Small Spaces series

Churning

12 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

by Miki Willa

I first got the idea of doing a Small Spaces series a couple of years ago when I noticed that I was fascinated by little places and scenes. Scenes often overlooked in our everyday fast pace as we work hard to get through life. I found myself drawn to the corner at the bottom of the concrete steps where a flowering weed grew, or the rock formation around one of the steam vents on a volcanic plain. I do love the grand vistas, and enjoy painting them, but once in a while, I see something small that touches my painter soul.

Last summer, we took a short hike in Flaming Geyser State Park. After walking along the Green River, we started up a narrow trail along a small creek. When we got to the point where it became too muddy for my shoes, I noticed a really interesting place along the stream where the water was rushing and churning over a few smallish rocks. The branches hanging over the stream were covered in lichen and moss. This is a small space of no more than three or four square feet in the water.

I used dark purples, reds, greens, and blues in the rocks. The water is all from the Unison light set. The lichen and moss are mostly from the yellow-greens in the Terry Ludwig green set from many years ago. I had great fun creating this new addition to the small spaces series. I think I have turned a corner in my rendering of moving water.

Painting a glass blowing glory hole

Glory Hole WIP

10 x 8 soft pastels on sanded paper

by Miki Willa

This is another gift painting. Our oldest son is a glass blower, so I used a reference photo my husband took of son blowing a vase, which I have on my mantle. I wanted to capture the intensity of this part of glass blowing. The fire is so hot, the edges around it are blurred. There are subtle shapes and forms in the dark areas. I still have to flesh them out a bit and clean up some of the lines I want to be sharp. I am pleased with the colors and values, so far. This has been a challenge, but a very enjoyable one. It took me outside my normal comfort zone and there is not a speck of green here! I am adding this to my small spaces series.

Morning shadows

Early Morning at Number 5

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I was walking back to my little room the other morning when I was struck by the shadows cast on the walls surrounding my door. The sun was just cresting the roof on the southwest side of the courtyard. There is a large tree near my end that cast these great shadows. After much debate, I decided to use purple, even though I saw purple and blue in the shadows. The walls are a dark cream stucco. The wall light near the door had reflections of so many colors, and I wanted to show them all. Unfortunately, this photo didn't pick them up well. I am not particularly pleased with the shadows on the lower part of the door, but I think I can work on that some more to fix it. The differences in the purples to the left and right of the door are from the camera. Color on the right is more accurate.

Beach Rocks

Beach Rocks

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I decided that I wanted more practice with rocks. I really enjoy working on them, but feel I can do much more. This grouping was from a larger photo. There was much more driftwood, but I didn't want to complicate the painting with too much. I think the one trunk is enough for this composition. I also pushed the colors on the rocks a bit. Unfortunately, the lighting in my new digs is very lacking in the early morning. I am going to have to try and do something about that over the weekend. I have been really surprised when I get back home and see the paintings in daylight.

Small spaces - Artichokes

Artichokes

6 x 8 D. Rowney paper

Miki Willa

What a strange little painting, yes? Unfortunately, all the things I wanted to do worked out. They just didn't make the best painting. I wanted to use subtle colors so the flower would pop. I elected to do a very linear fence background to contrast with the curves and undiscliplined lines in the plants. The thing I didn't count on was how hard it is for me to paint artichoke plants. The flowers were okay, but the leaves were so elusive. I also didn't think about how depressing the background and fence colors might be. The really important thing is that I learned quite a bit from doing this painting, and that is what this journey is about.

The ancient colors again

Ka hanu aloha

7 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I am really enjoying playing with this set of colors. Blues, umbers, and golds. They were perfect for this addition to my small spaces series. This is a vent at Halema'uma'u in Volcano National Park. This is a sacred place that is known as the dwelling place of Pele, the goddess of fire. There are many such vents on the plain above the vast crater. Warm, humid, sulfurous gas escapes constantly, letting everyone know that Pele is in residence. After I finished the painting, my friend looked at it and pointed out that a man's head was coming out of the depths of the vent on the viewers right side. Could it be Lohiau?

