It's Hanging There

Well, actually a big gust of wind whipped through the garage last week and this pastel of Peter Strauss Ranch flew off the wall. I took it as a sign that the big 20x24 paintings of the olden days(2003) ought to be retired from my daily view. Oh, but I miss this one already.

I'll always remember Karl Dempwolf looking at it and just giving me a "harrumph." He wasn't very impressed. "You can do better . . . much better."

"Shapes, Dave, shapes," Karl would say. "Paint it . . . don't record it."

I know Karl is right, but as he would say about one of his masterpieces, "it's a nice little painting." It reminds me of an "aha!" moment when I actually felt like I captured light. Springtime, lupines, soft diffused light. I remember that late afternoon with a breeze moving the paper around.

It's a bit contrived, but I've got to put it somewhere. I guess I'll leave it here. It looked so forlorn in the pastel bone pile.

For Better or Worse

Well, I couldn't help myself! After a few trips through the garage/studio, I decided I had to paint the value study.

Out came the 12 Holbeins. I'm getting too comfortable with my little friends. They're limiting yet liberating. Well, I did it.

Cathy comes by about 30 minutes in and says, "Hey, what happened to the charcoal drawing. You DIDN'T!"

Yup, I did. She gave me a sweet smile. I kept scratching away. It is time to move on.

Destination unknown.

Now What?

In my quest for better values, I've fallen back in love with charcoal. There's something very definitive about vine charcoal black. I lop off a twig and use the side, top and bottom. It usually ends up as dust in my fingers. Then I slop on some water with my hake brush and voila . . gratification.

Of course the old eraser is a fun tool for "un-painting." So I get to this point and think, "hmmmm, this is a pretty good start." I'll tweak the road, fix some of the funky branches and make the colors sing.

Yeah, right! Mostly I get scared that I'm going to "mess it up." Of course the other voices in my head ask, "Mess up what?" It's just a 9x12 pastelbord. It ain't gonna hang in the Irvine Museum. "Just paint, Dave," my little Jimminy Cricket says.

So then, I'm in the studio looking at this thing for 5 minutes, trying to get up the courage to pick up a pastel stick when Cathy comes in. "Stop looking at it," she admonishes. I think she's going to say something profound and artistic. Instead, she says rather wryly, "stop looking at it. It's like you're looking in the mirror at how handsome you are!"

Uh, oh! Busted . . . . Then she goes for the jugular. "Why don't you paint the cat?" I'm thinking Spotty would look silly covered in pastel, but she means to actually paint "a" cat. Now that's a scary thought. Cathy continues to pummel me against the ropes . . . . mountains, roads, trees, bushes . . . alright . . . move on.

So it's still out there in the garage on the tabletop easel. I can wink at it as I walk by. There's a bunch of freshly-wrapped new pastelbords waiting for a kitty to be drawn in charcoal.

Now What?

Jet Lag Painting

As if I didn't have enough artistic pursuits to contend with . . . . . it's now on to watercolor. Figuring that I would arrive in China and be awake for quite a spell, I bought a student-grade travel set. The first one was done right in my sketchbook with charcoal underneath. The Blue Doors came after a morning walk at the incredible 798 Art District in Beijing.

Working with a tiny round, I was a lot looser with the first one. The Blue Doors must have 7 layers of glazing and is a little too exact. When I came home Cathy said it didn't "look" like a watercolor. I don't think she was being too critical, I just think she believes a water color should be more free-form with colors and shapes merging.

It's really hard to work "backwards." I'm so used to working dark to light that watercolor is a whole new challenge. I'm trying too hard not to make "mistakes." I feel like an illustrator without the necessary skill set. But what the hell . . . another medium to get lost in. But this one is really a challenge.