All About the Blues, and then some.

Last Friday in my Pastels Class, I began a weekly exploration of color. I decided to take one color at a time and see how it worked. The first week, students were to gather all the yellows they had, which could include everything from BARELY orangeish yellow to BARELY greenish yellow. It could also include yellowish browns, as most browns are in the yellow family, and we would need SOME darker values for this exercise. For this blog I carried out the whole exercise at home, using my studio

There was a long discussion recently on the confusion raised by the various types of color wheels available to artists. I happened to have just ordered one of those in question, so decided to try out it's unusual method of creating a harmonious painting. This is called 'Color Harmony Wheel" I show it here with the photo I have chosen to paint, with the rotating wheel set to the group of colors I plan to use.  The next step is gather our pastel sticks, following the colors in the spaces. Here is

Today's Blog is about last Friday's class in pastels. I found an article online about doing 10 minute paintings as a good way of keeping yourself thinking about the essentials of your painting, rather than getting bogged down in the details. This is a quote from one of the great Masters in Pastel,   Dwayne Wakeham. He shares this breakthrough in his workshops, explaining to students that if they’ll do only 10-minute paintings the entire time, they’ll learn more about painting than if they do one

Third in the series on using Notans. This one is showing how useful they can be in still life painting, as well as landscapes. My set up photo was taken in the bright early morning sunshine coming through our front window, onto a white Lennox vase with Babies Breath, plus a very shiny Granny Smith apple, and my favorite blue pitcher. To add another element of shine, they are all on a brass-based glass table! I love all the reflections, bounced color and strong shadows.  First thing I did was to

Here we go, Notan to Painting No 2.  This one I did on Uart 600 black (or dark, I think they call it). I haven't used this new paper more than for a small test, so this was something of an experiment, to see how much pastel it will take. Answer? PLENTY First photo is the  photo I used, which I took during a early morning walk, and the black indelible marker Notan. (I actually reversed it on the computer, because I wanted the sun coming from the right side. No reason other than a whim! ) It's

One of the most important elements of a painting is the composition. To be successful, the painter wants to simplify the scene by finding only a few large shapes, in fairly clearly seen differences of value (light vs dark). This initial study of the scene is to establish a "notan". Notan: the combination of lights and darks especially as used in Japanese art : the design or pattern of a work of art as seen in flat areas of dark and light values only ..Merriam-Webster. In my classes, is has

January 7th and 8th , Saturday and Sunday,  is the Naples New Years Fine Art Show , on 5th Avenue Naples FL. This is a prestigious , juried fine art show with over 200 booths full of gorgeous paintings, sculpture, photography, fabric art, etc. I am honored to have been chosen as one of these artists. I will have Booth # 213, between 4th and 3rd Streets, South. Look for my sign: Barbara Archer-Baldwin, PSA For this blog I am showing you some of the pastel painting I will have for sale. First,

Week three. As with all the other 31/31 paintings, if I have a price on them, it is for that painting, unframed.  Unless otherwise noted, all paintings are on Uart 400, with mostly Terry Ludwig pastels. I do have some Unisons, Senneliers, Schminkes, etc , which I sometimes use for a unique color, or for blending the Ludwigs. I fine they all "play well together", as Terry puts it. Day 15. This is a second painting from the day before, at the North Jetty in Venice. I started it that morning,

Second week.  Day 8. We are in Colorado. I still have to manage to paint! I carried with me a Terry Ludwig box (the 30 size) with maybe 34 pastels. A few were half sticks, so two colors would fit into one of the little slots in that foam insert. Below is that box . We flew through the night, arriving at 2 midnight. After breakfast the next day we went to Golden, because I knew there was a Plein Air paint out there that day and I wanted to see if I knew anyone. (I am a member of the Pastel