How Many Pastels Are Enough?

I don’t know about you, but I am always on the lookout for new colors of pastels that will round out my palette.  I try to have one of every color I need whatever the subject I am painting plein aire. When I am in my studio I have my sets of Prismacolor and Gallery hard pastels for under painting. I also have quite a number of Rembrandt and Winsor Newton soft pastels that get me started on my layers of color. Once I begin building color, I add in the Schminke and Sennelier pastels in some of the light and dark ranges I have purchased to add different hues, and value. 

Selling one of my paintings helps to give me justification to purchasing more supplies.  That was the reason I decided to splurge and buy the wonderful soft and lush Richard McKinley selection of Great American pastels at a demonstration last year.  In speaking with other pastel artists, one is always attracted to new colors, or wanting to try different brands that are offered at tantalizing prices. They are like eye candy to me.  I haven’t tried any of Dakota Art’s new Blue Earth pastels, but Richard McKinley said he bought a whole set and really likes them. They are organized by hue, value and intensity of color on a seven value scale and each one is numbered. The sets are arranged like candy and seem to beckon to me, saying, “Buy me!” I really want to have a reason to buy them and try them.

I have heard a number of people rave about the American made Mount Vision pastels, but to date I have not purchased any.  I did decide to try some of the beautiful soft and Rich Terry Ludwig pastels and definitely will have to get some more.  This month, Dakota Art offered a half stick set of Unison pastels, Jan’s Dark Side 30 piece set and I could not resist making that purchase. I was delighted when they came yesterday and I began checking them out on a piece of pastel paper to determine how dark they really were compared to my existing darks.  I was pleasantly surprised and pleased that they were darker than anything I had purchased to date. 

That purchase made me carefully reorganize my Dakota travel case and include 27 of the 30 pastels in the diverse palette that I carry. I have been able to wedge in 357 different half stick pastels in this case, and fill every available space.  I don’t plan on buying a bigger travel case, but I when the bug hits me, I may still have to buy new varieties to flush out my studio selection.   

Shetland Ram

This spring I had decided I wanted to paint a different subject than the landscapes I was concentrating on. I began a painting of a marvelous Shetland Ram who lives at Chaffin Orchards off of highway 70 not too far from Paradise. I had not painted an stately animal like this one, and found its long tresses and wonderful curved horns to be a great challenge to recreate in pastel.  I sent a  picture I took while the painting was nearing completion to the Chris Kerston at Chaffin Orchards to let him know I had chosen the ram as my subject.

Chris wrote me back and asked if he could purchase a framed print when it was completed. He wanted to give it as a gift to his partner that raises the Shetland sheep. I explained to Chris that I do not make prints of my artwork, but that I am sure we could work out a trade with part cash and some barter for some of the fine products the farm sells. Chris liked that idea, and so once the painting was completed I began looking around for an appropriate frame. I decided that the best frame would be old barn wood, because it would fit the Ram and go well with the painting.

I found a large barn wood frame at Hobby Lobby for $30.00 and managed to carefully cut it down to a 23" square frame to fit the format of the square picture. Once matted and placed behind protective glass, the painting was ready for delivery.  I hope you enjoy it as much as Chris and his partner did when he and his wife surprised him with the painting.

Richard McKinley, Pastel Laureate of the Pastel Society of the West Coast

Yesterday the Pastel Society of the West Coast honored Richard McKinley, a celebrated pastel artist, teacher and author as a Pastel Laureate at the Placer Arts Gallery on Lincoln Way in Auburn.  As an added attraction and backdrop, the Society’s fall membership show was on display.  The opportunity to see hear and possibly speak with Richard McKinley was an event I did not want to miss. I have bought Richard’s DVD’s and one of his books, Pastel Pointers and learned so much from this positive, good-humored soft spoken man.  

