Happy New Year

"New Year"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

My first pastel of the new year, based on a picture of a meadow on Whidbey Island. Done on Mi-Tienes Canson Tobacco colored paper. It's brilliant colored paper for green landscapes because you can just let it fill in the blanks - you don't have to feel compelled to cover every inch of the paper. Let the viewer fill in the blanks, as they say.

This is also my first pastel with my brand new Terry Ludwig Plein Air set (thanks Santa!). I can see why these pastels are so expensive (yet worth every penny). They are buttery soft and go on the paper effortlessly. They have minimal dust too. I'm a HUGE fan already. Can't wait to keep cranking out the new work this coming year.

Terry Ludwig soft pastel set - Plein Air Landscape

Plein Air Landscape swatches (from the Dick Blick website)

Good Subject for the New Year

"Taking This Path"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

A semi-overgrown path in the forest on Whidbey Island - a good subject for a study. This one challenged me in two ways: 1) capturing depth, 2) capturing light spilling out onto the pathway. I used a limited palette of greens, yellows, browns, and some lavender. This was the first time I have used a dark colored paper - Mi-Teintes Canson Tobacco colorway (as recommended by the brilliant pastel artist Bill Cone. If you've never seen his work - LOOK HIM UP! You owe it to yourself). The lights just pop on this paper and you can get some pretty good darks too. You also get that cool floaty leaf effect.

Skyline Drive

"Skyline Drive"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

Here's a study where the meadow meets the forest at my parent's house on Whidbey Island on Skyline Drive. Green color palette with some browns to warm up the shadows. I'm continuing my push towards solid shapes laid in with chunky lines (using the broad side of the pastel stick). Once I have this type of decisive foundation, it's easier to build up the details with confidence.

Color palette - nuPastels

Freeland Meadow

"Freeland Meadow"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

A few years back, I took a trip to visit my parents on Whidbey Island (north of Seattle). This is a depiction of the meadow behind their house (at the time) in a town called Freeland.

This was a color study in greens - even the yellows are derived from a greenish tint. The result is the feeling of a semi-cloudy cool sunset. I could have gotten overwhelmed by the grass detail in my reference photo (you could see every blade), but I challenged myself with big stokes of color and direction. The tree appears to be weeping - I went for that sad saggy look to supplement the cool sunset mood.

Color palette - nuPastels

Sweet Ramona

"Ramona"  •  colored pencil,  8x10  •  ©Angela Frame

Here's a colored pencil piece I did a year ago of Ramona - one of the sweet Rhythm & Hues doggies that would come into the office every day. Ramona was the most adorable little dog you'd ever met. She was there in the office a few doors down from me and would welcome me every time I walked by. She was there to comfort me when I hurt my back too. In loving memory of sweet wonderful Ramona...

Harley - Pastel

"Harley"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

Here's the pastel version of Harley based on the Photoshop painting I did yesterday. I mixed two different types of pastels - nuPastel (harder pastels for detail on top layers) and Reeves (softer pastels for the underpainting and initial color lay in). I used beige Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

Color palette - nuPastels

Reeves pastels

These Reeves pastels are cheapy ones I bought at the art store to try out - not a big fan as they are extremely chalky and don't adhere to the paper very well. They create massive dust - so much so that I had to use the dust buster to suck up the excess powder at the bottom of my easel. I really like the bright colors though, and some of them I couldn't find in my nuPastel set.

Harley

"Harley"  •  digital,  8x10  •  ©Angela Frame

Here's a color study of my husband's mom's cat - Harley. I used only one brush in Photoshop to stay with my goal of keeping things simple. The more brushes and palettes that get introduced, the muddier and less fresh a piece can look. In keeping with the impressionist philosophy of no blacks, I gave Harley's real life black coat a range of blues.

Using Photoshop for Pre-visualization

"Cave Creek Rocks"  •  digital  •  ©Angela Frame

"Carefree"  •  digital  •  ©Angela Frame

Photoshop is a powerful tool for pastel pre-painting planning. I want to get my pastels more crisp, the marks more decisive and "chunky." Thank goodness I'm married to a professional concept artist. He gave me the idea to paint comps in Photoshop. I gave myself three rules:

1) use only 2 brushes
2) limit the palette of colors
3) the straight lasso tool is your friend

I'm really pleased with the results - they look like they have a personality - my personality!

Sprouts Sunset

"Sprouts Sunset"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

Another quick one hour sky study. Saw this sunset on my out of the Sprouts parking lot in Tustin. I like the color palette (that nature provided) since it's a more limited range than yesterday's sunset painting.

Color palette

Tustin Sunset

"Tustin Sunset"  •  pastel,  9x12  •  ©Angela Frame

Here's a quick one hour painting of a sunset in Orange County. I've always admired artists that capture the perspective of the sky - how the clouds recede in the distance and how they expand above us. I was aiming for this feeling of expanse.

Color palette