Meditation on Teaching--What Do You WANT?

Having just taught a pastel painting class for the Pastel Society of El Paso, I have been thinking quite a bit about what affects my own and others' creation process.  I frequently heard myself asking  individual artists, "What do you WANT?"  Just because I would choose a color or a placement of an element, does not mean it is the right way if it does not reflect what the artist wants.

INTENT is usually the first element of composition that needs to be addressed, and this class made me aware of how important it is. INTENT means deciding if a painting has a story or message or is simply meant to be beautiful for its own sake.  But it also means remembering WHAT attracts us to a subject and  makes us WANT to paint it.  WHY do I choose to paint or draw a particular thing or idea? If our motivation is unclear, we cannot know WHEN or IF we actually reach the goal.  Conversely, if what attracted me was, for example,

This is me, trying to get what I WANT--glorious red poppies!

the vivid color of some flowers, but I end up nuancing the foreground dirt or the sky or the leaves or the path or the landscape behind them, instead, I may not get what I WANT or what I INTEND.

The temptation, particularly using photographs as references, is to wander off in the details and the unrelated bits, thereby diminishing the power of what we WANTED to say or show.  To greatly strengthen a composition, first remember WHY you chose the subject and WHAT you want to show.  Then, balance the rest of the details in proportion to your INTENT in order to arrive at what you WANT.

BTW--note that I am offering a plein air class at the Hondo Iris Farm on May 28, 9-4.  Contact me at sarajchambers@yahoo.com or 575-430-6148 for details.

Happy New Year--Dancing in the Dark

Happy New Year!

I know, I know--that was over two months ago.  But my "new year" was stuck in limbo for six weeks due to an illness in my family.  Then it took me another three weeks to "get back to myself"!  This pastel is one of my newest paintings.  I called it "Dancing in the Dark."  (20x16 pastel on board)  Irises always make me happy!  I really enjoy the play of the light against the dark teal background.

We have an upcoming trip to Chile and Argentina.  It will be very fun to see what that trip adds to my future paintings!

I will be teaching a two day class in pastel painting in early May for the Pastel Society of El Paso.  That will be a lot of fun!

PS--I found out that my short term "paralysis" at creating during a crisis has a name--"anticipatory grief."  Who knew?  Whew--glad it is over!

Spectrafix--Miracle Fixative!

I seldom if ever use fixative with my pastels.  The boards that I use with pumice surface really holds the pastel without fixative.  But I have explored ways of sealing and varnishing my pastels in order to maintain the bright colors and textures without glass.  Although I was able to do so, the process was extremely imperfect:  It required much labor, lots of coats of spray varnish, much reworking, could not be done in my studio (fumes!), was weather dependent (wind! Think "New Mexico"!)

Recently, another multi-media artist, Bob Burridge, recommended using Spectrafix  casein-based fixative as a means of overcoming theses obstacles.  I just tried the Spectrafix on a small pastel (above).  I cannot see any difference in color or texture from "before" to "after"!!  I am AMAZED.  I plan to try varnishing it after it sets for a week, per one of the customer comments.  Totally no smell or fumes.  Cannot wait to try painting a pastel on canvas.  It will be great for charcoal drawings, also.  Thanks, Bob! 

Here is their website: http://spectrafix.com/index.html

PS--I am not receiving a commission from Spectrafix ;>)

Pastel Society of El Paso Demo

What a fun time I had doing the demonstration for the Pastel Society of El Paso last Thursday.  About 20 people watched me create this 20 x 16" painting of a garden with red flowers:

I love painting in pastels.  They are so direct and have such a powerful punch of color.  They are also a very fast medium for me.  This painting took me about an hour, and that was while I was talking!

I had a terrific group of artists join me for my "Small Jewels" class on Saturday!  We each created between two and five paintings.  The artists learned that they could create powerful, colorful "jewels" of art on small formats in a very limited period of time in almost any medium.  These pieces encourage fluency of drawing, composition and painting, and result in lovely pieces that fit anyplace!  Remember--the more pieces of art you produce, the better you get!  Production is even more important than product.

My next class is Friday, May 11, beginning about 9:30 a.m. at the Hondo Iris Farm in Hondo, NM (east of Ruidoso, Hwy 7, Blue sign at Mile Marker 284, just off highway).  It is aptly about "Painting Irises".  See info at the right for details or go to my website:  www.SaraJChambers.com

Remember that early, discounted registration deadline for the "Creative Composition" class is June 1.  You save 10%!  Such a deal.

Spring Plein Air

Fellow artist Sue Parry and I went out to paint the glorious spring day yesterday. It was a three-painting day for me--always a joy!

I began warming up with a modified contour of the mesa that intrigued me and started adding water color to capture how I felt about the scene.  Along the way, I decided I liked two things:  One, drawing rhythm of the landscape and not every detail; two, that I didn't paint every detail.  I got a little carried away with the drawing before I stopped, but I still like the effect.  "Spring in the Air," 6"x8" pen and watercolor.

Having warmed up, I moved into doing a small pastel piece of the same scene, flipping the orientation to vertical.  I seldom work this small in pastel, so I challenged myself to pull this off.  I love the vibrant colors and the textures of the mesas and pushing the warm and cool contrast.  It's a little too fussy overall for what I thought I wanted, but I enjoy it.  This one is "Spring Mesa," 7"x5" pastel on board.

With about 30 minutes to spare, I decided to tackle another pastel on a 6x8" board with a different viewpoint.  Deciding to draw the contours in a cad red light was so exciting that I decided to see how far I could push the fantasy!  I really wanted to exaggerate the warm and cool contrast, choosing only the violet and the turquoise to parry against the cad red and gold, and finishing the sky with a dark blue.  In about 20 minutes, I thought I had pulled it off.  I love the result!

"Spring Evening," 6"x8" pastel on board.

Crazy Horse

For Your Glory 20x16 pastel on board

This week, I went back to pastel.  The challenge was to paint a horse in the same palette as some of my oil horses, with abstract background.  The result is not dull.

I find working in these large color blocks in pastel less interesting than with palette knife and oil paint.  But fun, all the same!