August Project Update

Golden Afternoon

Since my last post I've been working on my August Project - seven new paintings based on seven old paintings.

The challenge was to capture the essence of what the Publisher saw in the original painting that prompted them to add it to their list of favorites. At the beginning of this project, I thought it would be interesting (to me) to change the medium. As an example, the painting above was originally an oil, this time I painted in pastel. But, the deadline changed and I didn't have the luxury of working in oil because it takes time to dry. The process of RE-painting wasn't as much fun as creating something new but also involved less angst because decisions about color, technique and style had already been made in the original paintings.

If you follow my work you know that since moving to my new smaller studio, I paint primarily in small format for sale on Etsy and DailyPaintworks. By painting small, I can keep prices affordable and move work out of my studio on a regular basis. But, small paintings simply aren't big enough to be photographed at the high resolution needed for larger reproduction. The seven new paintings range in size from 16 x 20 inches to 25 x 25 inches.

The amount of detail to include in each painting was tempting. My small paintings have less detail simply because they are small, usually quick and loose. In fact, one of my challenges is to translate the freedom of my small work to a larger format. I could use some giant pastels! But, when eyeing a passage of color that is the same size as the entire small 6 x 6 inch painting, I am tempted to give it a little dash or spatter of color or additional attention to a stroke. I may go into some of these paintings and do that later. For now, I consider them complete and I can move on to focus on my September Workshop for the Northwest Pastel Society.

Nuance

Ruby's Canada

A Bright Tomorrow

Frame of Mind

December Rain

Lake Morning