Terri Ford Pastel Workshop and Ojai Preserve Painting in Plein Air

These landscapes of water and reflection 

have become an obsession.

~Claude Monet

Terri's Beautiful array of pastels ...

Terri Ford Workshop

Ojai, Spring 2016

It had been, at least, a couple of years since I'd taken my last intensive 3 day pastel workshop. I'd loved taking a couple of those workshops with Richard McKinley, but he hadn't done one in Ojai for such a long time, so I'd been keeping my ears open for a great instructor. Terri came highly recommended and after checking out her website I got really excited! Her work is loose, gorgeous and vibrant. Bingo. 

Day 1

In the Studio

Terri sketching in her darkest values ...

It's always wonderful, as an artist, to stretch and move yourself in directions that you wouldn't ordinarily take with your art. It's not always easy but sometimes you have to make yourself uncomfortable in order to grow. Life lesson, right?

Terri's demonstrations were great because, like Richard, she explains her process as she goes along. She lets you in on why she is doing what she is doing and is very generous with all her knowledge. She's also just a really great gal and easy to spend time with over 3 days of working.

Here's her first finished demo. I'm sorry I don't have the reference photo but the finished pastel painting is so much more beautiful and interesting than the photo ... which is the hope, right?

That first day, we worked in the studio all day, having been told ahead of time to bring reference photos. Plus, as I recall, the weather forecast was a little dicey. 

Day 2

en Plein Air

Ojai Preserve

Ah ... spring in Ojai! Just wanted to mention, that it's amazing how many art supplies I can fit in my Mini!!

It was obviously a gorgeous spring day! Terri set up with a view of the Eucalyptus trees. When you work outside, you have to get in the broad strokes. There isn't a lot of time to work before the light completely changes!

I loved loved loved this demo. So fresh and loose and vibrant ... and all the information you need is there and just sunny and beautiful. This underpainting was vibrant using pastel (you can see that magenta under the sky!) and then washed with denatured alcohol. Then soft pastels over the top!

Of course, the big question is where and what do you want to paint?

 

I must have flowers, always, and always.
~Claude Monet

I decided to set up near the water, in part, because usually water isn't really my forte. Sometimes I get lucky but ... well, at least it was a pretty spot and I was stretching, remember?

The reflection of the reeds in my pastel were kind of cool and I liked the texture on my mountains but the water?
Eh? Not so much. Oh well. I'd have another chance on day 3.

In the meantime ... photos and enjoying the gorgeous afternoon! (And a fabulous almond cacao smoothie from Farmer and the Cook down the road.!)

 

It's on the strength of observation and reflection 
that one finds a way.
So we must dig and delve unceasingly.
~Claude Monet

Day 3

Terri set up, in the morning, with a view of Eucalyptus trees, mountains and sheds. It was fun to watch her edit what was in view and even lowering the line of the mountains. 

Another fabulous demo and it was even more wonderful in person. So yummy.

She wanted us to loosen up so she told us to be done with our painting by lunch. I think we had an hour or something? Maybe a little longer but not much! 

I loved this tree and the light coming across the grasses so I quickly threw up my tripod and attached my pastel box!

I loosely sketched in my little composition ...

Then used a paint brush to add the denatured alcohol, so it became a wash. (looks like  very saturated watercolor.) Then, I took a couple of pictures of the scene and before I knew it the sun had gone behind a cloud! No more light and shadows! Thank goodness I'd taken pictures!

My day 2 set up ... 

A nearby log that caught my eye. Might have to draw ...

OK, back to work! A little sun coming back ... 

And after my friend Tom took this photo of me, below, the wind started coming up and a few raindrops so ... time to break it down and get out of there before our paintings became pastel soup!

I did a just a tiny bit more in the studio, adding the lights into the tree, and will still want to add a bit of darks below the line of trees in the distance but until then, this is what it looks like ... My favorite of the weekend.

I worked on another piece in the studio that afternoon (of Italy, surprise, surprise!) I can share it later but I'll end with this, for now. It was fun to work more bold and colorful than most of my other pastel work. See? Good to stretch!

Eventually, all the information you gather and all the various things you learn from different artists and experiences, influences your work and it helps you grow as it becomes incorporated into your "toolbox" and merges with your own style, personality and creativity. 

Anyway, you should check out Terri Ford's work Here, and if you enjoy working with pastels, I definitely recommend taking her workshop! When I win the lottery I'm buying her paintings that she did in France.  GORgeous!!! 

Every day I discover 

more and more

beautiful things.

It's enough to drive one mad.

I have such a desire to do everything,

my head is bursting with it.

~Claude Monet

Happy Summer!

Blessings and light!

Plein air in Southern California ~ Lake Casitas

The artist a a receptacle 

for emotions that come

from all over the place:

from the sky,

from the earth, from a scrap of paper,

from a passing shape,

from a spider's web.

