-terre for the workshop).

Black Magic

Readers of this blog have seen how I typically begin a pastel painting by creating an underpainting of the large shapes and value structure of the composition, then overpainting with more detailed, textured strokes.  Recently, however, I was re-reading a back issue of The Pastel Journal and came across an article by an artist who works directly on black paper.  Intrigued by the strong value effects and sparkling colours this artist's work displayed, I decided to give it a go. Not having the structure of an underpainting to rely upon meant that I had to plan my composition more carefully--I wanted the black paper to peek through the pastel strokes in places, so I was aiming for a fresh, simple stroke structure without a lot of layering.  This meant I had to be more sure of each stroke before I made it, with less room for correction. As soon as I got the hang of that, however, I loved the results--see some below. Those attending the studio tour last week responded well to it, and one of these works has sold since the tour, so I think I'll keep exploring this approach!

Les pastellistes!

I am delighted to say that I have had a painting accepted into the juried show of the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada, which will be exhibited at the Ogilvy Tudor Hall in Montreal from November 6th through 15th, 2009.  If you are in the city then, do try and catch the show. The piece accepted was Birch Path, seen below and also in my pastels gallery on this site.

Uxbridge Studio Tour

Last weekend (Sept 19/20 2009) I participated in a wonderful regional studio tour in and around the town of Uxbridge, Ontario.  Potter Cynthia Cupples (http://cynthiacupples.com/) generously invited me to share her home/studio space, so I happily set up a variety of paintings, my easel, and my pastels on Saturday morning. The results exceeded my wildest expectations.  A near-constant flow of people came through, politely asking questions, picking up cards, signing my guest book, and buying works large and small from both of us.  Thank you, thank you to all--it was a great pleasure to meet you and share my work with you!  I hope to see some of you again when I return for Cynthia's seasonal open house on Nov 7/8. And thank you, Cynthia, for sharing your space and clientele!

I actually got a bit lost on my way to Cynthia's on Saturday morning (trying a new route to avoid driving through Uxbridge) and, in my meanderings, came across a wonderful marshy area between Scugog Lines 12 and 14.  On Saturday evening after the tour ended, I deliberately returned the "wrong" way to be able to take photos of the marsh in the late afternoon light.  On Sunday, I painted a large pastel from this photo, which promptly sold off the easel (before I remembered to take a photo of it, in fact), but here's another painting, a bit different and smaller than the first.  I look forward to doing more works from this series of photos--the colours and textures are marvelous. Stay tuned!

A Soft Touch

Recently when I was buying supplies in my local art supply store (Bijan's, in London, Ontario), the owner/artist persuaded me to try pastel painting on suede matboard--maybe because he had a big box of it on sale at the time? :) I'd had one or two experiences with it previously, but decided to give it another try--what's $10 for some experimentation, right? I chose a dark brown sheet, and cut it into two sections: a square and thin rectangle. The surface is extremely soft and deep, and I found that the use of a pencil to sketch in the initial layout of the scene left indentations that never did fill in--so don't use pencil or any other sharp-pointed implement! I suggest laying out the scene with the blunt end of a pastel instead.

I loved the ease with which I could spread the colour over the surface of the board, but it sure wouldn't take many layers, and tight or fine detail was out of the question.

So, I ended up with two nice little pieces that are uncharacteristically "Impressionaistic" and even a bit abstract.  Fun, but ultimately the experience didn't persuade me to rush out to buy more of the suede matboard--sorry, Bijan!

Some viewers LOVE these pieces, and others are lukewarm--it just goes to show that tastes differ.  In the end, the artist must be true to what pleases her or him self.