I’ve had the chance today to wrap up not one but TWO paintings in progress. It feels good to finally get them “to bed” – I sometimes have paintings sitting around for 6-8 months unfinished, and I wait for the inspiration I need to put on the finishing touches. This painting started out being about the sunlight on the field, then I realized half-way through that what I liked was the little tree standing in the shadow of the big one. So, my focus changed, and the composition fell into place for me.
Posted in Uncategorized.
By Julie
– July 4, 2008
“Tranquility on the Burma Road”
11″ x 14″
Pastel on sanded board
(SOLD)
I have been busy with family matters for most of the past month or so, but do have some nice art-related news to report: My pastel landscape “Tranquility on the Burma Road” was selected as a Second Mini50 winner in the National Parks Service’s 2008 ‘Paint The Parks’ competition! The top 100 large paintings and the First Mini50 paintings will tour the nation over the next few years as a traveling exhibition. My painting features a scene of the Fire Island National Seashore. To view all the winners in this year’s competition, go to: www.paintamerica.org/painttheparks.html-
Posted in Recent work.
By Julie
– July 3, 2008
“Birches”
8 1/4″ x 8 1/2″
Pastel on Wallis paper
I had first painted these birches viewed from the ground up in late 2007, but finally got around to putting the finishing touches on the painting today! Kinda weird to be painting fall foliage in the spring, but that’s the way it goes.
I consider this more of a still life painting of birches than a landscape scene.
Posted in Recent work.
By Julie
– May 18, 2008
Well I guess I’m starting up my love affair with rocks again. I just sold the last painting from my “Stones” series of last summer, and then got the urge to do another little study of pobbles (that’s what they call them in Cape Ann, MA, anyway). I pushed the colors on this one a bit, and it came out very warm and cheerful.
Posted in Recent work.
By Julie
– April 30, 2008
“Daniela”
Pastel on sanded paper
OK, the plan was to post small paintings done daily on this blog, but as it turns out sometimes plans have to be changed. I DO paint almost every day, but don’t necessarily finish a small painting each day since I also work on larger pieces. That being the case today, I decided to post something different.
Two weeks ago I had the chance to take a one-day portrait workshop with Alain Picard, a fantastic portrait artist (and great painter in general!). In the past I had painted one painting of a group of people from a photo, and had drawn two figurative scenes from photos with colored pencil, but had never worked with a live model. Well, it’s a lot harder than you would think, and a lot less forgiving than landscapes or still life paintings in that the point is to capture as closely as possible the subject matter, without a lot of artistic license. In other words, you can’t cheat. I really enjoyed the experience, and think my first attempt came out OK (but of course judge that for yourself). And it always helps when you work with a gorgeous subject, which Daniela was!
Posted in Uncategorized.
By Julie
– April 14, 2008
“Winter Heat”
8″ x 10″ pastel on pumiced board
(unmatted, 12″ x 16″ gold leaf frame)
This painting was actually done a few weeks ago but I was in NYC for the weekend so didn’t get any painting done. I did a larger version last winter, but for some reason like this one better. It’s less busy and more intuitive. So – enjoy!
Posted in Daily Painting.
By Julie
– March 17, 2008
“Fairhaven Marsh III”
5″ x 7″ pastel on pumiced board
matted, gold frame
I love marshes so had fun with this little scene. I tried a version in oil as well, but the pastel medium seemed to suit the scene better.
(This was from two days ago – i.e., two days before the first day of the blog!)
Posted in Daily Painting.
By Julie
– March 13, 2008
“Ski Tracks”
8″ x 10″ pastel on pumiced board
matted, gold frame
We took a walk in North Salem, NY with our puppy Ruby last week, the day after a sudden spring snowstorm, and saw that someone had been X-country skiing either during the storm or early the morning after. You can see the tracks.
Posted in Daily Painting.
By Julie
– March 13, 2008
“What Lies Beneath-study”
7″ x 9″ pastel on pumiced board
Today being the first day of my blog. I have an urge to be less representational and more emotional in my compositions these days. This study of bare tree branches reflecting into an icy pond was painted rapidly and without much analysis. I get a better sense of energy when I paint like that. The larger painting is going to be 16″ x 20″.
3/20/08 – I finished the larger version of ‘What Lies Beneath’ this am, and it came out great IMHO. Will post it on my regular website soon enough-
Posted in Daily Painting.
By Julie
– March 13, 2008
