Getting Edgy

Alla Prima, final cut

Yesterday I got to take part in a workshop at the studio of Michelle Torrez. I did an earlier post about her work at Saks gallery here in Denver (www.saksgalleries.com). Look for an upcoming show in the winter months in Naples, Florida ( for those readers who live there). At any rate she has been working on renovating a new space for the past year for her studio. It was fun to see that, however looking at my photos I can see I didn't really take photos of it. Just let me say, it's a lovely place in which to work.

Heather and Skye working on their final painting.

During the workshop we painted from 9 AM to 4 Pm, with a lunch break. We had a model in the morning and did 1 minute gesture drawings, then 5 minute paintings (I was the only pastel painter the rest were oil painters), then we did 10 minute and finally 20 minute paintings. In the afternoon we worked from a photo taken of the model in the AM, an worked on using our former paintings and the photo to create a painting.

Morning reference painting.

The take away for me from this workshop was to be aware and to work with a variety of edges rather than always making a hard edge.  Now the other thing I loved was the gesture drawings and drawing the body when you could not see it, that is it is hidden by clothes,etc. That happened a lot as the model was wearing a great long, white, fluffy tulle skirt. So the day was filled with good ideas and the work of the other students was motivating. A great way to spend a Saturday.

Encore! encore!

I went to a workshop today. Came back inspired and reworked this painting.

"Morning Drive in Beaune"

Virtual Plein aire Painting

  As I said in my last Post I decided to paint in my studio here in Denver at the same time my fellow June/French travelers were painting in Iowa. That is between 1 and 4 PM Iowa time. I pulled out my first plein aire piece and decided to do a studio piece. Here are some photos reflecting my process, progress, procedures.
My original plein aire painting was a 7"x10" size, painted in the morning of our first day. I truly didn't know at the time I painted this piece what was beyond the arch which cars in the early morning were driving through.

Under-painting using Rembrandt pastels on Wallis  paper.

Under-painting painted with turpenoid.

I decided to use a larger format (11"x14") in the studio, and actually a vertical rather than horizontal format.

#1

#2

#3 t I removed a car
at this stage and modified various forms.

Next follows a series of photos showing how I put the pastel on, wrestle with shape, color and composition.

#4 Working with front and fine tuning shadows and forms.

 

#5 Final piece for now/ "Morning Drive in Beaune, France"

Part 2- Found Color on 2 Continents

In June I discovered the color of Beaune , France. I did this in the company of 7 other artists participating in a pastel workshop led by the artist Mary Muller www.marymuller.com. Mary lives in DesMoines, Iowa and the majority of the participants also were from Iowa. This workshop was sponsored by Phil Levine Workshops Inc.. Phil has organized workshops in Europe and Mexico with a variety of artists. He has some cool workshops coming up and if you are curious check out this website.www.paintingfrance.com.

                                                     We painted in the town of Beaune

                               and in the famous vinyards in Meursault and Chateau Chateauneuf.

Hospice de Beaune

Polydiptych by Rogier Van der Weyden in the Hospice de Beaune

We painted, critiqued, communed, saw sights and drank wine for 11 days. At the end of that time we layed out our collective work and were amazed.
We all knew that we would carry this experience back into our art on our return to the US. Mary offered to open her studio to the Iowa artists on Saturday afternoons to continue to explore there vision formed in Beaune. Because I live in Denver I said I would participate by painting at the same time on Saturdays but here in Denver. A virtual paint out. More about this during my future  posts.

Returned/ refreshed/ found color on 2 continents!- part 1

This summer began, for me,  looking and listening to people creating colorful experiences on the street. I know I was seeing art on the street again! Check out my post on Alfombras in Guatemala. Now I was seeing pastel Alfombras on the streets of Denver, Colorado. The "Pilot" (my husband) and I headed for Larimer Square to check out this street festival.

Almost completed piece.

Wish I had bowls and bowls of pastels. Real soft and hard pastels are used not necessarily chalk pastels.

Denver artist participates in the fun of the weekend.

Local Madonnari of the future rests from his efforts. There were contests for young artists and art students at the Denver Festival.

One of my fav'

3D Street Painting is an activity which has been occurring since 16th c. Renaisance Italy. These early street artists were wandering artists going from town to town. They were called Madonnari. Today from London, Ontario, Pasadena, California to Denver,Colorado, you can observe professional Madonnari and local artists painting with pastels at street festivals. Judging by what we observed the crowds were quite pleased and excited by this street artistry.
 Hoorah for Pastels!! The Pilot and I enjoyed wandering the 3 block area stopping into local bars and restaurants to occasionally cool off.
If you are interested in seeing more check out these websites.www.denverchalkart.org, www.Imadon.org, www.pasadenachalkfestival.com, www.3d-street-art.com

En Vacance!!

Vacation is being enjoyed and I will return with many colorful stories and observations which have occurred over the past 2 months. Some maybe about these photos-shown in no particular order