When I walked into the gallery, I recognized Richard as he was speaking with a couple he obviously knew, sharing stories and conversation with easy comfortableness one has with long-time friends.  I did not know what time the presentation would begin so I put my things on a chair to claim a spot.  I just took some time to enjoy the many high quality pastel paintings from the 59 artists represented in the gallery.  As a member of PSWC, I was proud that one of my paintings was among that group. 

I noticed Richard was on his own as I came back around the gallery and so I took the opportunity to speak with him. I commented that I had read his blog on the new Blue Pastels, and noticed he had purchased a set and arranged them by value in a small Dakota pastel carrying case.

 

Richard was pleased to talk about them and said, “I have quite a collection of pastels, and just have to try out new ones when I see them.” I found the Blue Pastels to be very soft, they are meticulously made, each is numbered and they are a perfect size to paint with. They have a good edge and are easy to hold and there is no need to break them. He mentioned that the only short coming is there were no mixed color sticks in the set, they are raw colors designed just like the old oil system by value.  He said, “I prefer to mix in a few colors I like that are not there.  I will probably add some hard pastels to the set.” I recalled, you have a preference for Cretacolor hard pastels don’t you?  “Yes” he said, “Unfortunately Nu-Pastels have out-sourced  their manufacturing  to Mexico and there has been quite a buzz in the art community that their quality is not as good as it was and some of the colors do not hold and fade. “

Richard carried on a conversation with me for some time, about pastels and art, and I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to speak with this genuine man.

Shortly after the meeting was called to order and Richard was presented a plaque by PSWC President Tina Moore, recognizing him as the seventh Pastel Laureate to be honored by the PSWC. This honor is equivalent to being a member of the Pastel USA Hall of Fame. It is given to artists who win ten awards in Pastels USA competitions.  This award recognizes Richard’s tremendous contribution to the advancement of the pastel medium through his teaching, his blogs, and articles and his books on pastel painting. 

Pastel Laureate Margo Schultzke was asked to make some comments about Richard and she was very generous in extolling his contributions in the Pastel Art medium. She recalled a painting Richard submitted to a show so many years ago, that was just prefect without unnecessary detail. She said he has mastered the ability to refrain from unnecessary detail in his paintings. She said also said how important his contribution was for encouraging other painters and bolstering their confidence.     

After the presentation, we all had the opportunity to ask questions of Richard and get his viewpoint on many different subjects from pastels he likes versus those he is not too fond of. The likes list was very long and included Rembrandt’s, Sennelier, Girault, Schminke, Unison, Great American, Terry Ludwig, and the New Blue Pastels, and the dislike list was very short with Yarka being the only one he mentioned that were inconsistent in their manufacture and color stability.

Richard said, "I know that I am known for preaching about, simultaneous contrast, more luminosity, a higher value scale that comes from the personality of the pastel set.”  Richard said the gratuitous use, of dark pastels in a landscape painting are to be avoided because it is about light! When someone asked him how long it took to select his choices for a set of Terry Ludwig pastels, he said it took him a whole day to narrow his choices down and make his selections from Terry’s pastels to make a set. And yes, he made sure to put that eggplant stick in the set.  

Richard gave some wonderful quotes he has heard, for example, Albert Handel said,” I learned to paint in therapy when I learned to trust myself. Albert says he has this crazy friend Richard that doesn’t know when he is done.”  Richard said, it is always difficult to determine when we are finished.  “The conscious mind says you can’t be done, and yet there is this other voice one hears that says, I like it fine the way it is.  Then there is this evil voice on the other side that says, you aren’t going to leave it like that are you?  Those are the kinds of battles all artists go through when determining when a painting is done.”

Many different topics were discussed from under painting to framing decisions and the use of fixatives and Richard provided tremendous insight to the assembled group of artists that had gathered to honor him and to hear him address their questions on his take on things.  Most importantly, Richard said that our job as artists is to tell people who are looking at our paintings our vision so they can see what we see. He closed his talk with the words find the technological ability to make it work and follow your heart.  

