Painting the Winter Landscape

   A rainy December day with clearing skies brought dramatic lighting to the bare fields along highway 80 north of Richland Center. There were beautiful scenes to paint in every direction. This small study shows early afternoon light flooding the fields. An abandoned farm is spotlit on the hillside and water puddles in the fields reflect the changing sky. A few minutes later this scene was completely changed to dull colors and flat clouds. Color notes taken on site, then the painting was done in the studio.
   Pastel on sanded paper 10" x 8".

A Struggle With Values

Brass Vases still life study

   Yes, I struggle with values almost daily. Well, not quite daily or I'd be better at figuring them out. As you can see from the picture here, the values are a bit muddy and inconsistent. This is a study, not a finished painting. It took three hours of mixing, thinking, eating chocolate and discussing the situation with my most patient, kind and skillful teacher  http://www.kendewaard.com/ Ken DeWaard.
   Going to painting from drawing is a challenge for me; if making good lines is the priority things move along ok but when I have to think about values, in different colors, I am feeling my way into unknown territory. And it feels exactly like groping in the dark for that lost key.
   Yes, this is a mess. I'm posting it because I expect to do something better, and then again better, through the coming weeks. Keeping these studies and attempts up where I can see them is helpful. No matter what the problems are in a painting session there is always something to learn and seeing the improvements over time is very satisfying. If only the 'good' pieces are looked at it's harder to see the progress, but compare what one thinks of as a 'good' painting with some earlier efforts is very gratifying.
    It's great fun to work hard on something that I have no idea how to do. Mixing color is one, making values coherent through a whole picture in different colors is another. Each time a small part of it is learned it feels like a big step taken and a door opens, just a bit, on one of the best things in life to find: potential. Through that slightly opened doorway of understanding value, I glimpse the potential of creating a painting someday that speaks of light and beauty.

A Return to Pastels

Underpainting for River Shadows
Another excellent class with Kay Brathol-Hostvet http://www.kaybratholhostvet.com/ at the lovely, friendly, comfortable Whispering Woodlands  http://www.whispering-woodlands.com/ near Verona. Thanks to Kay for consistently bringing out the best in each student. I learn something every class. This class I wanted to explore how to get light and color into dark shadowy areas, so chose a view on the Kickapoo River of dark cliffs backlit by afternoon light. The water is dark, the cliffs are dark and the trees above are mostly dark. Even in real life that day those areas were quite shadowy. Picking out the colors that are there takes some practice. So I practice by observing and taking notes at the scene. Later at the easel the hard work starts when it's time to figure out how to translate my ideas of what I saw into something two dimensional on paper. This picture is quite a way from being finished. Above is my first effort to get the 'darkest darks' and light areas down.

Some layers of color.

Next I will probably rub off some of it. The red leaves and details in the distance are premature and can wait until the values are adjusted. It's easy to get ahead of the process and this is a good example of that. It's fun to play with pastels. They rub off   leaving a clear shadow of the removed colors making changes easy to do. 

Monashee Traverse

   The painting at the top of this page is a study for a larger oil painting. The scene is in the Monashee mountains of central British Columbia and I am at the top of an icy, rocky, cold and windy place looking down on my friends who have all merrily skied down this forbidding slope without falling down. While assessing my chances of descending to join them without sustaining too much damage the breathtaking light across the far slopes was impossible to resist and since I hadn't fallen on my camera yet I managed to get a few pictures.
   It seemed that everywhere we skied I was left behind on a problematic precipice while my companions zipped away, but the reward was a few dramatic scenes saved for later enjoyment.
   Yes I did ski down that slope and all the others too but as a relatively novice "telemarker" did not have the aggressive technique to be in the lead.
   Now I ponder approaching the Very Large Canvas that this scene will eventually end up on. I love painting murals but have not done that in many years. Starting a big painting feels about the same as heading down a steep slope after not skiing for a long time. But once some momentum is gained it will be a lot of fun. The first step is done of priming the canvas but since it's just a white blank it didn't seem very interesting to add a photo of that stage. Check in later for progress when the colors start showing up.

Kickapoo Colors adult coloring book is here!

   Fresh from the printer two weeks ago and already the first printing is winging its way across the Pacific to Australia, and to several states. It was great fun to draw the pictures for this book. They were inspired by drawings I had already done for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve http://kvr.state.wi.us/
or derived from sketches and paintings done at earlier times.
   Pen and ink line drawings are one of my favorite ways to relax and let my eyes see simple shapes. Mixing colors for painting is challenging for me but the simplicity of one color of ink brings out design ideas and patterns that do not happen with paint. So one drawing leads to another.
   Over a short period of time several friends mentioned how popular adult coloring books were lately. I had never heard of them! But of course; why wouldn't coloring be fun for adults? We like to knit, put puzzles together, doodle and more. Coloring books are an old idea made new. Suddenly a few drawings piled up on my art table, some unfinished, swooshed together in my mind and there it was: a coloring book of what was, until then, a random collection of individual pictures, each done for a different reason.
   I went to work, rearranging elements of some of the pictures, unifying them with border designs influenced by two of my favorite inspirations-Frank Lloyd Wright and Art Deco, and tweaking images to work as line drawings with enough detail to be interesting to color.
   There is a miniature, "Pocket Edition" for taking along wherever you go and the full size 8.5 x 11" book for leisurely coloring at home. Each has twelve pictures inspired by the Kickapoo Valley's winged, flowered and furred residents. Each illustration has a bit of information with it to share something interesting about the subjects. You can visit my Etsy shop for more information  https://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanCushingArt

   This was so much fun to create that I just kept drawing and so another book will be done soon.
Stay in touch for updates, and thanks for checking in!

New book "Kickapoo Colors" book just finished!

The first printing of "Kickapoo Colors" adult coloring book is SOLD OUT! Second printing is being shipped now. The second edition is both full size 9 x 12" and a miniature version of 5" x 7"; a good size to carry along in your purse for those waiting room times, for a great alternative to those same old magazines. Bring a small pack of markers or colored pencils and you're having fun right away, anytime you have a few minutes to relax.                               

 Here is a sample of the original drawings ready for you to color in imaginative ways. Realistic colors are fine but why not try a palette of complementary colors, or just use your favorite color in several shades and see what happens!

Winter Studies

  Last winter and this year until spring I've been painting instead of drawing. First in acrylics and now in oils. Thanks Ken for your excellent coaching and support. http://www.kendewaard.com So far I am playing with the basics of value, shape and learning to think clearly about what the painting's focus is. Sounds easy but isn't. But it is great fun! I love working hard on something and the feeling of learning, of incorporating something useful or interesting that wasn't in my brain before the effort. I also love the colors so try to find a different color scheme for each study. One week it's reds, the next blues, then black and white and each has it's own characteristics but the same basic rules work for them all. Each week I also try to set up a more simple still life to practice on but it quickly becomes clear that they are not, any of them, that simple. At least not for me, yet.  Beginning with glass fishing floats-how much simpler can it be than a round shape of one color? then retreating to a vase, a book, a shoe, a bottle, none much easier than the glass ball but each time I get a little more understanding of what's going on and comfort with the tools and techniques of getting the paint to stick in the right place.