The Evolution of a Painting....without reference photos!

I am working on exercises that will help me break free from relying too heavily on my reference photos. I am trying to paint more from my plein air studies for starters. But I am also trying other exercises which I shared yesterday with my students at my monthly mini workshop. For the paintings that I am posting today I allowed myself to use the reference photo for the first (top) painting. I then did three more versions, all of them are 5x7. I put the photo away and for each version I let the previous painting guide me. They each evolved with changes in design and colors. It was very liberating to be free of the photo. We sometimes get too caught up in copying the photo and it can cause so many problems as well as frustration. This was a fun exercise and I may just do a few more versions! By the way, I want to thank everyone that came to the studio yesterday for the workshop. I had so much fun and hope you all did as well!

These paintings are available for $75 each. Please contact me at kemstudios@yahoo.com if interested.

Pastel Landscape with Texture

'California Dreams' 8x10 pastel

Not every painting is a success but one thing I love about pastel is how forgiving it is. It is so easy to rework a painting that you aren't happy with. This painting went through a few changes. It was a demo for last week's class on the Steelyard composition. The colors were dull and uninteresting so I changed them...several times. Still not happy. So I took out some acrylic matte medium and painted over the whole thing. The matte medium darkened the painting and melted the pastel but when it dried I had a stiff piece of paper with the texture of the brushstrokes. When I added more pastel, it skipped over those brushmarks making some interesting texture. What a fun way to salvage a painting!

Daisies 5x7 pastel

'Karen's Daisies' 5x7 pastel

These are my daisies because they are from my imagination. I just had fun playing with color and painting one of my favorite flowers. I plan on doing more imagination paintings. This one was too much fun. I am gearing up to a total redo of my pastel box. I have so many little pieces and everything is a dusty mess. I will go 'shopping' in my own studio and replace the bits and pieces with new pastels. I dread it but it will be wonderful when I am finished!

Piedmont Park Pond Demo

'Piedmont Park Pond' 8x10 pastel

I had a mini painting marathon yesterday. I did 3 small paintings for myself and then had a private student who wanted me to demo some subjects he want to paint. He is moving soon and wants to document several demos that he can study on his own. He is taking lots of photos and I will be able to use them to share with others as well. Last evening he chose this pond and geese with the reflections. He also chose a winter scene and an aspen tree scene. This has been so much fun to do! For this painting I did an underpainting with Createx Pure Pigments. The colors are so vibrant that I felt it would work well as an underpainting.

Lowcountry Sunset Version #2

'Evening Peace' 8x10 pastel

One photo can inspire many different interpretations of the scene and this is a second version of the sunset I painted last week. For this one I changed the orientation to horizontal and softened the colors. I am working at not relying so heavily on my reference photos. I want to paint from my studies and if I use my photos I want them to provide me with inspiration and ideas.

Bourbon Street at Night 8x10 pastel

'Bourbon Street' 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is a scene from Bourbon Street New Orleans from a photo taken by a student of mine. I did this as a quick demo. I love the great colors I get to use in a city scene at night! I am breathing a sigh of relief today as I just found out my son will have the right credits to graduate this May.(he was short one class) He is at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his designs were selected for the end of year event promotions and the commencement program. I am so happy and proud he will be able to be a part of this graduating class and have his work on the program! Chicago here we come!!

Yankee Boy Basin Colorado Wildflowers

'Yankee Boy Basin Summer' 11x14 pastel

oil stain underpainting

my palette for this painting

the reference photo

I have so many reference photos from my month out west this past summer so I thought I would paint from one today. This is Yankee Boy Basin in Ouray Colorado. We took a jeep tour up to the basin and after a very hairy ride we arrived in paradise! The wildflowers were at there peak and it was a gorgeous sunny day. There were so many kinds of flowers and I'm afraid I don't know what kind these are. I wish we had more time to wander around this meadow but I am very glad we had a chance to see it. This painting is done on Uart paper with an oil stain underpainting. I preselected my palette of colors. Doing this allows me to think and plan and when I start painting I don't have to slow down to pick pastels out of the big box!

