The first time I worked with pastels was in the streets of Florence, Italy, as a street painter. Everything about it, it seemed, was new: working large and flat, working with chalk, working with color, and a very different type of physicality as compared to carving stone. I am still not sure what I think of my work as one of the madonnari.
However, I meet interesting people and some fans. One is our newest street painter, a young woman of about twenty. One night she told me that what she liked best about my work is that I am “all over the map.” Doh! And I thought that I had found my voice years ago. Also, all art marketing and business gurus will tell you that Picasso was the exception. A professional artist cannot do too many kinds of art to survive and be taken seriously. And I am no Picasso (I am generally happy about that.)
So, here I am preparing new art for my exhibition here in mid-April, and EXPERIMENTING. Wait, I do not have time for that! This is a SOLO show. I must fill that space with only my work. Am I TRYING to sabotage my career? Hmmmmm. No, My theme is light emerging from darkness. And I want to explore this as thoroughly as one artist can in a short period of time.
Anyway, I recently read an article on EmptyEasel.com titled The Colorist Method of Painting with Pastels (A Four Stage Tutorial) by Robert Sloan
Following this pastel drawing method loosely (I seem to have a difficult time following rules), I created my disegno (drawing/design) in charcoal on a piece of Roma paper that is about 46 x 64 cm.
The first step in this pastel lesson is to place different warm colors in the light shapes, while different cold colors should be put into the shadow shapes. I was pretty straightforward on how I color-coded my design, only adding a darker purple in the darker shadows of the face and a lighter purple for the face in shadow.
No doubt this will be one of my projects in which some of my collectors will love while others will say, “Please stop this and go back to what you are good at.” I wonder what I will think?
Allora, if you are curious about some of my street paintings here in Florence, Italy, just skim this blog from the very beginning September 2007. Or befriend me on Facebook – I have a photo album there of some of my work on Via Calimala.
1 comment:
This is cool stuff Kelly.
Don't be too concerned about the 'others' thing, you are accomplished beyond most Artists; search for your pleasure.
These ideas project in and out of the canvas, unusual and intriguing.
I like it.
Gene P.
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