How I Work: Part II

Oh, I didn't forget. Earlier this year, I posted a brief introduction to my creative process with the promise of more posts to come. But as I prepared new works for my exhibition, I decided that -- at least for the short term -- it was more important to highlight those new pieces than to pontificate about technique.

In Gettysburg 10x20 pastel on paper

But a recent creative struggle pushed me to return to this thread of "How I Work"...

Last fall my husband and I visited Gettysburg and as I mentioned in this blog, I was completely blown away about the scale and sheer majesty of the battlefield, not to mention the myriad stories of what transpired there. We had beautiful fall weather during that last week in October and, well, you guessed it: I had a bonanza day gathering source material and ideas.

Perhaps the most vexing thing about being an artist is that you never turn it off. Everywhere you turn, there's a visual idea. Something waiting to be explored and amplified. There's really no such thing as a "vacation" or time off. One could debate how healthy this is, but that's another post for another day.

Anyways, I resolved to scamper home and paint a series of fall foliage landscapes inspired by the vistas on the battlefield. But something went wrong: I didn't like any of the resulting pieces. In fact, I floundered miserably. In the worst way, I wanted to make these pieces resonate with the same emotion that I felt when we toured the battlefield and we learned about the Iron Brigade (From my home state of Wisconsin. Go Badgers!) as well as other stories of bravery and sacrifice that shaped who we are today in the months following the election of Barack Obama.

Nothing seemed to measure up to this lofty aspiration. So, I did what came naturally. I got angry, frustrated, and stuffed the little disasters into my studio closet, where I didn't look at them again for many, many weeks.

Finally, about two weeks ago I hit upon a solution. I created a different surface specifically for these works. Over the past couple of years, I've moved away from commercially manufactured pastel papers such as Wallis, Colourfix, or Sennelier LaCarte. These are all great options for the modern pastelist, but they just didn't give me the results that I wanted, especially in my cityscapes. So for the past couple of years, I've created my own surfaces on cotton rag mat board with brushed-on gesso and pumice grit.

Detail: In Gettysburg The watermark of the etching paper visible just to the left of my signature. The unfinished edge of the piece also reveals the nature of the underpainting that was used to tint the paper in preparation for the actual piece.

For this new series of landscapes, I am using Rives BFK etching paper with my pumice ground that I use for my works on board. This allowed me to do an amorphous watercolor painting to tint the paper before creating the piece over the top. Etching paper can withstand the load of wet media and aggressive application of materials such as layers of pastel and on occasions like this, it is ideally suited to the effect that I want to achieve. In the past, I've used Wallis pastel paper with a similar approach in earlier works such as Cloud Play, Study - The Pennsylvania Wilds, or Black Moshannon No. 19 - "Late Summer."

But using the etching paper allows me to customize the toothy texture of the paper. I like how this approach softens edges and allows even the most colorful of scenes to pleasantly gel on the working surface.

Detail: In Gettysburg This detail shows the diagonal textured surface that I favor in my own custom grounds as well as the sparkle of some of the underlying tint that I applied to the paper before creating this piece

In my next post, I'll give you a peek into my studio and discuss the equipment that I find indispensable for my work.