My New Space at The Art Forum at Dupre's Antique Market

I have been busy the last couple of months getting my work ready to move into my new space in DuPre's Antique Market on the Marietta Square. We are gearing up for the Grand Opening but the doors are open so stop by and see what we are up to. The Art Forum is part of DuPre's Antique Market which is a well loved Marietta institution. Each artist will have their own space so we will have a great selection of local art available. We will also be able to paint in our spaces as well as in the front window area so there should usually be an artist at work! I am excited to be a part of this new venture. I have some pastels available but I will be focusing on using my space as a venue to show my other work...oils, acrylics, monotypes, jewelry. I hope you will stop by to visit us if you are in the area. Stay tuned for the Grand Opening details.

5x7 North Georgia Landscape

'Summer Meadow' 5x7 pastel

I was looking through my photos today and found a black and white photo of this North Georgia landscape. I have painted it before but I thought it was a good candidate for a little painting exercise. Since the reference photo is black and white I could do what I wanted with color. I actually painted two different versions and did a pencil sketch. I think I may try some other versions tomorrow.

Utah State Wildflower Sego Lily

'Sego Lily' 5x7 pastel

Here is my third state wildflower painting. I hope to paint a few each week. This is the Sego Lily, Utah's State flower. This is from my own photo but these lilies were found in New Mexico at Ghost Ranch! They are so delicate and beautiful. Now what to paint next???

New Wildflower Painting with Close-up Photos

'After the Rain' 11x21 pastel

A fun day in the studio! I finished a new wildflower painting and did some landscape studies. I am about to start an acrylic landscape if I don't run out of steam! I wanted to show some close-up photos of the painting as well as a photo of the underpainting. A little about my process: I used UArt paper and did an oil stain underpainting letting it drip. I moved the board around as it dried to get the drips to change direction. You can still see them in the painting because I didn't want to completely cover them up. I used my selection of Great American and Terry Ludwig pastels with some Giraults. I wish these large narrow paintings photographed better. It is hard to appreciate the scale in this photo!

Persian Cat at Rest

'Shaniqua' 8x10 pastel

This big beautiful fluffy cat belongs to one of my students and can you believe she is toilet trained? She actually does her business on the toilet. No litter box for her! My student had me laughing with stories abut his cat as I painted her. He will be moving soon and we usually do paint alongs but for this class I painted two subjects of his choice and he took photos. It was fun. We are all going to miss him when he moves!

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Price: $125 USD
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Lowcountry Sunset demo 8x10

'Lowcountry Sunset' 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is the demo I did for my class last night. We are studying composition this session and each week we will focus on a different composition scheme. This week is one of my favorites....The 'S' composition. The water in the marshes are prefect for this composition! We all painted from the same photos and as always it is amazing to see how may different ways the same scene can be interpreted by a group of artists!

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Price: $145 USD
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Alaska State Wildflower ...Indian Pond Lily

'Indian Pond Lily' 7x5 pastel

Here is painting #2 of my state wildflower series. This is the Indian Pond Lily the state wildflower of Alaska as used in the commemorative Stamp Series. If a state doesn't have an official wildflower than I will use the flower from the stamp series. I will also ask you for your votes for some of the states. This pond lily was painted from my photo. We found a pnd full of them this summer in Yellowstone. They are very striking! This painting is on LaCarte pastel card.

Back from the Caribbean...plein air studies

'Charlotte Amalie I' 5x7 pastel (top)
'Charlotte Amalie II' 5x7 pastel

I am home from a wonderful cruise to the Caribbean. We picked the best time to go missing all of the mess of the Atlanta snow storm. We had warm sunny days every day and I was able to do 75 paintings! OK so 70 of them were only 2.5x3.5 inches each but in doing them I had to make 70 different compositions and color choices. I know that some will definitely be studies for larger paintings....so it was a great way to spend my time on a lounge chair! The two paintings I am sharing today were done from the deck of the ship as we were docked in St. Thomas USVI. They were done on Wallis Belgian Mist paper with a selection of Great American pastels.

