Father and Son Day at the Beach

So, after struggling with this image for a month, I fix it in humid weather like a dummy. Now it has little tiny dark gum balls all over it. I will have to spend an hour at a time cleaning and reworking it during the next 2 to 3 months while working on other projects. The moral of this mess is to never do anything in a hurry. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!

The drawing is 44" long x 30" high and is based on several photographs of the thousands taken on South Florida beaches. Two of the seagulls were in one photo, The sailboat in another, the father, son and chair in still another, and the sky is from still another photograph. All photographs are my own. The color is applied with individual pastel strokes rather than the standard rub and blend layering technique. Even blended areas are done with the pastel itself as the blending tool. This technique allows me to produce pastels of greater color intensity.

Blue Blue Water

I’m not entirely happy with this one.  I thought it might be cool to have the two women looking off the left side of the picture plane and I tried to balance attention with the boat near the middle of the drawing and the guy on the other side of the picture plane looking slightly to the right of center.  I’m thinking about rubbing the women out, and redoing them in a reversed position so that they are looking directly at the boat.  Never the less that will be in the future.  Opinions Yes or no change, are welcome.

Meanwhile, I’m moving on to the next drawing.

Beach Sounds?

The latest pastel painting is based on a combination of 2 photographs, the first shot in South Florida last year on the most perfect day I’ve ever spent on a beach. The second was of a young man wired for sound on the beach in Cape Henlopen, Delaware about 5 or 6 years ago. He had a CD player, but I changed it to an iPod because the CD player looked so bulky and old fashioned. I also changed the guy’s bathing suit, head and facial features based on several other photos of beach people so he would not be recognizable. I’ve spent a month on this drawing, so I’m happy to be finished. I think it should be named “Beach Sounds,” but I’ve not decided. I’ll take suggestions, and if I use your title, I’ll make a small pastel drawing just for you.

Juno Beach Ocean, 3:00 PM, December 1, 2009

This drawing was prepared using the layered rub and blend technique that most pastel artists use. It is totally different from my usual mark making technique. Ordinarily I do not allow myself to rub, blend or smear. However, this time I am teaching a course that surveys pastel history and technique. The logical place to start was the standard/norm as opposed to myself. So, I built the layers gradually starting with a light layer of medium color, and I took photographs through the total process so I can make a PowerPoint presentation now that the drawing is complete.

The work went much faster than it normally does, so I'm tempted to do more drawings by rubbing smearing and blending. I couldn't help but make some individual marks at the end of the process in order to create more detail. The texture (tooth) of the paper creates a similar look to the usual work, though the color is a bit more naked/grating than the more subtle gradations created when the pastel marks mix together without rubbing. Also, the final product doesn't have as hyper-realistic an appearance as I normally obtain.

Twelve Koi And One Butterfly

This is the second pastel in the series, KOI, and it is 30 inches by 44 inches. There are four digital photographs worked together in order to create the image. I’ve taken many photographs of Koi at Butterfly World near Fort Lauderdale, Florida during the past 3 years, and I plan to go back again this year. Not only are the Koi pond and waterfall fantastic, but the butterflies, parrots, and bromeliads are incredible as well. My partner and I have taken just about everyone who has come to visit us to Butterfly World, but our friend Jane was the most appreciative. She said that the hundreds of butterflies, flying free in the jungle-like habitat made her feel as though she had achieved nirvana.

The drawing “Twelve Koi and One Butterfly” took a month to complete because both the pastel, and my need to create an image that is photo-like despite the technique of making thousands of individual marks conspire to slow the process. Sometimes I wish I could force myself to work in a looser manner in order to finish more of these painterly pastels. However, I doubt I’d get the same satisfaction out of extremely abstracted Koi that I get out of these images. Besides, I’ve played with the distortions the water creates, which brings me to the following question. Is it possible for anyone but me to find all twelve Koi in the drawing?

Koi Fish Pastel Painting

Fort Miles