Once Pele had settled on the Big Island of Hawaii, she rested. She sent her dream spirit wandering the other islands. On Kauai, she met and fell in love with a young chief named Lohiau. They spent several days professing undying love for each other before Pele returned to her home. She became so lovesick for Lohiau, she sent her sister Hi'iaka to Kauai to bring him to her. Hi'ika was given 40 days to do this. The story of Hi'iaka's journey is very long and complicated, so I will not go into it here. More than 40 days passed. She finally arrived on Kauai only to find Lohiau dead from a broken heart. She brought him back to life, and they returned to Halema'uma'u. In the meantime, Pele had become very angry and jealous because so much time had passed. In her anger, she turned Hi'iaka's best friend into stone. When Hi'iaka saw what her sister had done, she put her arms around Lohiau and kissed him where her sister was sure to see. Pele became so angry that she sent streams of fire and lava to engulf them both. Hi'iaka had magical powers and evaded death, but Lohiau was not so fortunate. It is said that as he was being engulfed in flame, he chanted love poetry to Pele.

The title of the painting means breath of love.

Using Warm and Cool Color Complements

Derelict

7 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

When I first saw this rusted hulk of a barge, I knew I wanted to paint part of it as part of my small spaces series. The challenge of getting the sense of what I was seeing onto paper kept me from trying for a few weeks. I wanted to capture the sense of long service in a climate harsh on any metal surface. There was little direct sun the day I took the photos, so I didn't have many shadows to worry about. Only the rusts and blues.

When I set out, I decided to limit my pallett to my yellow/oranges/burnt umber and blues. Those were the colors I saw in the barge. I wanted to make sure that greens did not appear as I layered. Unfortunately, the photo shows greens where there are none in the original piece. I started out by making bold strokes (as bold as you can get in this small size) of various colors within the pallett as I saw them. I put the blues next to the rusts and kept building.

I had so much fun doing this painting, I completely lost track of time. I only wish the photo was more accurate.

Tomorrow, look for another in my coastal series. I want to try and apply the techniques I used in this painting to a landscape.

Playing with Color - Cools

Hinahina

10 x 7 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

Before I talk about color, let me explain about hinahina. It is a type of Florida hanging moss that is an air plant. In Hawaii, it is often used to increase the beauty of the plumeria trees, especially when they have lost their leaves. Some people think it is Spanish moss, and I don't know how that is different from Florida moss. It is also locally referred to as Pele's Hair. Our neighbor has many bunches of hinahina hanging from her plumeria and I finally decided I wanted to paint it because I really like the look.

Now the color. Hinahina is light gray in color with a hint of green. I decided to exagerate the greens and see what would happen. That made me want to play with purples in the limbs and trunk of the tree. I put in a very cool green for the grass and a cool beige for the building in back. It was all too cool and looked very flat. I warmed up the greens in the grass and then decided to go with a complementary rust for the wall. Overall, I am happy with the color combination, but it isn't quite what I was going for. I really wanted to punch the color up further beyond reality. I thought this would be a good composition to do that. Somehow, my mind just won't go there. This is about as far as I can push it at this point in time. Most of the time I was painting this, my brain kept a running monologue about how it is okay to experiment this time, but tomorrow we are going with local color. Fear not, tomorrow I am going in a totally different direction.

Painting Small Places

Concrete Weeds

7 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I had an idea when setting goals for the year that I would like to do a series of small seemingly unimportant places. The first one was the Poppy from a couple of days ago. That was from a small corner of my old garden. This one is based on a photo I took at the bottom of a set of concrete steps a long time ago. I really like the composition, and I decided to use a complementary pallet. In this case, I used my favorite of blue/lavender and yellow/orange. This combination never fails to get my attention in a positive way.

Now that my pastels seem to be settled in their new homes, I thought I would share what I use. I started this pastel journey with a student set I purchased at the local Ben Franklin craft store. It was fine enough to get me hooked. Then my husband shared his Rembrandts. We purchased a small set of Unisons and a small set of Senneliers. Then Tom took a workshop with Terry Ludwig. It was love at first use. His was my first choice for a couple of years. Last summer, Tom and I decided to try new sets after a Pastel Artists of Hawaii meeting where we got to try different brands. As a result, I now use Terry Ludwig's, Great Americans, Unisons, a small number of Girault and Sennelier. We don't have large quantities, but we are having fun with what we have. Now, if I could only learn to like paper other than Art Spectrum. I really like that surface.