Alcohol or Water Wash? Which is Better?

'Up in the Cardinal Tree'        8x10        ©Karen Margulis
available $150

When it works it really works! It is a bit unpredictable but that is part of the excitement. Anytime that pastel is washed with a liquid it creates a whole new wonderful world! The dry pastel turns into paint and interesting things can happen. I love the possibilities!

Pastel can be liquified with any liquid. Water is an easy choice and I use it often. I also love to use rubbing alcohol and odorless mineral spirits. So which is better? It is a personal preference but I give the edge to rubbing alcohol.

The application of dry pastel. I used a few harder Nupastels

•  Rubbing alcohol dries a bit faster than water. Since it quickly evaporates it doesn't sit on the paper leading to less chance of buckling.

• Rubbing alcohol can create some interesting spider web-like drips. Click on the photos below to see them closer. The results are unpredictable so I am always excited when I get some good runs like I did here. When I get some interesting drips it becomes my goal to allow as much of this underpainting as possible to show in the finished painting.

Tips for an alcohol wash: You need to use a surface that can get wet. Most sanded papers will work even when unmounted. Some artists prefer Pastelbord by Ampersand which is a board and will not warp or buckle. I use 70% alcohol which has a lower flashpoint than the 90%. Using harder pastels work best. The softer the pastel the gummier the results. If you do use a softer pastel be sure to use a very light touch.

8x10 Uart 500 unmounted. no buckling!

close up of the cool spider web drips

 You can see that in the final painting (at top)  I left much of the bottom left corner untouched . I let the drips become a part of the scrubby field. Now that was fun!

******Do you see the little cardinals in the tree? They are my spice. More cardinals coming!*****

What Mother Nature Teaches Us About Color

'First Snow'          9x12       pastel         ©Karen Margulis
available $155

The day was cold and dreary. The clouds were getting thicker and the sky was heavy with the promise of snow. We walked through the park at a fast clip anxious to get home. It was actually the type of weather I love.....moody and gray. That is when hidden color really comes to life!  I had my camera around my neck and quickly shot photos as we passed through the park.

I have returned home to Georgia missing my grandbabies but filled with inspiration and excitement. The first thing I decided to paint was a scene from the walk in the park. I loved the little trees with the bright red berries. They teach us an important lesson about color.

All Color is No color!  If you want a color to stand out...to pop or sing...then it is important to surround the color with duller or neutral colors. This provides the stage so the main color can be the star!  Mother Nature does this! All we need to do is look and we will see it.

Follow along my step by step demo to see how I made the red berries the star of my painting.

The block in: Roughing in the trees with a dark dull violet and some gray blues. I am using Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

Adding some dull reds to the trees and some pale pinks to the sky. I am also adding some dull pale pinks and violets to the snow. I indicate a few branches with a dark blue pastel.

I blend in this first layer of pastel to add some soft mystery. I paint the bare trees by blocking in a mass then carving the branches with sky color.

Now I add a brighter red by using a brick red pastel on it's side. This isn't the most intense red I will use. I am gradually building up to the bright red berries. I also develop the snow and shadows on the snow. So far everything is still on the dull side!

I spray the trees with Blair workable fixative so that I can get more texture in the trees. I also add some snow on the branches. The next step is to finally add the brightest most intense red for the berries. I use soft Schminke pastels in a cool red and a warm orange red. I make a few 'berry' marks and call the painting finished!

close up of the berries

It's great to be back in the studio! Thank you all for your patience while I took a Grammie break from the blog!

Sunday Studio Video Demo: Trees at Sunset

'Sunset Walk'          9x12      pastel      ©Karen Margulis
available $155

I finally did it. I had time to do another Sunday Studio live demo. It has been a busy couple of months and it has been difficult to find the time to do a live broadcast. I spent the morning packing for our upcoming cruise and finished in time to paint in the afternoon.

I decided to paint a scene from my recent workshop in New Mexico. We had some amazing sunsets which we enjoyed in the evenings on our after dinner walk. I loved this picture I took of the trees against the cotton candy pink sky. It was an awesome experience and I wanted to capture it in a painting.

You can see the entire live broadcast on my Facebook profile page. Search for Karen Margulis on Facebook. If you don't do FB you can see the video on my YouTube channel Link Here

My reference photo

My 2.5 x 3.5 color study

The Ultimate Inspirational Experience

'Changes'       8x10      pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available $145

If you love pastels please keep reading. Tuesday 9/20 at noon ET is the day to reserve your hotel room for the ultimate inspirational experience for pastel artists of all levels....IAPS 12. This year the Hotel Albuquerque opens reservations before convention registration so be sure to call to book your room.

click here for a preview of the IAPS 12 Convention

click here for more information on the convention hotels and contact numbers

Update from IAPS: The only number that will work for IAPS reservations is 866-505-7829. Please do not try to call the main hotel number, you will not get our IAPS rate, and they will not take your reservation.


If you have attended the convention then you already know the many benefits.....great demos and workshops by the pastel rock stars, the candy store (pastel vendors), the fun and friendship of the artists, the beautiful location in New Mexico....I could go on. But if you have not yet attended the convention please consider coming in 2017.

It doesn't matter how new you are to pastels. You will be inspired!

The year I first began painting with pastels the IAPS convention was in North Carolina for the first time. An easy drive away. I could have attended but I didn't feel like I was 'ready'. I know better now. There is something for everyone and everyone will welcome you and make you a part of the pastel family. Every time since I have gone to the biennial convention. (now as a part of the faculty) Every year I leave motivated and inspired.

Make your room reservations and start a special piggy bank labeled IAPS INSPIRATION. Save your pennies for the ultimate pastel inspirational experience!

The start....big simple shapes

I welcome your questions about the convention. If I don't have the answer I will do my best to find out.  Please send your questions to me at karenmargulis@gmail.com and I will answer them in an upcoming post.

Today's painting: I used a piece of white Pastelmat. I always forget how much I enjoy this paper!

Sunday Studio Pastel Demo Video: Painting Aspens with Terry Ludwig's Stunning Yellows

'Stunning Yellow'           8x10       pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $145

 The box arrived yesterday and I was chomping at the bit. Terry Ludwig's new pastels are always a treat and I was especially excited to see these new 'Stunning Yellows'.  Of course they are just that...Stunning!  They are perfect for so many things that I love in the landscape....chamisa, sunflowers, bumblebees, daisies and of course aspens in the Fall!

I decided to try them for the first time live on Facebook!  The painting in this post is the result of my live demo with a few final marks of yellow and violet. You can see the video on my Youtube channel or my Facebook page. Be sure to like and share if you found the demo helpful!

https://youtu.be/LJlmwdWH-wI

Terry Ludwig pastels 'Stunning Yellows' all new colors! Click here for website

The demo painting is 8x10 on Uart 400 grit. I did a dry wash underpainting of the tree foliage using a terra-cotta Nupastel. 

I did use a few additional pastels for the painting. I happened to have a tray of colors I used for another autumn painting and some of these pastels were perfect for the aspens.

I hope you enjoyed the demo! Tell Terry you saw the set on my blog when you make your purchase (I know you want them ;)  )

Behind the Scenes: Painting From a Very Bad Photo

'Morning Magic'           9x12         pastel         ©Karen Margulis
sold

All I had was a memory. And a very very bad photograph.  It smoldered in my memory. And when I came across the photo it soon became a spark that fired up my imagination. Even though it was several years ago I clearly remember approaching the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to an early flight home. The landscape glowed and vibrated with warmth .  Trees that were green appeared to be orange. The red bridge seemed as thought it was lit from within. The rising sun was having it's way with the landscape and I was spellbound.

I took a few quick photos from the car but with the traffic and movement they were not great. In fact they were terrible. Very Very Bad.  See below.  But fortunately I never delete photos even the bad ones because I never know when they might inspire me. All I need is a spark.

