Morning After the Storm

 

 

9 ¼ x 14 pastel painting on BFK Rives paper

Jan. 20-Feb. 20, 2025

Again, a friend posted and gave me permission to use her photo as a reference. The sun on the trees in the background, the curve of the river, and the blues of the scene in the foreground called for me to see what I can do with this. Trying to pick out a focal point is a challenge. My eye is drawn to many aspects of the scene.

I taped a sheet of 10 x 14 ½ paper to the sit-down easel and used a charcoal pencil to start putting in shapes. Then I used vine charcoal to sketch in some of the trees. After going back and forth a couple times, I changed the size to 9 ¼ x 14 and added beginning color. 

One of my issues is getting what I call the horizontals right when I’m doing the initial work freehand between the reference photo and the painting. I’ve even tried marking off thirds and I still get confused. Then again, I’m not trying to replicate the photo. It’s just for reference.

I struggle getting whites to stay white because the darker pastel dust flies around. And, so often, when I start to walk away, I’ll look back and see something to fix.

The work continued with layering and defining specific areas. I added to the water with dark blue, a lighter turquoise, and some black (in the two dark pools on the right.) I made ripples, shadows, and reflections in water and ice. I also added more orange for brightness in the trees.

 

I was stunned and pleased how the center area water looked shiny… like water should. I need to stay more on top of these things.

By Feb. 18, it was all about the detail. I struggled with the two dark open-water oval pools on the right. I put in more orange in the sunlit trees, used various shades of blue pastels and a charcoal pencil on more defined lines and trees. I signed it. Is it done?

 Of course, a couple days later, I picked at it a little more and finally called it finished for sure.

Original photograph taken by Tara Holdner and used with permission .

 

25-001 Looking Up

 

Looking Up

Dec. 12, 2024, to Jan. 23, 2025

6 ¾ x 11 ¼ inches on black BFK Rives paper

 This is Mika. She was given to me on the late afternoon of Aug. 29, 2024. I wanted a sister for my kitty, Tuli. New kitty’s name was Mickey, but I changed it to Mika, a shortened version of Mielicki, goddess of change, providence and forests.

She didn’t come out of hiding for weeks. Then, I’d only catch glimpses of her. Eventually, I’d see her enough to get a few photos, but she wouldn’t let me get close.

What a challenge when I sooo wanted to pet and cuddle her. But I was patient. She is so darn adorable! I had to try to paint her, chose a photo and did a tracing of her outline and face. (I trace pets to make sure I capture their facial expressions which I don’t feel confident doing freehand.)

Finally, on Jan. 29, 2025, after being here 151 nights, she finally put her nose to my finger and let me touch her. It was a fleeting touch, but as weeks went on, she slowly came out more and I was able to touch her more (a little more, and I do mean little) though not every day.

I started the actual painting itself on Jan. 7.

 

I used pan pastel for the background color. A few days later, I went back in the studio and added a little brown to the background, so it wasn’t so glaring. I started the eyes and added a little fur texture.

The black fur was quite a challenge. I had to figure out how to add layers to the black fur to show highlights and not just be big, black blobs. Maybe a little brown, charcoal, and dark blue.

 

Subsequent days had me using pastel pencils to better shape nose, chin areas and whiskers. I reworked the eyes, too. I used soft pastels in many areas.