Titusville - Pastel Paintings

 

A scene from the summertime up north

With the advent of the pandemic, Youtube has blossomed with painters offering free lessons with the hope of gathering a following for a monthly fee, another way for a good painter to earn a living. Ann has been painting for 60 years, first in watercolors and then in pastels. With the lockdown, she has been painting every day and following several of the artists on Youtube for lessons. 

Contrasts - from the Hudson River in New York

I've watched her progress over the years and realized that there's a lot more to painting than it appears at first sight. How do you get a round object to appear round? How do you get water to appear flat? How do you get objects to appear to recede into the distance. There are techniques to use that are not obvious, at least to me. Ann knows them. 

A scene from Merritt Island in Florida

For example, in the painting at top, the water appears perfectly flat in the right side of the picture in the foreground. Maybe it looks different to you, it's hard to do. Notice how the water receded in the left part of the painting towards the far away hillls, with the water still appearing flat. 

The second painting is a study in values, contrasts between reds and blues. A different sort of painting but I think it hangs together well. 

The bottom painting is different still. The color values are all earth tones and notice the water, it appears flat and belongs where it's at. Unless you've ever tried such a scene, it's hard to appreciate the technical difficulty in achieving that depiction. Ann enjoys just painting, it's part of her character. She will be up in the cockpit painting in pastels while I'm down below doing my Waterway Guide work or posting in my ICW Cruising Guide Facebook page. The hours pass by quickly with both of us doing what we enjoy, after all, we're retired and in a warm climate!