Friday, January 4, 2008

Sugar Loaf Morning


Pastel on Canson paper, 10 x 10.5"

I've been inspired by some great artists that I work with to start this blog. Here's a pastel from last September up in Sonoma.
I paint up there every year for the annual SPA plein air show. Here's a link to the event.

http://www.sonomapleinair.com/

The artists are guests in people's homes in the county, and paint all week, exhibiting one piece on Friday night for an auction dinner, and then the remainder of their work in the plaza for one day. It is a great event in many respects. All my hosts have been wonderful, generous, and interesting people, I get to spend time around some excellent painters, and painting every day for 5 consecutive days is a great workout.

If it was foggy in the morning, I would drive up to Sugar Loaf State Park to get some sunshine to paint in. Sometimes it was still foggy, but on this morning it was quite sunny. The painting is really an impression of the brightness of the morning light, with just simple shapes. The image is a bit noisy, as I shot it with my digital camera on a lo-res setting.

2 comments:

olgastern said...

I am so glad you started a blog. Your pastels are really inspiring. I wanted to send you an e-mail afer the internship and thank you for your lessons. But we were unfortunately not given your contact inormation, so this will have to do. I had been dying to learn to paint for a really long time. But never got a good base to start from, no one ever explained the process and the reason for it in a way I could begin, and grow from. Thank you so much. I am still pastel painting. I used up the set we were given and baught a new set with colours I tried to pick out myself, I added more purples to the mix.Unfortunately paining outdoors in canada is a lugsury I only have 3 months a year. It's minus 4 here....... with snow,.I tried painting outdoors in late september....it took about 30 minutes to defrost my hands. Pastel painting is also really helping my personal work. Its a new way of approaching art for me, no sharp lines to tie you down.
Please keep posting!
-Olga

Bill Cone said...

Olga, Thanks for your very kind note. I had a great time doing the workshop with the whole intern group last summer, and I've only recently discovered this entire blogging culture that exists. I'm still kind of in 'teacher' mode as far as content. We'll see where it goes.

I'm thinking about seasonal issues to some degree.
Like seasonal cooking... embracing what's available, etc. More to come!