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Price: $95 USD
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New England Landscape 8x10

I call this painting 'Contemplation' because it is the perfect spot to sit and contemplate ... or just enjoy being outside in a peaceful landscape. This happens to be a spot on Nantucket Island, one of my favorite places.
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Autumn Prelude 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is a quiet moment in the Lowcountry. I always enjoy painting the many moods of the marshes. 
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Nocturne Landscape 5x7 pastel

I haven't had a chance to share all of my landscape variations from last year's challenge. Here is one of my favorites. I will be taking them down from my studio wall to make room for my new challenge paintings!
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Sunflowers in the Mountains 11x14

This little garden filled with sunflowers was near my parents's home in the North Carolina mountains. I love painting sunflowers, especially when they are in a landscape!
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Magical Meadows 11x14 pastel

I came across this magical scene on a drive to the North Georgia Mountains.  These purple wildflowers were growing alongside the highway. We had to pull over for  a photo op!
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Nantucket Dunes 8x10 pastel

Today's painting is one of my favorite Nantucket paintings. I loved this view overlooking the dunes and the sea. Makes me think of Summer!
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Across the River Plein Air 8x10

This painting was painted plein air during last spring's plein air festival in Blue Ridge Georgia. I was thrilled to win second place!  I really do enjoy painting outside and wish I made time to do it more often.
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Taos New Mexico Painting 8x10

Here is a painting from last year done from one of my photos of a trip to New Mexico. I will be going back to Albuquerque in June for the IAPS convention. I can't wait!
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Daybreak Marsh Painting 8x10

Today's painting is a marsh scene at daybreak. I loved the warm golden light. The promise of a great day!
 

My Website:   www.karenmargulis.com

My Art Blog:   www.kemstudios.blogspot.com

Magen's Bay Palm...Headed to the Caribbean!

'Magen's Bay Palm' 10x20 pastel

I'm headed to the Caribbean on a cruise and I can't wait to do some lounge chair plein air painting! I have my pastels supplies all packed and some good art books now all I need is the sun and blue skies! I will still be posting but I will be sharing some old favorites of mine. Today's painting is one of them. I have had many inquiries about it but it just hasn't found the right home. I am really looking forward to this week of downtime because as soon as I get home I have a lot of work to do! I will share more when I get back but it is an exciting new venture for me!

Steps to a Wildflower Painting

'Dancing Wildflowers' 16x20 pastel

I'd like to share some photos of my process for this painting. My inspiration for this one is actually one of my older paintings. I wanted to use the painting as my reference instead of using photos. I chose to put down a layer of hard pastels which I washed in with turpenoid. As the turpenoid dripped I turned the paper in different directions so I could get a tangle of grasses with the drips. I then added my softer pastels when this underpainting was dry. The result is a similar subject but a different look to the finished painting.

Introducing my new Pastel Challenge..50 Wildflowers

'Claret Cup Cactus - New Mexico' 7x5 pastel

I am excited to share the first painting of my new challenge. My plan is to paint 50 native American wildflower paintings...one for each of the 50 states. They will all be 7x5 inches and will be pastel. Like my landscape variation challenge I will use different types of paper and techniques to make it interesting. Some states have an official wildflower but many don't. To help me choose the wildflowers for each state I will be using the wildflowers chosen for the USPS Wildflower Stamp series of 1992. I will paint them in no particular order and I hope to finish the project before Spring. My first painting of the series is the state wildflower of New Mexico..the Claret Cup Cactus. This painting was done on Uart paper that was toned with green gouache.

First Painting of 2011 ...Field of Poppies

'Poppy Dreams' 8x10 pastel

It was a busy day today. I am finishing up last minute things before I leave for my cruise later this week but I wanted to make sure I had some time to paint! I started a large pastel and while the underpainting was drying I did this poppy meadow. I have painted this scene before but this time it was done on Uart paper that I had toned black with thin acrylic paint. The reds I used were from my new Jimmy Wright Great American pastel set. I am looking forward to playing more with this set. The colors are wonderful! I will not be mixing them into my general pastel population! They will get their own box. I keep my Richard McKinley set separate as well. I do this because I like to challenge myself to sometime do a painting using the colors in a particular set. This forces me to try new colors rather than always rely on the same palette.

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Price: $145 USD
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Latest Wildflower Painting

'Reach for the Sky' 6x6 pastel

Here is the second painting from my underpainting 'marathon'. Once again for this one I used oil paint thinned with turpenoid and let it drip and make spider webs. I had some Queen Annes Lace photos to inspire me. Now I am working on a larger 16x20 wildflower painting.