In the Studio with Artist Sheri Gordon

The Sketch Pad…Volume 1

Okay, I’m going to attempt to post regular sketches here for you to enjoy and possibly even add to your collection. Not all of my works are big serious paintings that take hours and hours and weeks and months and, yes, sometimes years to complete….often time my schedule only allows me short snippets of time to run off to the easel. The results of which I will try to post here for you all under the title of “The Sketch Pad“. Some of the sketches will be available for sale at very reasonable prices, while others will be just for my own enjoyment or learning. Either way, I hope you enjoy them!

Today was one such day. After seeing so many beautiful plein aire paintings and doing some updates for a pastel artist’s site, Elaine Hurst.com, I couldn’t help but get the undeniable urge to go outdoors and try some for myself. First I began by warming up by trying my hand at a piece of hers (with her permission, of course) to see if I could get anywhere close to what a landscape pastel piece should look like. (As you may well know, I’m known more for my super tight realistic up close in your face ANIMAL paintings, never any looser landscapes…this is a big stretch for my abilities, let me tell you! I feel like a kid in kindergarten again.) After only spending about an hour or two on it, here’s where I arrived at for today:

I really love how it is coming along, although to me it feels “messy” compared to how I usually work. But it’s good to loosen up every now and then, right? I may finish this piece, or, begin a new one of my own composing. We shall see. (Because this was a practice piece based on another artist’s original painting, it will not be for sale.)

Then I took a break from this piece, and went out to the bluff out back of my house here in Dalmeny. It’s a beautiful sunny day, with a few clouds breaking up after an overnight thundershower, so it’s still pretty humid out, but everything’s gorgeously green and lush. I did these two quick sketches using pastels on suede board.

Plein Aire #1 - “Lush Grasses - Dalmeny”- 8″x10″ pastel