There were so many excellent artists present at the gallery and so it was a pleasure to speak with different people I have come to know and also to meet and speak with some new ones I just met in person. One such person was Margot Schultzke another celebrated pastel artist and also a Pastel Laureate. Margot is the founder of the Pastel Society of the West Coast. Margot has traveled the world painting and has also given workshops and written an excellent book on pastel painting entitled, “A Painters Guide to Design and Composition.”  I had an opportunity to also speak with Margo and compliment her on the value of her book that my chiropractor friend Gary Robinson had loaned me.  Margot has written many articles for the Pastel Journal and is also the editor of the Pastel Society of the West Coast’s newsletter. 

Later, I had an opportunity to talk some more with Richard as he circulated around the gallery. I told him how much his book Pastel Pointers had provided me with valuable information and thanked him for sharing his technique and knowledge so freely with many artists and students.  He thanked me for the feedback and asked to see the painting I had in the show and I showed him where it was.  He was very complimentary and said he had told some friends that it was a beautiful well done landscape. I was flattered to hear that from a man that I respect and look up to and have learned so much from.  This was a special day among many artists I have had the pleasure to meet and get to know, but made even more special with the opportunity to dialog with Richard McKinley, one on one.

Out of Dormancy

Perhaps my blog was missed, and perhaps it wasn't, but for me, it has been far too long since I sat down to write about what is going on in our household. I accepted a job with the University of California Davis in May of this year. I signed on for a six month stint to help the campus police department reconstruct itself after the disastrous viral pepper spray incident on campus last November 19th. 2011. That singular incident cost the Chief and several of the command structure their jobs and others discipline or demotion. It thoroughly demoralized the department with the constant negative news coverage, and the loss of staff persons some of whom were liked and respected.

My decision to come out of retirement, and give up painting for six months was based on knowing I could do the job, because I had the background and experience needed. I knew that I could help fix the department's policy and work with the chief to re-organize the department. I also knew that for six months of hard work, I would be able to earn enough money to build myself a new studio and have a good environment to paint in. That was a goal worth going back to work for, as well as the opportunity to be involved in helping to restore the department and its image.

My task was to completely rewrite the police department's policy manual, using an excellent software from a company called Lexipol that specializes in automated police policy online. One of the founders of the company, Gordon Graham, was a California Highway Patrol Captain and also an attorney.  He is very respected in the law enforcement field, and he and his partners have built a company that serves law enforcement needs all over the state with up to date policy, written in best practice language, and citing California and Federal law. The policy is continually updated in accordance with Legislative changes to California's laws.

I was familiar with the software, and had to conform the various policies to the UC Davis Police Department's practices and in accordance with the University Policy system. I was given six months to accomplish this task, and set to work quickly interviewing various officers, supervisors and new command staff persons on the police department in order to get the policy in sync with the departments operations.  The new Chief Matthew Carmichael, was a tremendous positive change agent for the department and he was driving himself with long hours to rebuild the department and bolster its sagging morale. He was a pleasure to work with and often told me that I was the reason he could sleep nights, with the work I was doing crafting the new policy for the department.

Police department staff accepted me as one of their own, and I enjoyed the camaraderie with the men and women of this progressive university police department that really do take their jobs seriously. It has taken me a little over three months to learn what I needed to complete the task I was assigned. We are now going through every section I have edited and rewritten to make sure that it is accurate and there are no typos. It will be reviewed by the University's Provost as well as the police union before it is adopted. 

Just as I finished the final chapter of the manual, I had a life changing event occur again, with a recurrence of my Atrial Fibrillation on a Sunday morning. Once again I was taken to hospital in an ambulance because of my erratic heart. I was released after five days and am on leave for a while in order to get my health back and my heart fixed. The medication I am on in the meantime may keep my heart in line, but it is detrimental to my energy and sense of well-being. I praise my God for saving me, and am thankful for the care I received not only at the hospital, but from my wife when I came home. It is great to be alive, and I am going to enjoy painting again!