Barb's fault

[prestonsega]

Well, I decided to come out of the landscape closet and share a work I from a ref pic I took on a trip a few years back...I was asleep when my traveling companion got off interstate and woke me up in this gigantic cactus forest..( a strange site for a man from the swamps) Anyhow here is my effort for the informal challange that we have seemed to started here in the pastel forum ( the cactus limbs need to be more slender...they remind me of the fat Hamburger Helper hand!!

9"x12" soft pastel on Wallis Professional (by the way, Mr. fedex man brought me several large sheets of Wallis today, God bless him!

[bnoonan]

I'll take the blame for this any time. Love the concept of hamburger helper hands - but I don't think that's quite right. They could use a bit more meat on them but not much.

Look at all that color you introduced in that - it's fabulous? How did you see that? Was this done from a photo or when you were awakened by the friend?

Well - you're out of the closet now - guess we have no excuse for painting more of these!


Barb

[SweetBabyJ]

Mutely hands Barb the shoulder pads and just stands with mouth slightly agape... no drool yet- I'm a lady (mostly).

Seriously vernacular-word-here good, Preston- I mean, whoa! You NAILED it- I think the only thing you're missing is the proper "light", yes? You wanted hot white light, right? That'll come- especially if you get yourself some of the Schmincke lights next- trust me.

Seriously, this is GOOD.

[Deborah Secor]

Preston, you really got the colors! Especially that distant mountain. I love those colors. And so often you see a saguaro with mesquite companions...

Deborah

[Kathryn Wilson]

Way to go Preston! I especially like the sky in this one and the color of the distant mountain - put some ribs on that saguaro and you'll see a difference.

[Khadres]

Saguaros come in many configurations and fat arms can be one of them, especially if it's been enjoying plenty of rain for awhile. This is really nice and gives the lie to your not being able to do landscapes....so this means that all three of y'all are now EXPOSED and obligated to do MORE landscapes with NO whining about an inability to do them in future!

Nice colors and composition!

Anybody else think these folks have been holding out on us? Raise your hands!

[Kathryn Wilson]

Anybody else think these folks have been holding out on us? Raise your hands!

There isn't a "hand raising" smilie is there - :D

I think we need to name this group - "Landscapers Anonymous" and add Dawn to the group too.

[SweetBabyJ]

Only if you put "Struggling" in front of it....

[MKathleen]

Hi There, nice work on the saguaro they are a favorite of mine. I think you did a super job of capturing this giant. When we go down the hill toward Phoenix they start to appear as we get around the 3000 ft ele. It's like there is this magic line that they don't cross...I wish they grew higher but the winters are to cold for them in the high country. The saguaro that I painted (avatar) was my first real up close look at one and they are magificant and spiney.... :D

[Kathryn Wilson]

I don't think anybody in the "group" has said if they've tried doing landscapes in another medium - do you think the problem might be with the materials you are using? and not getting the detail you want Julie?

I did landscapes in watercolor and acrylics before I tried with pastels. With pastels, it clicked almost immediately, but I really struggled with watercolor.

[SweetBabyJ]

Watercolour was way, Way, WAY worse- and I really understand watercolour technique, too. Graphite's okay, pen and ink's good, but it's *colour* that knots me up, because, although I can *see* the value of colour, that does not diminish the need for a specific colour to MY eye.

Again- take a fall scene with pretty-coloured trees off in the distance shining in the sun... They are YELLOW and ORANGE and RED- not muted down past-their-glory shapes. They glow in that sun. Then, there's the 3-D effect: When you mute for distance and depth, you lose 3-D- not all of it, certainly, but a lot- which is why so many backgrounds appear "flat" and as if they were hidden by rain. To show volume, we use different values- darks push an edge back, lights pull a round out- but that has to be so very subtly done in a landscape's background, it is difficult to pull off. We've learned to see that "flatness" in paintings as "far-off", we interpret it in our heads, but that is not how the eye sees it for real. The eye still sees the shape, the volume of those shapes when we're looking at the real scene. (Unless it's waaaaaay off, or raining, or dusk/dawn).

So, that's my problem with colour in landscapes. I cannot make it look "real"- I have to "fool-the-eye" to make it look "right" instead.

[Kathryn Wilson]

I know it's frustrating - I may run into some of these problems painting plein aire in Utah - the air may be a whole lot clearer than here - things tend to distort and make objects look close up, when in reality they are 50 miles away.

It may be that you are trying too hard - knotting up comes to mind - I don't know what the key is. I somehow climbed the wall that I had hit - same place you were, nothing made sense until something clicked, but not sure what that was. Although I do remember highly surprising myself when I first started using color background paper - made a HUGE difference for me as I had really big problems with values before that. Really flat, dull paintings - but I was painting on white paper.

But with this last painting of your Julie, I think you might have just gotten over the wall. I see all kinds of depth in this one. Hope you are happy with it.

[prestonsega]

Dee..I forgot that this forest was near your neck of the woods As I recall. neither the ref pic or painting came anywhere near the magnificance of those open spaces. Beautiful country! Thanks for the comments.

For me, after doing the landscape, I don't have the desire to do another one, but when painting portraits or still lifes, I'm already starting another in my mind if not on paper before I finish the first.

[Artaholic]

Lovely, wonderful uses of color. I just got home from Pheonix and the cacti are all different shapes , it was the first time seeing these huge beauties and I am anxious to start painting them. I don't believe that there ia one set shape . :clap: :clap: