Plein Air Workshop in Mexico

I was hoping to have an update on my peaches painting to be able to post on my blog . I am working on the platter and have almost finished that part except for some details but it needs supervision from Michael Newberry before I feel that, that part is finished. I hope to post something by the end of next week. This is a slow process but a very pleasureable one.


Michael Newberry will be giving a Plein Air Workshop on our ranch here in San Luis Potosì in August. I am so excited about this an looking forward to it immensly. Plein Air is a technique I have never tried so I am hoping that after that workshop I will have work to post very often. There are six people signed up and of those I have met four, so it will be so very exciting to see them again, and meet the other artists that have signed up. San Luis is a perfect place to do Plein Air and the climate is gorgeous at that time of the year.


I have no pictures of art to post so I will post a little of what goes on in our city on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter. I found a video on You Tube of our Silent Procession that is very blurry, but the essence of this procession is clearly felt in this video together with some of our beautiful architecture and colors. Although, I know it can be a little impressive to those that don't quite understand that the religious celebrations of Mexico´s indigenous communities, incorporate the European heritage and give it a special syncretism thus, making it a unique and picturesque interpretation of the Holy Week traditions.


Mexico is nearly 90 percent Catholic, so this religious holiday takes on a special meaning that the entire community shares and participates in. All of Mexico celebrates Semana Santa, but certain cities and villages are better known for celebrating the holiday. In San Luis Potosí, residents stage a silent procession on Good Friday in which local brotherhoods march, carrying giant images of Christ's last moments.

Procesion del Silencio

Rubber Tree Leaf

I love the colors and shapes different plants and leaves take on when they dry. In spite of this meaning the end of their life some continue being beautiful, always. It is the case of the huge Rubber Tree leaves that when still hanging from the tree have such an exuberant green to them and their shape is completely smooth, with very little curvature to them at all. A friend of mine puts them in vases and makes lovely arrangements. She shared some of them with me and I was dying to do a pastel of one, but in my desire to use my new amber bottle I had bought for a Still Life, I picked the wrong color of paper and ended up having to put in the bright red surface so that both would show up. We never cease to learn from our mistakes, do we.

Pastel Poms

I can't believe it has taken me so long to post something on my blog. I did this one almost about a month ago but I have been working on my painting and other things that I haven't had a chance to post. My life seems to be go,go, go lately with the construction of our much smaller house than the one we sold on our ranch two years ago. It is coming along and I will post some pictures as soon as it is finished.

Peaches WIP

A very happy New Year to everyone and I am sorry for taking forever to post something on my blog. I hope this year is treating you all well an that many blessing and good things will come your way.

I have very slowly been applying the color to my grisaille and I must say this is a most fascinating process. In the last update that I sent to Michael Newberry, he asked me to do a little assignment for him before we had our next session. This assignment was to go to each side of my set up and draw the still life from that angle, one on the right of it an one on the left of it. It took my brain a while to assimilate why it was he wanted me to do this but when it was explained to me, I found that it is an incredible tool. The cloth on the left side of my painting is too close to us so the assignment was for me to be able to estimate the distance from my point of view when painting that part of the piece and this is done by making a quick sketch in perspective, viewing it from each side. My next step is to correct the cloth in the painting by pushing it back.

Tangerine

I had to do a little research to find the right word. It is the peak season for our small tangerines or mandarins as they are called in Spanish. I was not sure if they were the same as the clementines but I think what we have are tangerines. They grow so well in this area without any special care. So I think that most of the ones we get in the grocery store are completely organic, free from all fertilizer and pesticide. They make a wonderful thurst quencher and a great fruit as a desert.

Pastel on full sheet of burgundy Canson

A little Boasting

I might be doing this too much now on my blog but I just couldn't pass this one up, it is part of the nature of being a grandmother and a very proud grandmother this time.

This is my 9 year old grandson Luis Paulo receiving a recognition and shaking hands with Governor Eduardo Bours of the state of Sonora. He was chosen to speak and lead the salute of the flag at the ceremony the Governor was going to preside at his school. The reason for the ceremony was that his school was ranked one of the highest in the country scholastically, after a new aptitude test was applied to all the students in Mexico. Two students received the recognition from the Governor, the little girl that got the highest grade and my grandson.

Mixed Media Challenge

I am one of the Moderators in the Mixed Media forum at WetCanvas and recently I came across Cyndi Lavin in the forum. I nominated her for Guide of the forum and she is not only an excellent overall artist, but a very enthusiastic person. She has started some very interesting and fun challenges in the forum. As Moderator of the forum the least I can do is give the challenge a try. This is my entry for this month and the idea was to use a grid to work out the composition for your piece.

Still in the Corner

I am still in the right top corner of my grisaille trying to apply the color. This has been a very difficult process that has required a tremendous amount of patience from me but I trust that with Michael Newberry's guidance I will eventually achieve something that I will be satisfied with. My problem has been, that I am working in this area that is supposed to be the darkest area of my piece but I have the two colors of my shawl and their folds have a quiet soft highlight but it cannot be contrasting or light but should have plenty of color. I had to rub out my first two tries and now I am trying to work out my third. During my last session with Michael I think it came clear to me what my problem has been so I hope that will soon be solved and since Michael has asked me to only work in areas of the size of a post card until I get it perfect, I don't have much to show, so I will post my last pastel study. I hope to be posting more often from now on.

Trusting your emotional responses

About a week ago Michael Newberry asked me to do some simple tissue studies in pastel for my oil painting and he told me to keep going until I felt delighted with one. He said trust your emotional responses and just the thought made think I wasn't going to be able to. I remembered his advice about bouncing light directed to a colored piece of paper that would reflect on my tissue. I did just that with some orange paper but also had the purple and blue shawls from my peach set up behind the tissue. The colors were magical on the tissue, I had never seen so many different colors on a piece of white paper and that was enough to get me going and finally finish a study I was very satisfied with.