My terrible reference photo. I need to do a lot of editing.

Let's face it. Using a bad photo as a painting reference gives us permission to take chances. You can't make it any worse. It should be easy to make it better. With the pressure off we can relax and recall. What do we remember about the scene? What did we love? Once we know the answer we can use the information in the photo to develop a painting that accomplishes our mission. Read on to discover how I interpreted my bad photo.

a wet underpainting created with Art Graf and water.

• I was drawn to the wonderful orange light in the trees. I remembered everything being bathed in a warm hazy glow. This was my mission....capture the glow.

• I wanted to experiment with my Art Graf pigment blocks. I applied them lightly to Uart and wet them with a brush to create a wet and drippy underpainting. I used the Burnt Sienna to represent the sunlit portions of the trees.

• I built the painting from dark to light emphasizing the trees.

• I removed all of the distracting stuff in the photo leaving just the trees and distant tree shape.

• The sky in the photo is almost overexposed and looks white. I had the freedom to choose a sky color. (see yesterday's post) I wanted to keep the glow in the sky so I selected a pale peach and pale blue. I decided to make vertical marks in the sky for interest.

• I finished the painting by adding the orange light to the sides of the tree trunks and added some spices. Can you find them?

Tips for Painting More Expressive Foliage

'Island Oasis'           9x18        pastel         ©Karen Margulis
available $165

It is so tempting but I have to resist. I have to remind myself that when painting a landscape my goal is to paint my impression of the scene and not to make a photographic copy.

I don't have to paint every leaf on the tree for the viewer to know it is a tree. 

It isn't always easy though. Once the pastel is in my hand and I start painting the tree or shrub it is hard to know when to stop. How many leaves are really necessary and how can our trees and shrubs be more expressive?

the painting before refining the trees

 I took out an older unfinished painting from my pile. I liked the colors but the trees seemed unfinished. It was the perfect painting to practice painting expressive foliage. It only needed a little more work to refine the trees without overdoing them. Here are four tips that helped me finish the foliage in this painting:

• Spray workable fixative to add texture to a painting. I sprayed the fixative on the trees and grass to darken and fix the color in place. I was then able to highly stumble some greens over the 'fixed' areas creating areas of broken color. The darks remain in place and peek through the added layers giving the suggestion of texture / leaves.

spraying workable fixative over the foliage and grass

• Create volume in the trees by building up layers of darks and lights. Know where the light is coming from and keep only that part of the trees sunlit. If there are spots of light and dark all over the entire tree they will look too busy and flat. Build the form of the tree with value and temperature changes.

• Carve the big tree and shrub shapes by painting what is behind these shapes. Painting the sky holes will allow the foliage to take shape. Don't forget to make sure you paint what is behind the tree....it isn't always the sky!

• Add the finishing touches by painting a few leaf shapes. Use a firmer touch and harder edges on these leaves. Painting a few leaves will allow the viewer to read the whole tree. The viewer will fill in the details so we only need to suggest a few.

An Easy Tip for Painting Better Trees

'Serenity Bend'         11x14       pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available on Etsy $175

As soon as I saw it I knew what was wrong. My brain had done it again! It had taken over and happily organized all my tree trunks into neat, straight and even lines. It didn't stop there! My brain also decided that the spaces in between the tree trunks also needed to be neat and even.   What a fine job it did!  But this is one place that I don't want this side of the brain to take charge!

As Jove Wang reminded us during his demo at the Plein Air Convention "Even is Boring"

We certainly don't want BORING!  We need to jump in and take charge and mix things up a little!

Before the changes

Nice and even spacing between the trees

The photos above show the 'before' version of the painting. Notice the tree trunks. They are all lined up with straight trunks. The INTERVALS or spacing between the trees are also just about the same. Even = Boring! 

