"Straight Up" (pastel, 5x7 inches)
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Here's one of the two paintings I did from my hotel room window, after
wimping out on the cold Saturday afternoon at the Plein Air convention. I took tons of beautiful photos, and really was dying to
paint. I'm just too much of a 'studio' painter to uncover my hands and
stand in one spot outside when it's less than, say, 65 degrees!
Here was one view from our hotel room (the view changed very rapidly on Saturday!)
...and here was the painting I attempted to create from the awe-inspiring view:
"Weathered Range" (pastel, 4x6 inches)
I had to settle for a general impression of the range, and the feeling
of temperamental cloud patterns, as various mountains appeared and
disappeared with the clouds and rain. It was also a learning experience
to realize how very high-key such a distant landscape really is when
viewed with the eye. The photo shows it much darker than it really was.
Still, I had a very hard time with the red of the rock; that was quite
subtle and difficult. I was glad I hadn't tried this outdoors!
When I finally tired of keeping up with this view, I rolled my eyes in
frustration and caught sight of the breaking clouds above. I instantly
set to work on "Straight Up", which was much less trouble, as clouds
still look like clouds even when they change position. This little piece
of sky soothed my need for
some sort of creative success on that day!
