Art Show Coming Up!

Here is a detail of one of the pastels in the show.

Paul's Representative, Patricia

Changing techniques to suit the subject

Cool tones for a cool afternoon.

Here are two pastels, sized 5" by 7". Both depict scenes from Irwin Park about a mile from where I live. The first is quite loose in style, depicting an open field on a windy, sunny day. The "palette", that is, the colors used most prominently in the pastel painting, tend toward blue and white with a little purple added. These are often referred to as cool in tone, and they make the viewer feel that way. That is, cool as in temperature, not attitude. It was a bit chilly that afternoon.

I used a lot of long chalk strokes, hoping to convey the continuously changing patchwork of light caused by the swaying branches and moving foliage around me. The viewer might even 'feel' the vibrant atmosphere.

Getting warmth to show through 

Stillness goes with warmer tones in this scene.

The second painting shows a path about a third of a mile away, running through a small valley sheltered from the elements more than the field shown in the first picture. The canopy of trees is cut off from the wind, producing an environment that feels warm and still.

So the painting tends to use warmer colors, that is greens with a yellow tint, and even the purples have a dose of orange in them. You can still sense the same blue sky with hints of white in it. The drawing is much more traditional, relying a bit on techniques picked up from a 19th century book on how to draw trees. Too much line work would have distorted the sense of stillness. The patches of light are there, but are not constantly shifting.

A technique called scumbling

I did employ a nice late 20th Century technique called scumbling on the lower right-hand corner; I dragged the side of a large yellow pastel over a section of dark green to create the illusion of sunlight filtering through onto a patch of grass and small shrubs.

Although one painting appears tightly rendered and the other full of aggressive line strokes, both pieces are equally abstract. 

Thoughts on Trees

Really, this week's blog is more of a horticultural essay than something about art. It's too bad for you readers who happen across this art blog, but it does suggest why some landscape subjects are chosen over others for my pastel painting. 

Blue Spruce 1 by Paul Creedon, pastel artist

The blue spruce in this pastel landscape can be found on the Norwalk, CT Green, which was established over 250 years ago, and I feel is the most beautiful section of the city.

Trees as landscape subjects

I chose this tree as a subject because my father planted two similar blue spruce trees in front of our house before I was born and they eventually reached a height equivalent to three to four stories high. They caught a spruce blight, which meant my Dad had to spray poison on them early every spring to keep them alive. Unfortunately the stuff turned the trees green, but the new growth came in blue. 

If you look closely at the painting you can see some green behind the outermost blue growth. I guess the disease is still around, and the city has to treat the trees to keep them alive. There seem to be very few blue spruce left in New England, as far as I can tell. 

The tree in Norwalk sparked a memory, and I painted a recollection of my childhood, and a reminder of my late father.

So, that's an example of why some pictures come to be, and others which could be as nice or nicer, never see the light of day. 

The Difference Between Landscapes and Still Lifes

It looks a bit like a dinosaur came along and
threw up in the middle of this scene.

Showing more simplification.

With a still life it’s important to include what’s there. I’ve composed it and lit it to my satisfaction and the objects need to look like what they are (since my style is realistic art). However with a landscape, drawing what’s really there is disastrous. Here are examples of what I mean. Trees in a landscape are full of complexity. Each trunk has multiple branches and each branch has multiple leaves. Drawing that causes the artwork to look busy and confused as in the first sample. The second sample shows some simplification of the tree on the left. It actually looks more real than the more complex one towards the right. The third example is the most successful because I’ve simplified it to the essence of the tree’s architecture, using shapes of light and dark. 

Finally, something
with a certain elegance.

The difference then between a still life and a landscape is clear. One can be representative of what’s there and the other, due to shifting light and shadow as well as complexity of form, must be simplified to be successful. Then the beauty that is inherent in a scenic view can come through in its depiction.

Note: these three drawings were done with Cretacolor fine art leads. I don't have a relationship with that company. I just like these leads when I sketch in the field or in the studio.

Thoughts on style

One of my still life pastels—

this was fun to do

An artist's thoughts on style, or where will I land with landscapes?

With still life pastels I seemed to find my artistic style fairly early on. But I've had more of a struggle with landscapes, and I've never been entirely satisfied with the results. Some landscapes came out very nicely, but I wondered if they were merely exceptions to the rule. Maybe they pointed to something I was overlooking. After all, I have been drawing for decades and a style ought to come without too much of a struggle. It should be fun to do in some way (which is not the same as easy). The lack of some level of enjoyment always means something's not quite right. At least for me.

So the landscapes have recently been taking on a more nervous, line oriented style as opposed to the more representational feel I lean toward with a still life. That's the case for now but no one should be surprised if I follow various approaches to the landscape before I settle on one basic thematic style, although of course it would vary according to the particular scene. Drawing the outdoors is infinitely more complex than what I can arrange in a still life indoors. 

I took a few more pictures today in hopes of carrying on the pursuit of that elusive thing called style. Keep coming back to this blog to see some samples of what I'm talking about.