I returned to the painting with a mission....to break up the even spaces and make the negative spaces more interesting. I did this by changing the placement of some of the tree trunks. I also used the sky color to create more interesting shapes. Finally I changed some of the trees and bushed to break up the area and make a more interesting tangle of foliage.

Below is the result of my makeover. It captures better the feeling of the wildness of this place. It wasn't a cultivated garden so I didn't need it to be neat and organized.

TIP: Pay attention to what your brain is doing! It wants to put things in order yet we appreciate things that are interesting and unexpected. Take charge and remember that EVEN =  BORING!

Pastel and Watercolor with a Twist....demo photos

'Summer in Sweden'          8x10        pastel           ©Karen Margulis
available $145

It was great to get back to the easel today. I was so excited that I didn't know what to try first. Since I am preparing for my Uart sponsored underpainting workshop in Chicago I thought it would be fun to do a watercolor underpainting. But I added a fun little twist. I love discovering new ways to create underpaintings.

Cretacolor Aqua Brique Watercolors and Derwent Watercolor Pencils

I started with a simple underpainting using my Cretacolor Aqua Briques. I love how bold and vibrant they are. Then I had an idea. Why not use my watercolor pencils on the paper while it was still wet. I took out my Derwent watercolor pencils (I have been using them for my sketchbook) and started putting in some small branches with the black and dark blue pencil. I loved how the lines started to gently spread creating a wonderful painterly effect. I continued by adding some green grasses and leaves. They went on like butter and spread just enough to make it interesting. 

I will be using watercolor pencils again! 

The finished watercolor and watercolor pencil underpainting

I began by blocking in the dark leaves with Terry Ludwig pastels and developed the tree trunks with pale values of peach and blue and yellow. I am careful to let the watercolor underpainting show!

Next I blocked in the sky and distant grass. Big simple strokes.

I continue painting the grass matching the underpainting color with the same color and value in my soft Terry Ludwig pastels. I am still careful to let some of the drips of watercolor show!

I add the finishing touches...some blue and peach in the trunks and hints of flowers in the grass. Finished!

My reference photo

Question for my readers: Are you active on Instagram? Do you like it and how do you use it? Your answers will help my upcoming article on Instagram. You can follow me @karenmargulis

How To Fix a Pastel Painting Problem

'Creekside Neighbors'         16x20        pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available $250

I knew there was a problem with the painting. It wasn't immediately clear but there was something that bothered me. I put the painting on a spare easel and went to bed.  In the morning the problem was clear. How could I have overlooked it? How come I painted it that way in the first place?  It would be a fairly easy fix.

the original demo painting as left from the demo

 So what was the problem? Have a look at the photo just above and see if you can spot the problem area.  It is the tree trunks on the trees on the left. They are just not interesting. My brain did a great job organizing them. They are nice and straight, the same size and shape and even leaning in the same direction. Boring!  They needed to have a more interesting relationship. They needed a bit of an adjustment.

Brushing out the boring tree trunks

I needed to change the direction of the way one of the trees was leaning. I also wanted to give the trunks a better shape. They needed to get thinner as they went higher.

How to fix the problem: 
I needed to brush off trunks to restore some tooth of the paper. It would be too hard to put the lighter value of the golden grasses over the dark trunks. I used a stiff and very worn bristle brush to brush off the tree trunks. There was a slight ghost image of the trunks but it would be easy to cover that with new pastel layers.

Once I brushed the old trunks off I simply repainted the trunks making sure that I kept them natural and interesting. It is sometimes difficult to get the nerve up to brush off an area in a painting that you generally like. What if you ruin it! The painting becomes precious. Don't let this happen. It is better to take a deep breath and dive in with the brush and make the changes. Remember....It's only paper!

Have you seen my latest YouTube video? I'd love for you to check it out and see how I paint grasses.
Here is the link:https://youtu.be/n-MNHNxm6y8

Simplifying Winter Trees from a Complicated Photo

'Winter Warm Up'         11x14      pastel      ©Karen Margulis
available $165

It wasn't the best subject to paint for a demo. But in the end it held an important lesson about choosing reference photos and making them work.