~Pablo Picasso

Lake Casitas, is not far from my parents place in Ojai, and while many people go there to fish and camp, Lori and I met for a beautiful day of plein air painting. Lori is also a member of the Pastel Society of the Gold Coast. I started a blog for them, and will be passing that on to you guys, a little later.

Anyway, it the last day of January, and as you can see, it was an absolutely gorgeous. Doing plein air work, you have a limited time, to get the information down on your paper or canvas. Because light and shadow change quickly outside, often, depending on how long you stay out there, you may start two or three different pieces. 

Of course, one of the most important decisions, is the location you choose and what you decide to incorporate into your composition, and what you decide to edit out.

Here is piece #1 ... "The morning piece." Here, you can see I have done an under-painting. Actually, I used hard pastels and a special liquid, called SpectraFix, and spread the pastel with a brush. (Sometimes, I use watercolors paints.) At this point, I now have some values (darks and lights) in place, to play off, with the soft pastels.

Here is Lori Corradi, getting started on her piece.

Every human is an artist.

The dream of your life

is to make beautiful art.

~Miguel Angel Ruiz

So here is the view I picked ...

my set-up ...

I got pretty far on this piece the, below ("the morning piece")  ... but the light started to change, and I was also loosing some of the reflections, of the hills on the water.

So, off I went to the little café, across the lake, to get a sandwich. I brought it back and ate at these picnic tables, you see below. Lori and I were loving the weather, and the view, and were feeling very lucky to be there that day! We also had a very informative conversation about the best ways to meet men. (Not a great number of available, straight men, doing pastels, as it turns out.)

In the following photo, you can see that the reflections of the mountains, on the lake, (to the left side) are pretty much gone. It was time to begin a new piece.

I put in the big shapes, with a dark nupastel (which is a harder pastel stick,) keeping pretty much the same composition, as the morning piece, and trying to stay extra loose, and notice the changes in light and color that happen in afternoon.

Then, a very loose under-painting ...

Below, I have just begun to use soft pastels. You can see the vibrant blue and green ... toward the upper-center, at the base of the hills.

Afternoon painting, (#2, for the day )

The light went behind the mountains so this is as far as I got, on the second piece. I took photos throughout the day, and with what I had gotten on paper, I had enough information to go back and resolve the paintings in the studio.

Back in the studio, Painting #1, the "morning painting"  ... almost done.

And here are the finished pieces. You can see how different they are from each other, and what a different feel and color palette they have. 

Morning on the Lake  

Ojai, California

Afternoon on Lake Casitas 

Ojai, California

Painting is just another way

of keeping a diary.

~Pablo Picasso

If you want to check out the blog that I started for the Pastel Society of the Gold Coast, click here.

It's really just getting started!

I am working on a post, with my photos of the Baths of Caracalla, in Rome. It was so amazing but I actually need to do a little research, because my knowledge of the place is very limited. (Outside of "There was a Roman dude named Caracalla and he built some baths.")  My main objective in going there, to the ruins, was actually to find images to paint! And, boy did I! The place is incredible! Anyway, I will get to that later!

Hope you are all enjoying spring and getting some good weather. And for goodness sake, let's all pray for the crazy weather to stop in the Midwest and elsewhere. 

Blessings and light!

Lucinda

Ojai in Plein Air

Landscape is hardwired into our psyche.

It touches our emotions, experiences we've had,

and gives a sense of place.

~Clyde Aspevig

Well, Ojai partly in Plein Air. These are a couple of pastels I worked on at the Richard McKinley workshop. The first is a rather small field sketch. (5x7) I first did a "ground" of a color, going lightly over the paper with a pastel stick, close to a burnt sienna. Then, I went over it with a cloth dipped in alcohol, creating a loose wash effect. (rubbing alcohol, not a cocktail!) This works on the sanded Uart paper but I can't vouch for other brands.

It turned out much more impressionistic than my studio work but it's kind of sweet.

Nature Preserve, Ojai

Pastel Field sketch

The following day, after Richard did a underpainting demo, we used those field sketches to do our larger more "finished" pieces, in the studio.

Here you can see my larger (12x16") very loose, underpainting, on sanded, mounted Wallace paper.

When your technique and your ideas support each other

and the image becomes the vehicle of that expression,

then you will have found your voice or niche.

~Henry Bateman

Here is the finished piece, below. (Or almost finished!) I may add a little something to it later but I need to get away from it, for a bit. I don't want to completely overwork it. That is often the tough part for me! When am I done? Actually, sometimes it's pretty clear but landscapes are where I can get into danger of overworking a piece. Anyway, here it is.

Ojai Nature Preserve, Early Spring

Pastel on paper 2012

12"x16"

It is no longer sufficient to describe the world of nature.

The point is to defend it.

~Edward Abbey

Have a beautiful weekend!

Blessings and light!!

quotes found on Painterskeys.com