Studio Work - Over The Shoulder

Casey Klahn
Yes, It's Cold Outside
Photo: Lorie Klahn

Pastel Christ by Odilon Redon, via SPN

Christ in Silence

58cm x 46cm

Pastel & Charcoal

Odilon Redon

Mario Vucelic, who blogs at Soft Pastel News, offered this post featuring Odilon Redon's Christ in Silence.


Of course, the crow means death, which was always the purpose of our Lord's incarnation - to die and rise again.  Christ is contemplative, holding the crow in front of Him.


Odilon Redon (April 20, 1840 – July 6, 1916)

How To Find The Subjects

Hoquiam River Bright 
10" x 14.75"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn

Cindy Michaud asked me to follow up on the previous post about what to leave in, and what to leave out.  In that post, I wrote about finding your subjects, and gave my examples of the river and the prairie.  But, how to find them is the core question.


Would it be obtuse of me to say that your subjects may find you?  Here's what I mean.  Decide what your best recent works are.  Perhaps you have 6 or 10 of them framed that you really feel represent your best work.  What are the subjects?  You find when painting these given things, such as botanicals or wildlife or city streets, that you do your best work.  These are the subjects that sing for you.


Concentrate on these few things that you've identified.  Spend your next several studio sessions just painting these things.  Right now, for me, it is a river in the forest.  Specifically, the Little Hoquiam River, on the coast in Washington state.

Studio Hoquiam River Scenes

What To Leave In, What To Leave Out.

It was interesting to see a great pastel artist list his focus on a narrow range of subjects in a book I read recently. The book is a dated one by Albert Handell: Pastel Painting Workshop. He likes the Southwestern landscape with arroyos and pueblo-style structures. He does trees, rock boulders and waterways. In his figurative work, he likes vignettes and portraits.

Why be narrow in subject matter?

It is good to be aware of what your subject matter is before you go off to the field to paint on site. Why be narrow in subject matter? My own feelings are that you may delve into a subject as deeply as you wish, and may never run out of inspiration. If your goal is to "draw things", then you may wish to pursue every possible subject one after the other. But, if you are wanting to produce paintings with depth and with good technique, then limiting yourself to a handful of subjects will provide you a greater opportunity for depth.

Limiting your subject matter will put you in good company.

Limiting your subject matter will put you in good company. Van Gogh stayed with agricultural landscapes in France that revolved around trees, waterways, fields, buildings and bridges. He did portraits and still lifes, but he stayed with common themes. Degas stayed with interior and theatrical figures, such as orchestras, singers and ballerinas. He did nudes at the bath. He also liked the horse track, and some industrial interiors. Daniel Greene stays with the portrait, but in his figurative work he focuses on painting his wife, artist Wende Caporale, in the New York subway with tile mosaic backgrounds. Of course, he does other works, but his series work is a method of staying focused. Harvey Dinnerstein does self portraits where he is painting bare chested, and Andrew Wyeth stayed on the Helga series for a number of years. His Helga series kept true to his own ouevre of rural interiors and moods.

Limiting my subject matter helps tremendously in finding compositions.

My own oeuvre features trees, forests, rivers and the prairie.  Sometimes rural buildings are featured, and rarely do I bring in the sky, horizons or light.  It's interesting to think of what I purposefully omit.  The horizon is too much landscape - too boilerplate.  Light is not much of a part of my environment, especially where I grew up on the Washington coast.  The sky is better left alone, unless to add a pushing or pulling event, or to set the color concord. 


Some of the content of this post was brought forward from a previous tips post, and updated with new material.

Raphael Drawing Passion.

Claudia Hajian, who blogs as Museworthy, is one of my favorite blog reads.  Go here to see her post on Raphael's drawings.  Exquisite.


Claudia wrote one of the Top Ten Posts of 2009.

Drawing

This post was originally published 9-08.

Ponte Vecchio - Old City
@7" x 6"
Graphite on 70gr. Sketch Paper
Casey Klahn

Under Riva Ridge, Italy
@8" x 5"
Charcoal
Casey Klahn

View my complete body of drawings at Pastel.

At The Colorist, I also have a collection of drawings.

The Portal

4.75" x 4.5"
Graphite
Scene at "Riva Ridge," Italy
Casey Klahn



Lake Garda Alley
@4" x 3.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

See all of my drawings at The Colorist.

