oil on canvas
15″ x 34″
$600.00 via PayPal
$15.00 shipping within US
Pastel Landscape Process
Inspired to do a larger pastel piece, I worked on a 22″ x 24″ sheet of red Canson paper to create this drawing. I took photographs along the way to illustrate the process. First I began with a simple value focused watercolor underpainting. It’s important to not overwork this step and stress the paper. In landscape, I almost always start with sky. Once the sky is established it is easy to build in front of it. I may have to tweak colors in the sky later for cohesiveness, but I shouldn’t have to do much. The most difficult part of this piece was the large expanse of grassland. It was hard to be consistant without it being too boring so I tried to vary of the colors and marks. However in doing so I walked the line of making it too “chunky” and imaginary. After a few days work on this piece I am happy with the end result, the balance of warms and cools, of ground and sky.
Reflections on an Art Fair Summer
When the festival season is over for me (in 2 weeks) I will have 9 festivals under my belt. By far the most I have ever done in one summer. There has been a huge learning curve and I have tweaked my display at almost every show. I have also kept notes on which festivals I will do again next year and which ones I won’t. I had good festivals and bad festivals, but there is more to it than sales. There were festivals this year I did not sell a thing at- but I am still considering returning to these festivals next year because it was good exposure, an art educated crowd, or just plain fun. Next summer will likely be more concise in terms of my festival schedule. I may also branch out a little further into Illinois or Minnesota. Fellow artists have proven to be a priceless resource in providing pointers and recommending other shows. Even when I was not selling I was learning, making connections, and gaining exposure. This weekend is Mount Mary Starving Artist Festival (which will be a very different kind of show for me). Following that is Hidden River the 14th-16th. I will stay cautiously optimistic about these coming weeks!