What to do when you are making a painting video

...move your pastels to the right (if you are right-handed). I am known for rearranging furniture and my Studio is especially vulnerable to change so it was no problem when I had to move my pastels from the left side of my easel to the right side so I could reach them when making a painting video.

Here is my current set-up. I have to add another light to eliminate the shadow cast by my hand when painting.

What to do when you have a wave

...in your new pad of UArt. Glue it to 4ply rag mat.

I ordered this 9x12 pad of UArt 400 grit paper from my usual online art supplier. Must have had a new person in the packaging department because it was bound with stretch wrap so tightly it arrived with a concave bow. I thought I could correct it by stretch wrapping it again in the opposite direction but now it is really confused and has a wave. I will glue it to 4ply rag mat with Sure Mount archival adhesive.

What to do when you're tired

...of looking at the same painting on your easel for a month. Finish it!

Ravensdale Walk, pastel, 16 x 16 inches

If you would like to see the backstory on this painting, click on my posts of October 6, 2016 and October 21, 2016. Yay! I'm calling it done. Click on the image to enlarge.

What to do when you're done

...with your art commitments for the year. Get a new plan. I could sit on the couch with the dog and contemplate what to do with the foreground of the painting on the easel.

I'm stuck but I don't need this painting for a show until next March. I'll let it sit for awhile because what I really want to do is paint with oil. I have been dreaming (literally) of how to start again. I have a plan.

I'm going back to the basics for subject and color. White Eggs. Simple shape. Minimal color. Nuanced white. White on white. I shot these reference photos yesterday and I'm excited to get started.

I start with an old oil 8x10 inch landscape painting on a SourceTek canvas panel. Using a colored pencil, I sketch placement of three eggs on a plate.

My Caddie Buddy holds my old iPad and the reference photo. I use Titanium White and Ultramarine to obliterate the previous landscape image.

Now, Titanium White and Yellow Ochre.

Three Eggs is in the beginning stages. From here on, I will be paying close attention to adjustments  of white "color" and temperature. I had a happy morning in the Studio. I love oil paint.

What do you do when your painting is too small

Lake Morning Fog, pastel, 6x6 inches

...too small to be reproduced by an art publishing company? You paint it again...larger.

I made a color copy of the original 6x6 inch painting, drew an X over it and also lightly drew an X on a piece of sanded pastel paper. This is how I "eyeballed" the scene to transfer it from 6x6 inches to 20x20 inches.

I worked from the top down keeping the patchwork of colors and shapes as similar as I could to the original painting.

I have become fond of the technique of using a paintbrush to soften edges as needed.

Getting into the hard part but I'm also half done!

NEW Lake Morning, pastel, 19.5 x 19.5 inches

This was a learning experience and a challenge. Same subject and basically the same palette but painting larger is so freeing. Strokes are more expressive because more energy and motion is involved and colors become more lively. Fun!

What to do when you need color

...start with red. Busy day yesterday and before I knew it, it was time to go to our Friday afternoon painting group. I wanted to work on UArt but prefer working on a colored ground. What to do? Taped a piece of 400 grit UArt to Gatorboard and sprayed it with alcohol. Found an old bottle of Dr. Ph. Martin's HYDRUS Fine Art Watercolor 15H Permanent Red and dropped a little color around on the surface. Took this photo. Smeared the color around with my gloved finger and let it dry. Forgot to take another photo. Packed up and headed off to paint.

Good day of painting with other artists of all levels, all mediums. If you are in the area, join us Fridays, 1 PM, Maple Valley Community Center.

Jenkins Creek, pastel, 7x5 inches

Available for purchase

What do you do when you drop a favorite color

...and you have no idea what color it is so you can replace it?

I sent the image of the broken stick to Dakota Art Pastels to see if they could identify it for me. They made their best guess: Sennelier 478 Purplish Blue Gray. Thank you Dakota!

During my search in the studio for a clue about what this pastel was, I opened my Schmincke box and found the color charts I made when I purchased the set. Also in the Schmincke box I found I had stored duplicates regardless of brand. That is why, when you look a the photo below, it appears labeled colors are broken in half and both halves are in the box. Each papered stick is a separate color. Next time, maybe I'll drop a Schmincke and replacing it will be easier.