Earlier this year, I began to add oil painting to my body of artwork. I've made slow and steady progress, and as I prepare to exhibit in this weekend's Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College, Pennsylvania, I'll have several new oil landscapes to debut.
One thing that has helped my progress a lot is to do small pastel studies of a motif before diving into the oil paints. Since I've been working in pastel for over a decade now, I can problem solve and work very intuitively in the medium. And "practicing" an idea before I befuddle myself with mixing and applying oil paints has helped me a lot.
Study, Drifted8 x 10 original pastel[/caption]
A recent example of this technique is shown here with "Study, Drifted." This piece is the latest addition to my ongoing series of Winter Pines. I wanted to create this as a fairly large oil painting, but before I started that piece, I did this smaller, preparatory study. I find that using my knowledge in pastel really offers a valuable bridge into the new world of oil painting.
I caught this view this past winter along the Star Mill hiking trail in Black Moshannon State Park. In my recent landscapes, I've been increasingly fascinated by the play of light and shadow in interior woodlands. For another example of this interest during a different season, check out Study, Spring Dance from earlier this year.
If you're in State College this weekend, c'mon out to the art show and see this work as well as its larger version in oil!