A River In The Woods

A River In The Woods

Charcoal, Chalk & Pastel
8" x 14.5"
Casey Klahn

Back Profile - Ballerina

Back Profile, Ballerina - After Degas
@12" x 9"
Charcoal & Pastel
Casey Klahn

Ponte Vecchio - Old City
@7" x 6"
Graphite on 70gr. Sketch Paper
Casey Klahn

Under Riva Ridge, Italy
@8" x 5"
Charcoal
Casey Klahn

This post originally published in 2008.

View my complete body of drawings at Pastel.

At The Colorist, I also have a collection of drawings.

The Portal

4.75" x 4.5"
Graphite
Scene at "Riva Ridge," Italy
Casey Klahn



Lake Garda Alley
@4" x 3.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

See all of my drawings at The Colorist.

More Tiny Paintings

Folded Tree

3.5" x 3.75"

Charcoal & Pastel

Casey Klahn

Here you go, Jala.

Tiny Paintings

Threes

3.5" x 3.75"

Charcoal & Pastel

Casey Klahn

The field subject has become a source of miniature works for me. Only, instead of getting into minutia, I am trying to stay on the abstract side.

At The Bar

At The Bar - Copy of Degas

@22" x 17"

Charcoal, Conte & Pastel 

Casey Klahn

pas camera 

Color Charts

Sub Text Red 

6.25" x 8.25"

Pastel
Casey Klahn
point & shoot camera

Via Jan Olsen, at Observe Closely, here are the links to online color charts for many of our favorite pastel brands.  I order the hand made charts from Dakota, but sometimes online is just handy.

Now Offering Prints

Here is an opportunity to get prints and framed prints of my still life apples. 


Imagekind.

New Grays

 Homemade New Grays

I have been making new pastel sticks. These are mostly from easel tailings that I collect over time and reconstitute with water.  I make tints by adding white, and I also stretch the recipe with whiting. What results are grays made just to my own liking. Next, I will be manufacturing pure hues from fresh pigments.

Crazy Things I Do; Evil Laugh

Here is a series of photos of using Turpenoid on La Carte.  For some reason, there was a crease along the long edge of my La Carte that only showed up when I applied pastel over it.  One method I tried to fill this crease was a Turpenoid wash.  Observe the crease in photo one, the application of the solvent which leaves a dark area initially, and then I continue to work while it dries. Turns out the method never did resolve the crease, but I may be happier with cropping out that 1 inch of edge anyway.

Sketch and block in.

Problem crease.

Uh oh.  Here comes the Turpenoid!

"Mwahh Hahhh Haaaa - Mwooh Har!"

Let it dry and continue to work.

Finished work.


When I do crazy things in my studio, like putting liquid on La Carte, I have to let out an evil laugh.  Enjoy these evil laugh videos with this post!

Reclaiming La Carte

 Not yet named; reclaimed La Carte and a new prairie image.

Save money and have fun by re-working your Sennelier La Carte paper.  Some papers can be reclaimed by pastel artists; new artwork can be made on top of failed images.  But, many artists don't consider Sennelier La Carte durable enough to reclaim.  To worsen this impression, La Carte is water hating, and so washing off an image isn't considered.

This artwork was done on re-claimed Sennelier La Carte paper.

Sometimes Weather
9" x 7"
Pastel
Casey Klahn 

I want to introduce you to the many ways you can re-purpose your valuable Sennelier La Carte paper, as I have been doing successfully for the past few months.  Additionally, I have achieved new techniques from these methods - rewarding me with fresh ideas and images.


With the Great Recession in full pace, I have been searching for ways to save on material costs in the studio.  I have been turning to my stock of Rives BFK, Legion and other papers. 


I have always enjoyed Wallis, which is hands down the most durable sanded paper available.  You can wipe, wash and re-use it to your heart's delight.  Not so much the sensitive French sanded ground, La Carte.  La Carte is a professional, acid-free and colorfast board that has a sanded texture created with vegetable matter.  I prefer it for my own methods - it is the surface most suitable for my style of both heavy handed application of color, and also gentle scumbling and overlaying.  Nothing beats whispering a Diane Townsend Terrage pastel over it's grainy surface, mixing optically with the under layers.  Now add the rich pinks and blues from your Sennelier à l'écu sticks and you have advanced to the seventh heaven of artistry. 

 Erratic Boulder

6.25" x 8.5"

Pastel & Charcoal, re-claimed La Carte Paper

Casey Klahn

The following methods have proven successful for reclaiming Sennelier La Carte: 


Identify abandoned works that you are going to reclaim.  I look for lighter pastel coverage, although I have reused heavily worked surfaces, too.  It is just harder to find enough tooth available, but it helps if there is an image there that you can imagine as an under painting - it may become a brilliant foundation for your new art.  Read on to learn my tricks for finding more tooth in your used Sennie paper.


