Paper Places series
« Previous EntriesTulip Season
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
1) 2006 2) 2009 in progress 3) finished today
Finished today: added some life to Tulip Season, 14 x 11 Oil Pastels on paper. Except for the fact that paper has a limit to how much it can be reworked before it starts stretching, I could keep revising these drawings in the Paper Places series continually. Some of them are finished in a day, and truly finished. Some drawings seem OK when they are finished, but have areas that are not quite “there” yet, so I’ll leave them for a month or a year or two then take them out and rework the whole piece. It’s great exercise playing with color and composition. Some are taken too far, which is kind of a shame as far as not having a result for the labor, but with regard to learning: effort is never wasted. Change characterizes this series; change of place, change of time, change of styles, changing what’s already been changed…
Please curb your dogma
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
..Please curb your dogma..is what the large sign reads outside the Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church in Carrolton, Texas. The Artists On The Horizon program offers Artists an opportunity to show and sell their work in an open, receptive atmosphere. Now on exhibit: a series of interesting collages of paper that incorporate elements of painting, drawing and sculpture by contemporary Artist Bryce Lafferty. The Paper Places series shows March 1 – 31st. Left: Lake Cote Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica.
Redbuds in bloom
Saturday, March 29th, 2008
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Redbuds, Springtime in the South, USA - Dry Pastels on charcoal paper, 11 x 14 inches, framed size 22 x 26 inches | |
| $275.00 Framed |  |
Mattipaul Trees
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Mattipaul Trees, Costa Rican Grasslands – 11 x 14 Oil Pastels and pencil on paper. The unusually wide umbrella-like shape of the trees presented a problem for a while, as they appeared cartoonish, but after sitting for a while out of sight, then work with a fresh perspective, I think maybe the problem is finally solved.
I’m quite sure these are Mattipaul trees (Ailanthus tripysa), but can find very little information about them. They have such presence you’d think they would be one of the better-known trees. Costa Rica is not well known for it’s relatively flat open grasslands, but north-west and central areas of the country flatten out a little, with mountains of rainforests and volcanoes on the horizon. Mattipaul trees grow with with entirely different habit under the canopy of the rainforest than on the open grasslands.
Part of the Paper Places series, all with white double mats and white classic-style wood frames, total size 22 x 26 inches.
The Great Ocean Road
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
The Great Ocean Road, weathered, dead tree, Eastern coastline, Victoria, Australia – 11 x 14 Oil pastels and pencil on paper.
This drawing has weathered a little time itself - it needed to go a little beyond the ordinary, so I put out of sight for a while and just gave it a few more finishing touches today. A few marks can make all the difference.
Exhibition Opportunity for Artists
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
For Artists interested in juried competitions and online gallery exhibitions, the American Juried Art Salon (AJAS) gives helpful feedback and critique whether your work is accepted or not. For information about their Spring/Summer 2008 competition visit http://www.artjury.com/art.html
Artists whose work has been accepted twice in a row receive a website page for one year.
Galahs in Traffic, 14 x 11 inches Oil Pastels on paper, 26 x 22 framed. Galahs fly in front of cars… unfortunate fatalities along the highway to the Kangaroo Island ferry, South Australia. The trees illustrated are Norfolk Island Pines. One of the pieces accepted into the AJAS Fall/Winter Online Gallery.
Two drawings
Friday, September 21st, 2007
Trying to decide which pieces to enter one of the juried exhibitions, I came across two drawings started in March. Not confident with either one the way they were, I did some more work on each and am now satisfied to call them finished. One of of a Poplar forest in Banff, Alberta, called Northern Delights. The other: Redbuds on a foggy Spring morning in Coppell, Texas, called Rebirth.
Details: 14 x 11 and 11 x 14 Oil pastels, pencil, water-wash graphite, colored pencils, eraser. Both were drawn using these materials, more or less materials in one than the other, but lots of scraping, redrawing, and using the eraser over pastels to good effect; very experimental re: oil pastels and the paintable water-wash graphite pencil. Learned a lot with these two! That’s the way it is: some drawings and paintings need to hang around for a while in order to know for sure they are finished, or to see what else can be tried. Others are finished without a doubt.
Aspen, Banff AB – 3 stages
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Mixed media: Water-wash pencils, Oil Pastels and eraser on 14 x 11 paper
Small drawings solve a lot of issues and make it easier to make decisions when doing larger work with more expensive materials. 1st day: There is a nice breezy feeling in the first image, at which point I had stopped drawing and considered it finished. Next day: I felt that the trees were not strong enough in character, because this species of Aspen have black areas of bark, particularly on the bottom half of the trunk. – also wanted to take advantage of my new water-wash pencils, experiment and see if oil and water might be able to cooperate for a change! Final day: I might have left well enough alone, but how do we expect to learn new things if we don’t go out of our way and look for them? The final drawing has good traits as much as the first version, it’s just darker. This piece has been taken to the max with these materials; the water-wash pencils do not take much “abuse”, in fact hardly any. Once water has been applied, after the paper dries it becomes slippery. More drawing on top and more painting are less effective…not helped along by the eraser which actually uncovered a few secrets for future drawings. Erasers on top of oil pastels do neat things, and if pushed “beyond” will tear a top layer of paper off along with it. This can be used to advantage because it opened up some space in the treetops where it was getting too crowded and overworked. I’m happy with the end result.
Aspen, Banff National Park
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Protected Bison reserve, Banff National Park, Alberta – 14 x 11 Water-wash Pencils, Oil Pastels and eraser on paper
As with the Redbuds drawing before it, this was an attempt to see what oil and water could do in one place. One great thing I learned from trying this combination is how using the eraser to create spaces between the leaves removed portions of paper. I like the effect, and will use it somewhere else in future works. As opposed to oil pastel alone, the paper cannot be reworked for long though, something I enjoy pushing; it warps and the texture changes unfavorably. Additional marks with the pencils do nothing to improve the slippery texture once water is brushed on, and they don’t erase well then either. Interesting!
Redbuds, 3 phases
Saturday, March 17th, 2007
The first image shows the drawing as I initially thought it to be finished. After hearing other Artists’ opinions, their comments reflected my own suspicions that the tones weren’t quite right.
Second image: after attempts to correct the lighting, gone was the fresh look and brightness of Redbud petals that I found admirable about the first one. Aquarell water wash graphite pencils were also used in this drawing, so additonal water and scraping off of the pastels to start over made the become warped, slippery in some parts, and difficult to work on.
During the third and final version I tried to bring back the brightness of the petals (as seen in the 1st) and the sun through the heavy blueish haze. There is something in each picture that ought to have been left alone, but this is what happens with exploring or striving for one thing: other things can disappear, and the medium being used has limitations. You can push those limitations, but in the end they still control the results. Only so much scraping off and starting over is possible, and the work can lose its fresh appeal.
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