One of the highlights of my work last year was a piece entitled "Midday Perch," a serene portrait of a blue jay that had dropped in unexpectedly during a summertime lunch in the courtyard of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was a really enjoyable painting to create, and I was surprised to realize that I was developing something of a crush on backyard birds. I loved working on the delicate surface of Sennelier's LaCarte pastel card and reached a new depth of darks by combining the famous Terry Ludwig eggplant with Sennelier's green black. The electric blues were completely energizing, and I even used a few scrapings of iridescent pastel to illuminate the jay's plumage. A few months later I caught a nice reference photo of a common sparrow at a local farm and decided to create a sister painting to the blue jay. Sparrows are rather dull, dirty-looking birds, but I know enough about natural selection to know that their markings serve a purpose. Nothing is accidental in nature! To me, there is beauty in the momentary stillness of a creature that has a hair-trigger fight-or-flight response. I felt the challenge of not only capturing the bird in a photograph, but also rendering the non-descript into something enriching, beautiful and noticeable. A similar composition connected the sparrow to the blue jay. Warm tones in the background helped the sparrow stand out while still blending in. Carefully placed strokes of peach made feathers glow. After some months of working on other pieces, other subject matters, I was excited for the opportunity to exhibit the two birds together. The South Shore Art Center provided its second gallery to a pastel-only show. "Local Color" features the work of pastel artists from around the region, a lovely range of talent and support for the medium. And there, among the landscapes and still life studies, are the blue jay and sparrow, the watchful intent of each bird's gaze taking in all the art and beauty around them. |
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aboutI have been pastel painting since 2012. You can read more about my background and my work here. archives
August 2019
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