Memories of Fire Island Here in Caroline County

Fire Island 5x7 Pastel available $45.00

Memories, memories, memories........painting this scene today had me thinking back to my days of being a Girl Scout leader and spending lots and lots of time at our Girl Scout camp.  We had the privilege to hold our meetings at the camp so we had access to all the benefits of the camp had to offer.  And what a posh campground it was/is.

We had the most unbelievable, most fantastic ranger that took care of the property - he went above and beyond building zip lines, obstacle courses, art easels for outdoor painting and a ferry that you could ride to cross the lake to Fire Island.  In the center of this island was a firepit complete with benches for smores and singing. 

I hadn't been to the camp for a while, so Zach and I went for a visit.  We hiked from one end to the other taking in the beautiful scenery and talking about all our memories.  And with 13 years of leading a troop I have lots and lots of memories. 

I have just a couple progress photos.......I get into my zone and forget to stop to take a picture.

quick sketch

added in the first layer of color and started filling in the background trees - saving the foreground trees for last.

Underpainting with Watercolor

Thursday Evening 5x7 pastel available $45.00

Watercolor paintings are so beautiful and luminous. They have a transparency about them that just draws you in, but they can be a tricky medium to work with.  When you've trained yourself to paint dark to light in acrylic, oil and pastels, the opposite is the rule when painting in watercolors.  I've wanted to try a watercolor underpainting for quite a while, so when I happened to be walking the aisles in our local Walmart, I spotted this watercolor set and thought no better time than the present to give it a try.  Now truth be told, I'm a bit afraid of watercolor.  In my mind, watercolor is the hardest medium to master - I may be wrong, but back in high school, our art class was given and assignment to do a watercolor painting, and mine came out so awful - and I felt that I just couldn't grasp the concept, so picking up a set of these paints is a giant step for me.  Now I know this particular set is not going to produce artist grade results, but I'm only using it for an underpainting so we'll see how it goes. 

My new watercolor set

Originally, I was going to add a little water feature, but not long after I started laying in the pastels decided against it.  Wow my easel is really needs a scrub down!

Adding in the darks

Next came adding in some pinks and purples and a bit of cream to the clouds and greens to the grasses.  I also added in some wildflowers that grow all along the roadside here.

 After standing back and taking another look, I thought I really over did it with the flowers, so I blended some out ( an advantage with working in pastels) .  


Last night, my son and I took a drive to photograph the sunset at the various rivers around our house and I was a bit frustrated that I could not capture the brilliant colors that were in the clouds with the camera.  Zach said the only way to capture the true colors in the sky would be the paint plein air.  What a great idea!  What if I did a series of the same scene every day for a week......or a month?  Just to capture the ever changing sky? I love the idea! So I've begun cutting some 5x7 sheets of UArt to get ready for this new challenge.

A Painterly Lesson

Hydrangeas in a White Pitcher 9x12 pastel available $125.00

There's been a lot of buzz in the pastel art world about the new video that Alain Picard shared on You Tube demonstrating the "painterly" technique. He features an apple and invites the viewers to paint along with him.  While I did watch the video all the way through, I didn't have an apple at the time so I chose this little pitcher with hydrangeas I cut off one of my shrubs.

The concept to the painterly technique is to loose edges. Or in other words let your painting fall outside of the lines.  In the painting above you can see the lost edges surrounding the pitcher on the left side and also the handle and again within the leaves and even in the shadows. 

This was a technique that I really enjoyed and felt I grew as an artist just trying to NOT stay in the lines.  I look forward to trying more subjects in this style, and yes, I've now filled the house with apples so I plan to follow along the video with apple in hand. Stay tuned for the results.

Instagram for Inspiration

Two Pears on Branch 9x12 pastel available $125.00

I love looking at other artists artwork, and Instagram is the perfect place to see what others are doing and be inspired. I came across a painting of pears still on the tree on Instagram - unfortunately I do not remember which artist painted it, but I was excited to try this new subject.

Out pear tree this year was loaded with pears - so I went out to get some photos when the sun was shining the brightest on the fruit. Then began my sketch.

I added the dark area first - leaving room for leaves and such that were to come later.

Added in some more color...........

and more color for the background leaves.  It was at this point that I felt it just got too busy- I was loosing the main focus of the pears-so I brushed off the background ( one of my favorite bonuses of using pastels and UArt paper) and put the dark back in with just a minimal hint of other colors.