Brush away the existing pastel dust with a flat brush.  A smooth, cheap paint brush works great - I work the surface one direction at a time, and tap the paper to release stuck dust.  Repeat this process to see how much you can remove, and you'll soon get an idea of how exciting this method can be.

Wipe the old pastel off gently with tissue, a paper towel or a chamois cloth.  My favored method is with the tissue, after I have already removed as much as possible with a brush.  There will be bits of tissue remaining, and that can easily be brushed away - especially if you were gentle. 

Wash the old image away, as another option.  The proper solvent is Turpenoid, which is low odor, and works fine for under painting and blending your pastel on La Carte.  I have had some success with this method, but I do find that it fills the tooth more than the brushing or wiping methods.


Still having trouble getting your pastel to take?  I have found two more methods to reclaim my cleaned-up old La Carte.

Spray the surface with fixative.  Right now, my favorite spray is No-Odor Blair, which I can use in the studio with minimum discomfort.  I also like Spectrafix, but at the point where I am starting to add pastel to a reclaimed surface, I want the most coverage I can get from my spray.  Another method would be to apply several layers of the Spectrafix.  For subsequent layers, after my colors have been established, I use Lascaux spray, which changes my colors the least.  I don't want to add spray at the end of my work, though, since the highlights need to pop.

Sand the surface to bring back just enough texture to accept more pastel.  I tried a sandpaper block made of foam, and it actually worked great!  The finer side of a two-sided block works, and I have found that it is only needed on small areas and not the whole painting.  The conditions will be that you have developed your painting, and will have a nicely resolved artwork, except that a limited area will be dull and resist new marks.  Like with the brush, sand in one direction only, to avoid tearing the paper.


Now consider some new techniques brought out by reclaiming old La Carte. In many cases, I have created new works that allow old colors to bleed or to show through.  Some become vardøgr images, and some provide rich under paintings (red under green in a tree).  I have taken to imagining my new image around an old composition, often turning the old painting upside down or sideways.

A crowded build-up of art in my studio.  I may be handy with supports, but can't get around to putting up that 1 piece of drywall!  Any guesses on who I was trying to draw on that big one?

Did you sneeze on your La Carte pastel painting?  Then you may have run up against the dreaded white hole of melted-off surface that has plagued many Sennelier users.  See this post with repair solutions for damaged works (h/t Sheila M. Evans).


My images at Sennelier: here.

Leonardo

Face, After da Vinci

@14" x 20"

Conte & Compressed White Charcoal

Casey Klahn

Raw Red Apple

Raw Apple Sketch

9.5" x 10.5"

Pastel & Charcoal

Casey Klahn

The first attempt at this sketch failed at the drawing stage, but I colored it in, anyway.  Then, I wiped away the first attempt and satisfied myself, for the most part, with this.  I left it as a sketch, with no background.

Process

Ballerina Sketch

Degas Copy - Ballerina Sketch

12" x 8.25"

Vine Charcoal, Graphite, Compressed White Charcoal and Pastel on Paper

Casey Klahn

These Degas copies are helping me on the path towards my own voice with the figure.  Meanwhile, enjoy these, and keep a good thought for the master, Edgar Degas.

  The Colorist

Degas Copies - Irrelevant; Not Irreverent

Degas Copy - Ballerina 2
15" x 12"
Pastel & Charcoal
Casey Klahn

These Degas copies were done by free-hand copying from Degas' sketches, with some measuring for proportions. The one posted today was then transferred to a La Carte board the old fashioned way by making a charcoal negative and rubbing the backside to leave an outline. The color is added by imagination, and with heavy influence from memories of Degas' style and color choices.

I have decided that he truly was focused on the drawing component of his pictures, and his "candid snapshots" of figures relied on draftsmanship and his realist ideas.

On The Easel

These copies cannot be sold, or submitted for juries, because of their derivative nature. They may be irrelevant, but they are not irreverent.

The Colorist

Ballerina Copy

Degas Copy - Ballerina 1
10.5" x 8"
Pastel & CharcoalCasey Klahn

If I were to quit landscapes and just spend the rest of my days copying Degas, I would still be a happy man. Photos with a point and shoot - better quality ones to follow.

The Colorist Blog.