Photos are best used for inspiration. But you need to know what the inspiration is!

I was drawn to the photo that inspired today's painting. There was something about it that was exciting. It certainly wasn't the multitude of tangled branches and trees. I was so captivated by the wonderful contrast of the yellow light at the horizon agendas the darks of the trees. In fact I didn't even notice how busy and complicated the photo looked until my friends pointed it out. "I would have never chose that photo! " they told me.

I didn't notice the challenging aspects of the photo because I was so focused on the light at the horizon. That was a good thing though because I had a concept for the painting. I wanted to portray this light and the drama of the touch of warm light against the dark and cold. Knowing what I wanted to say allowed me to decide how I would say it.

reference photo

I took a few minutes to think about how I would go about getting my message across. I decided I needed to simplify the trees and branches and even the snow on the ground. I would go crazy trying to put in all of those branches and they weren't really necessary.This would allow me to focus on depicting the light.

How to simplify?  I blocked in the big tree shape with black Art Graf and wet it with alcohol. This gave me a nice two value underpainting....dark and light. I added some darker value neutrals to the tree mass before breaking up the big shape with the sky color. It was a slower than usual process as I used negative painting to carve the branches into the tree. I had more control this way and didn't get a tangle of  branches that looked stiff and unnatural.

For the distant bare trees I didn't paint individual branches. Instead I used a very light touch and added a middle value shape. This light touch allows the sky color to peek through giving the illusion of bare trees.

closeup detail

Starting with big shapes of light and dark and gradually carving into the shapes was a great way to depict winter trees. It helped me keep them simple and I didn't go crazy trying to copy all of the branches in a way to busy photo. The fun part was capturing the subtle yellow glow that drew me to the photo in the first place.

A Simple Tip For Overcoming Inspiration Paralysis

'A Quiet Spot'           5x7      oil on panel      ©Karen Margulis
available $75

It is a time killer. How often do you have time to paint and spend most of it trying to decide WHAT to paint? How often have you gone through stacks of reference photos only to decide you have nothing at all that inspires you. How many times have you given up and called it a day because you spent all of your painting time trying to find inspiration? 

It happens and it isn't a good habit to have. I call it Inspiration Paralysis. If you are trying to make a commitment to paint more often this is one habit that needs to be changed. When I started daily painting it was a challenge at first to find things I wanted to paint. I quickly learned that once I got started on a painting it would give me ideas for another.....and it snowballed until I was never at a loss for inspiration.

This quote from Chuck Close is so true. We just need to get into the studio, pick something to paint and get to work. Inspiration will come with painting. Get the engine primed and it will take off!  It doesn't have to be the perfect subject. It just needs to be something that you know....that you like.

I have a simple tip that helps me overcome the 'inspiration paralysis'.  

I call it an Inspiration Jar. 

My INSPIRATION JAR is filled with things I love to paint

I fill my inspiration jar with small contact sheet size reference photos. I like working from small photos so this size is perfect (about 2 x 3) If you work from photos on your tablet or computer you could fill your jar with slips of paper listing subject matter. If I worked from a tablet I think I would still print out contact photos of my potential subject. These small photos are perfect for doing thumbnails!

When it is time to paint I simply reach into my jar and pull out a photo. That is what I will paint for that session.  Of course I make sure that the photos on my jar are all things that I want to paint. They are all my own photos and they all have inspired me. It really doesn't matter what order I paint these subjects. Daily painting is all about putting in practice time at the easel. I dent want to waste my precious painting time agonizing over subject matter!

'A Quiet Spot II'        5x7      pastel     $75

 I am participating in Leslie Saeta's 30 Painting in 30 days challenge. There are over 1200 artists around the world participating. I am doing a 5x7 oil and pastel of the same scene each day. My goal is to get better at oil painting. I am not giving up pastels! I just want to be fluent in both....kind of like learning another language.  See all of the challenge paintings here.