The pleasure of watching babies.

My youngest grandaughter, Sofìa was a year old day before yesterday, so I went over to her house to hug her and give her, her birthday present. She was so inquisitive about the box and once she saw the walking stroller she was full of smiles. One of the things I love watching most in babies is there genuine expression and attitude. Sofìa had a little friend over and of course he also wanted a ride but her expression says so much in the second picture about that. I was not fast enough with my camera to capture her reaction of pushing him aside after the second picture but his reaction to that, came very fast and he new just where to aim. That was the end of her cute little pink bow. Fortunately he was offered another toy and friendship was restored.

A most pleasing experience

So much anticipation and excitement about the Pastel Workshop and it went by in a blink. It was although one of the best experieinces I have had in my life. The learning was paramount and the company unmatchable. Michael Newberry was a dear and I am very grateful for his patience and expertise to head a workshop.

This was my first time painting outdoors and I have to admit I was not that satisfied with the outcome, I need very much practice but I will never let that keep me from trying again. It is just so incredible how the light changes in minutes and to find our brightest bright was very challenging because it was there one minute and gone the next. We also had limited time to do these and that was something I would foget easily and wanted to work more on perfecting it than the light, so in part I have to learn to work fast. I wasn't going to post anything but I guess sometimes it can be a learning experience to post what one had trouble with and remember the suggetions and comments of a mentor like Michael.

Now back to my pastel colors studies for my grisaille.

Ready for color

I believe I said that several post before but there were quite a few details to tweak and issues with the lights and darks. Michael Newberry said it was ready so now I just need a session with him to learn how to apply color to a grisaille. It will be an incredible fantastic experience, I know.

I have really loved every minute of the long grisaille process and although I don't think I will do all of my paintings in this way I will always try to have one on an easel while doing other pastels, paintings or charcoals.

Our Pastel Workshop is just about a week and half away so you can imagine the excitement and I hope I will come back with several worthy pastels to post.

Candle on gold leaf base - pastel

I am still doing pastel color studies for the cloth on my grisaille but I think I like doing cloth now. I was quite pleased with the gold look on the base of the candle.

Peaches and Cloth Study

One of the interesting things about this pastel technique of Michael Newberry, is that it should be done on dark paper and depending the color of the paper the result of course, can be quite different. This one is on burgundy Canson paper but my goal should be to get the cloth quite dark since in my set up for my painting there is no light hitting the cloth. This one is still too light so I will try over another color next time and a different pastel color also.

Peach and Plate WIP

This is not finished yes, it still has some things to correct but I'll post it as a WIP. This is such a wonderful medium to learn color theory with and although I still need more reviewing, I have learned things doing these color studies that I had never thought about before in all of the time I have been using color. Michael Newberry has an incredible sixth sense when it comes to applying the right colored pastel to another, he knows exactly how the color next ot it, will react.

Magenta or Purple

Both colors are on my list of favorites and I guess one is a hot pink and the other is a deep violet. Anyway it is a joy to try to find the right one for my grisaille painting and at the same time try to learn this technique that has a new mystery everytime I have a session with Michael Newberry. It is so much more complicated to finding what color looks good next to another in pastel and how warm and cool colors will at the end either make or break your piece, depending on how you have chosen and placed them in it. I still have quite a bit to learn and I think only with practice, will the choices be made right.

My Little Corner

I thought I would post my painting in my studio and my set up, so the size of the painting could be appreciated. What was a large studio when planning our house, turned into a smaller one because I shared half of it with my husband as a TV room, so while he watches TV in the evening, I paint. If I didn't have so many plants maybe I would have more room to move around, but they make such a nice atmosphere.

Second Grisaille Update

I think this is very close to the end now and will be ready for color. This has been a very long process but I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I have not once felt frustrated with it, in spite of having some problems with small details and having to take steps back. I think these steps back have been a tremendous learning experience for me and as I went along I saw how my eye was learning to see things that weren't quite right and I was able to correct them. I am beginning to squint naturally now, something that at the beginning was very hard for me to remember and what an important tool it is, to really find the difference in values.

I have also been working on some pastel cloth studies as guides for the two colors that will be used in the cloth in this painting. I plan to post some of those is next few days and hope to post my color advances in this painting more often.

Gratitude

I came across this thought this morning written by Maureen Di Gia and I thought it was the perfect thing to post this morning to thank all of you that so kindly comment on my blog and have in many ways shown affection through these posts.

I was hoping to have an update of my grisaille but it is taking me longer to establish my values. Yesterday I rubbed out my fringe so that was a step back but at the same time I finished the weaving on my platter. I'm sure it needs adjustments but that is a step forward. So if I finish my fringe today I will hopefully be ready for another session with Michael in the coming week and be able to post the update of my gisaille.


" 10 years from now, I will look back at the years that have past and the things that have happened. I know, today, that at least I will look back and see that I told my loved ones how dear they are to me EVERYDAY and that I loved and was loved in return…to the moon and back. I already feel… how lucky I have been… to have so much! And if I had to be gone tomorrow, I know that not one person I have in my life would wonder how I felt about them, grateful and lucky!"Written in 2007 by dm-angel aka Maureen Di Gia

Pastel cloth color study

I have been trying to learn how to use pastels in the way Michael Newberry does his and it looks so easy but it is so terribly difficult. I think this one might not be as bad as the others I have practiced with before this one. Fortunately I will be going to his Pastel Workshop in New York in September. Something I am looking forward to tremendously.