Spring Fever

Annie in Reeds Gap State Park during today's hike to gather landscape source material

This month has absolutely flown past me. In addition to a bad case of spring fever, there have been a few distractions that have cut into my easel time. But it's (almost) all good.

To start with, we had some work done on our home. I'm still awaiting the arrival of new windows for my studio, but in the meantime I've completely re-organized our basement following some of the improvements that we made to it. I now have a much better system in place for my picture frames, glass, etc. Hooray! I look forward to leveraging this slick organizational scheme during my upcoming season of art shows, when my life becomes much more chaotic.

In addition, I've nearly finalized my outdoor art show schedule. It will be largely similar to previous years with shows in Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia as well as Armonk, New York. I am just waiting to hear word on one last show in New York City for late this year.

Speaking of New York, I had planned to participate in the Bike the 5 Boros ride this spring, but because I am nursing a bad hip right now, I will not be attending. No, I did not "over train." This bum hip has been bugging me for years, although my training for the ride may have brought it to a fierce crescendo this spring. This is the not-so-good part of my spring because both my schedule and my focus have been distracted by myriad doctors appointments over the past few weeks. I'm disappointed about not doing the bike ride because I wanted to use the outing as an opportunity to gather new cityscape source material from a spoke's perspective. To make up for my city withdrawal, I'm tentatively planning a trip to Philadelphia this week where I plan to take in the Cezanne exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Finally, it is almost warm enough for me to start plein air painting. I'm still waiting for the trees to progress a bit beyond their barren, stick-like state. Today I escaped to Reeds Gap State Park in central Pennsylvania with my husband and our trusty studio mascot, Annie. The trees have not yet leafed out fully, but we're due for some much milder weather this weekend and then I think that spring will have finally sprung.

Over the next month, you will see some new landscapes and cityscapes as I prepare for my first outdoor art show in Philadelphia during the first week of June. Stay tuned.

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.

From an Opening Reception into Spring

Reviewing my portfolio with one of the guests at the opening. Pictured behind me are September Sky and Autumn, Black Moshannon.

This past weekend the Fine Arts People Gallery hosted an opening reception for my solo exhibition of new landscapes and cityscapes. The exhibition will be on display throughout the month of April. The reception was lightly attended - I think I was competing with beautiful spring weather and an appearance by the Villanova men's basketball team in the NCAA Final Four that same night - but I did sell some work and I met some new people interested in my artwork, so overall it was a success.

I've been slow to get back into my stride here this week with my artwork because we've had a contractor doing some improvements on our home. One of those projects has been to augment the insulation around my studio because with my overhead lighting, I tend to cook during the warmer days of the year. So I've had workmen tromping in and out of my studio at sporadic intervals for much of the past week, which has not been conducive to diving into a new piece.

To escape some of this disruption, I've started to venture outside to gather source material for new landscapes. The trees have not yet budded out fully, but we're tantalizingly close to spring. We had snow earlier this week (gasp!), but as soon as our temperatures moderate I'm going to head outside with my easel. This is a good thing, because the next project in my studio will be to upgrade my windows....

Now on Exhibit: New Landscapes and Cityscapes

Summer, Mifflin County 12 x 16 Pastel on board.
One of the new landscapes that will be featured during my exhibition at the Fine Arts People Gallery. Learn more about this piece

I recently delivered new works to the Fine Arts People Gallery in Exton, Pennsylvania for my solo exhibition during the month of April. You can meet me at the opening reception on Saturday evening, April 4 from 5:00 to 7:00pm. To get driving directions, please refer to my web site.

The new cityscapes include pieces inspired by London, Chicago, and New York City. And the new landscapes were inspired by locations within a two hour radius of our home in central Pennsylvania. I hope to see you at the reception and thank you for your continued interest in my artwork.