And voila! The stars of the show were back.  Now I get to go enjoy eating them.  What's your favorite benefit of painting with pastels? And where do you like to search for inspiration?

Join a New Pastel Group

Sunlight and Shadows 9x12 pastel available $125.00

I recently joined a Facebook group call Cafe Monet which is a group for pastelists to share their recent works, ask questions and connect with like-minded artists.  One of the wonderful things about this group is the monthly challenge.  A painting challenge is given at the 1st of every month and 2 winners are chosen at the end of the month.  One winner from the beginners category and one from the advanced category. The winners receive a gift of some type of pastels and will have their painting featured as the heading for the group for the following month.

This months challenge was to paint shadows.  I love finding interesting shadows and the shadows in the painting above was challenging to recreate.  I set the mason jar on my kitchen counter after filling with water and started to add some flowers, but when I saw the shadow created with just the babys breath from the sun coming in the kitchen window, I knew I had my subject.  I painted another shadow painting that I'll share soon.

If you are a pastel painter..... I highly recommend you join this group.  You will learn so much and feel so good about your work with all the positive feedback that is given. 

New paintings have been added into my Etsy store, so if you are in need of some new artwork for your walls, I invite you to check it out here   
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WendyJohnstonFineArt?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

You Choose What to Leave in and What to Leave Out

Cottage by the Bay  Pastel  9x12 available $115.00

It was a beautiful day for a walk and taking reference photos, so I grabbed my trusty walking buddy (my son Zach) and we headed to Blackwater Nature Preserve outside of Cambridge, Maryland.  My friend, Lorri, had recently posted photos that she took at this location and she had tons of beautiful photos of the water fowl found at the preserve.  I was excited!  I couldn't wait to get there and take my own beautiful waterfowl photos.  We walked......and walked.....and walked.....drove some....and walked some more..... the birds were no where to be found.  Oh was I disappointed. All in all I think we found 3 ducks and 3 blue herons, so not a total loss for the day, but I did get a few "non-bird" containing reference photos. 

This is the first painting for my Blackwater Refuge series.  I've included the original photo - I chose to leave out the boathouse in this painting, but plan on doing another of just the boathouse.  It's a lesson to be learned by all artists, that just because something is in the photo doesn't mean it has to be included in the painting.  This is where you put your creativity to the test.

Complimentary colors was my main objective while painting this. I used red and green in the tallest trees, and violet among the grasses since violet is a compliment of yellow. 

I chickened out of attending our pleinair paintout this week since the location was on the water and the temperature was 50 degrees - I HATE TO BE COLD! So I decided to do my own pleinair study this morning - I'm just waiting for the temps to rise a little bit more.  Check back soon to see what ended up on the easel.

Last Day of Capturing the Illusion of Light Pastel Class

Morning Glow 9x12 inches Pastel available $125.00

It's always a sad day when a class comes to an end.  You get used to seeing your classmates and you seem to begin to grasp the lessons being taught when BAM! its the end! I will miss my fellow classmates and I hope to see some of them in future classes, but for the fun of it, after our final class,  I had each student pose in front of their easel with their final paintings.  What a great bunch of artists! And for an extra special treat that day, our incredible instructor Katie Cassidy threw us a pizza party at her house complete with a tour of her studio.  I should have taken pictures of her studio and amazing works in progress, but I was too caught up in the moment - I didn't even get a picture of all of us with Katie!  But I will definitely remember to do that with the next class which starts on Wednesday. I'm so excited! We will be studying color harmony in that class.


Here's the Illusion of Light class along with their final paintings ( some of them were just being started) A couple of students had already cleaned up and I didn't get their pictures. (Sorry)

Katie giving a critique

And my final piece.....

I woke up that morning and rolled over to the sun shining in on my little arrangement and I jumped up to get my camera, and knew this was the next subject for the next painting.  I bought this little hammered metal pitcher at a flea market in Delaware this past fall for $3.00.  I just love it! Just last weekend I put the poppies (silk flowers) and dried baby's breath into it.

The paper that I used had a failed painting of a barn I was working on in plein air - it was just horrible!  So I took a stiff paint brush and brushed and scrubbed the old painting off which left a bright red tinted underpainting to begin this painting on.  That is one of the percs of using pastels..... if you don't like it..... just brush it off and begin something new on top.  No need to waste paper. I didn't take a picture of the failed barn because it was JUST THAT BAD, and I was too embarrassed to share it.