Somewhere on Broadway

Here is my latest contribution submitted to the Virtual Paint Out.

Broadway Food Vendors, Soft Pastel 9 1/2 x 6 1/4, Sue Bowen

I have really been enjoying the pastel paintings, as a nice change of pace. This painting ended up being cropped a bit, at the top. Adjusting the size, after the fact is one of the luxuries of working in pastel, or on paper, versus an oil painting on a panel; which is how I usually paint.

There are a few disadvantages though, for me, as an artist, and the use of pastels at real paint outs. The largest obstacle for me is the framing and the abbreviated time, to deliver the finished product, to the "wet painting sale". The sale and shows are normally held within a couple of hours after a paint out ends. Typically, the artists deliver their work framed and ready to hang; although the oil paintings are still wet. There is usually a reception and the public is invited to the show. They have the advantage of checking out the latest art and purchase a piece of art work "hot off the easel". Often, they may have stopped by and watched you paint some it.

Oil and acrylic paintings are much easier to place in a prepared framed. I'm not experienced enough with the framing issues of pastels, to frame them myself, on location that is. I always like to deliver my best efforts, so it may be a while before I take soft pastels to a real paint out.

One paint out I will especially miss this year, is the Out And About Paint Out, held in Norfolk, VA. It's an awesome experience, unbelievable art and, and out right good time. The event was founded by a local artist, Karen Kinser. I'm placing a link under my favorites, so please check it out. It's an event that is well worth your time.

In search of the perfect place

September's Virtual Paintout is on Manhattan Island and I have spent the past few days looking around for just the right spot to paint. There is so much to see that I have forgotten a few times just why I am dragging that little Google guy around. NYC always amazes me with those wonderful, endless canyons of tall buildings.

I finally choose my first location and I am moving along quite well. If only I could figure how to get my selected scene from Google and into my photo editor, I would be happy. I have not had time to figure that part out yet. So the temporary solution is not so different than if I were actually painting on location. I simply do a thumbnail sketch. Usually my thumbnail sketch is just for me to decide where key elements will be placed. In the case of Manhattan, it's what can I simplify, or reasonably leave out, and still come away happy. I want to capture the vibrancy of city life without the painting being too busy. That is not an easy task.

This time I have given my thumbnail a new twist. I did it using my iPad, then e mailed it to myself and printed it out, as a reference. Although I have several art applications on the iPad, the one that I choose to use, for this task, was the simplest of all. It is called Color & Draw, a Tipitap Application. This latest application is for my favorite 3 year old to use, when she stops by, but I really like the drawing part of it. I doubt that I will color and the color choices are very limited, but I did use color in my sketch. As it turns out, it was very helpful to have a second reference. I am hoping to finish it up soon and I will post it then.

What works best for me

I definitely have a preference for a paper with a tooth! It's also preferable to me to have a paper that will accept a fixative. When I started dashing off The Virtual Paintout paintings, I was and still am, in the middle of a studio clean up. That means I have better access to my papers and more opportunities to experiment, if I choose to. Yippee!

September was the month on expimentation with my pastels! The Clouds Of Prince Edward Island was the first in this series and since I already had a piece of Wallis Sanded Paper taped to my board, when I started, I continued in that direction. I really wanted to try a combination that I had not tried before. It's not my style; generally speaking to sketch in pencil, if I am going to use pastel over it, but I tried it on this piece. I usually just sketch in a loose painting using pastel. This time, after the pencil sketch, I used watercolor, to mass in the values. This was something I had seen Richard McKinley do with great success and I wanted to give it a whirl. If my paper had been white and not the Belgian mist, I had up, it might have worked for me..... but I lost my sketch and the watercolors did not show up very well. I think I will only use the watercolors on white papers, in the future. Lesson learned!

Island Fields was painted using LeCarte Paper. The paper was a lovely golden color. I used a hard thin pastel to sketch this in and because LeCarte Paper does not take a fixative, I was a bit more careful. I normally prefer to let some of the colored paper show through, but I hesitated, not knowing how it would appear on The Virtual Paintout website. Some people like to completely cover the whole paper, but I really prefer the more spontaneous look.

The Island Treasure was fun to paint, but I had to run out and purchased pastel pencils, so I could tighten up some detail. Again, I prefer a more painterly look and I do not like to blend my pastels. I like to use them the same way I do when I paint with oils. The paper for this one was Art Spectrum and the paper color was black. I did my preliminary sketch with a light colored pastel. I usually like more black showing through, when I use a black ground, but again, I covered more, with the pastel.

All three paintings were painted using a variety of pastels and all of the papers had a tooth. If I participate next month, I intend to use the same method and paper or panel on all of them. My favorite of the three was the Island Fields and I'd be interested in your opinion.

I hope to build this site up and have more frequent postings, so check back for more information about me, as I introduce myself and tell you more about how I got here. There is more to come later.


Meanwhile, I have a couple of favorite links to share with you. I hope you enjoy them.

A stimulating challenge

I have to admit that painting, from a Google Street View, as a resource is challenging. Finding just the right place and then making adjustments, for perspective, camera distortion, etc. requires open minds, along with a good dose of creativity. The unique control over the view does take some getting used to, but this is an enjoyable adventure. I still get to personalize my vision, after I have made my selection, so there is plenty creative thinking going on. I also have my artistic license, to make changes that please me.

Island Treasure, is my last offering of the month. It's also another soft pastel painting. It's been so enjoyable painting with the pastels that I find myself adding to my pastel collection. I did recently add some pastel pencils, to my assortment, for this last painting. It's rumored that these "softies" do grow on you and so does the desire for more. I think that is true!

Each of the Prince Edward Island paintings used a different approach and I'll run through each process, in my next post and let you know what worked for me and what didn't. I am pretty heavy handed with the pastel pigment and I still follow my oil painting style, of not blending.

Until then, I hope you enjoy my paintings and the work of the other participating artists. Oh, and maybe you want to join in on the fun! There is still another week left in the month, for the Canada paintout. The location for September hasn't been disclosed yet, but you can still view the current and previous sites.