Painting with more freedom, Boiler Bay, Oregon

Boiler Bay, Oregon

9 x 12 soft pastels on sanded paper

by Miki Willa

We stopped at a pull-out along Hwy 101 on the Oregon Coast about a mile north of Depoe Bay. We had been told about a place where the ocean met the rocks in a wild and wonderful dance. We didn't know there would be waterfalls, so that was a wonderful surprise. Boiler Bay does have an official state maintained park just south of this viewing point, but I think we would have missed this scene completely. In 1910, a ship grounded here and at low tide, you can see the ships boiler. This is also a great place to see several of the shore bird species that populate the Oregon Coast.

I decided I wanted to create an impression of the rugged wildness of this place. To do that, I had to let go of certain control issues I have with my paintings. I wanted my strokes to be a mixture of smooth and broken. I wanted to define the rocks and waterfall, but just lay in impressions of foliage and dirt. I wanted to make the water appear to be moving. I have not achieved that before, but I think it works this time. The waterfall appears out of the foliage from where we stood. We couldn't see a source, so I decided to keep it that way. The colors and values are representative of my impressions at that time.

I have been noticing that I am painting less sky since I have moved here. In most of my paintings from Hawaii, sky played a big part. It was always an important element. Now, I am finding inspiration from more grounded elements. That being said, the next painting will be of a lighthouse with lots of sky, and no water.

Lower Falls - finished at last

Lower Falls

20 x 27 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

by Miki Willa

I think this is finally finished. It was quite difficult for me to resolve the left side of the painting. Partially, it was because the area was not as geographically interesting as the right side. The other part was a color and value problem. I had originally used pale green for the distant river valley above and behind the falls. As soon as I realized this was not working, I rubbed it out and used purples. This gave me a much clearer vision of what I needed to do to the left side. I may have more to do on this one, but it will have to wait until I haven't been staring at it for a couple of weeks.

I have a few smaller paintings to do in the next couple of weeks, so I will be back in my size comfort zone. It is good to push yourself to grow your skills, but it is also fun to get comfortable once in a while.

Now that I have discovered somewhat of a routine to my weeks, I am going to take a look at where I want to be in 2009. Over the next few days, I will we working on some goal setting and a business plan. I will post some of this as it formulates.

Lower Falls WIP 3

Stage 1
Stage 2

Stage 3

I had a request to put all the stages of this WIP on the same page for comparison purposes. I hope this helps.

For this stage (3), I worked more on the farthest ridge on the right of the painting, the left ridges, and some on the far distance. As I work, I am constantly adjusting for value and temperature. One of the things I want to do next is darken the foreground of the hillside on the left. I will add some purples to indicate that this side is more in the shadow than the right side. The purple will also help the golden foliage pop more and send it further forward. I have all the elements I want to use from the original reference photo, so now it is all about the painting and what will make it work.

Lower Falls WIP 2

Lower Falls WIP 2

by Miki Willa

In this second phase, I reworked the ridges on the right side. I wasn't happy about the values yesterday. The closest ridge is filled with golds, iron oxides, and sharp angles. I wanted to portray that. The second ridge is very dark, with a few tall pines. The third ridge was much lighter with more trees. I think I finally have what I want here. I may punch up the areas that were hit by the sun closer to the finishing stages. I also worked a bit on the left ridges, the river, and the falls. There is a tree with very golden leaves in the near ground that I will be adding in the next stage, if I get brave enough.

I was reading Linda Blondheim's Thanksgiving post about the ugly stages of a painting. It is so good to read about the process other artists go through in their painting. I am always amazed at just how ugly my paintings can be in the early and middle stages. When I take a class, or paint in public, I have had to learn to just trust the process and not worry about what others think. That is no easy task, for me. The way I have of approaching a painting has evolved over time from working on one small section until it is as good as I can get it before moving on to the next, to working with the whole piece in mind from the beginning. It makes it much easier to see how colors and values will react with their neighbors, but it sure makes from some not so lovely scenes. Even on this painting, I placed the values and temperatures in the first layer. Staying with them, I am able to work back and forth on different elements.t

Given all that, I am still learning how to let go of those paintings that never leave the ugly stage. If you have watched my progress on the blog, I am sure you know which ones I mean.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Lower Falls WIP 1

Lower Falls WIP

by Miki Willa

After I did my preliminary sketches, I got out a full sheet of Art Spectrum Colourfix and found a backing board large enough. I did a very rough sketch of the basic lines and shapes. I selected pastels in different values and temperature to lay in the basics. I worked the falls and river first, something I rarely do. What you see here is a bare beginning, just trying to establish value and some form. I am also trying to keep the majesty and my emotions at first seeing this place. A tall order, perhaps. Lots of work still to do.

Painting light and shadow

Akaka Falls

12 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

Some time ago, I painted a very small waterfall along the path to Akaka Falls near Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. This morning, I decided to paint my impression of the big falls. I wanted to keep it loose because I wanted to concentrate on the shadows and light areas created by the morning sun the day I visited.

The trail to the falls starts in a small parking lot at the end of a road with breathtaking views of Mauna Kea and the sea. The path is old with stone stairs in places, asphalt paths and a bit of worn concrete. There are so many exotic plants along the trail that I have not seen anywhere else. There are pink bananas, helaconias that look like centipedes, and climbers with leaves bigger than I am. After about ten minutes, we came to the overlook for the falls.

Hilo is not known for having many sunny days, but this was one of them. Because of the angle of the sun, the left side of the falls was in dark shadow but the right was in brilliant sunshine. I tried to convey the sense of what I saw in this painting. I do love waterfalls, but I think they might appear cliche in paintings. I hope I was able to move beyond the cliche by focusing on the play of the shadow and the light. I am very happy that I was able to keep this loose. Maybe, just maybe, I am breaking free from my little realist voice. It remains to be seen.

Painting waterfalls

Wailua Falls

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colour Fix

Miki Willa

After I posted my 10 in 30 to WC, I went through my reference photos to see what I wanted to work on next. I found a photo of Wailua Falls on Kauai. I took this on the first trip Tom and I took to this, our favorite island. The road to the falls is long and filled with potholes. It is an old cane haul road. We were surrounded on both sides with old cane fields. Occasionally, a gate would appear to the left or right leading to smaller roads into the middle of the fields. One can almost feel the plantation times. The falls themselves are at the end of the road. There is a path to the bottom, but it is treacherous. There is also a path up the river from the coast side. I was pleased with the photos I took that day.

The painting was a challenge because of the depth of the falls. We were on a plane about even with the top. I am not sure I caught the true height of the falls because this kind of depth is very hard for me to paint. The illusion escapes me, but I will keep trying.