I've been experimenting with some small pastel pieces. I had intended to attempt some abstract landscapes, but I ended up with some not abstract, but contrived landscape paintings. Part of this process was to help me loosen up in handling of pastels. The first piece, “Beyond the Field” was completed fairly quickly. I worked on a piece of recycled, sanded pastel paper. I’d scrubbed off an old pastel painting, covered the paper with gesso, and then painted on a pastel ground. The brush marks in the ground created a somewhat rough texture that I liked working on.
The second piece, “Glimpsing a Pond”, took a bit longer. It too was done on recycled pastel paper. The composition changed as I progressed, but it happily resulted in the addition of the pond.
After completing the pastel pieces, I was in a bit of a creative slump for a week or so. Finally I decided to experiment a bit, and following a suggested prompt of beginning with a single word, I created the 6” square piece, “It’s About Time”.
The second piece is a floating collage. It is mounted on a piece of mat board so that it “floats” above the surface of the larger mat board backing. This the creates a shadowed edge around the piece. It is titled, “It All Adds Up”. It measures about 6.5” on all sides. Both pieces are mounted on 10” square mat board.
It feels great to be making art again!