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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Gloria J Zucaro's " Doing the Marla"


Today I am sharing with you my first three landscapes in a series that I am calling "The Marla".  The reason for the name is the demo I went to at the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago.  One of the six demos I attended was by Marla Baggetta who talked about her 100 Variations.  Over a six month period she completed 125 color variations of the same composition.  She used them as a warm-up exercise at the beginning of her day.  She then would go on to do her other studio work.  She said when she finished her hundredth painting she felt a loss, as they were very meditative for her.  So she has actually continued to do more now and then and has done almost 300 by now.  Most of them were in pastel.   She demonstrated two during our demo. They only took her about 15 minutes from start to finish!  Well, I decided I would like to try doing my own series, with no expectations except to do it.  In my first one, the reference picture I chose was too complicated.  So it changed by the second one.  Then today when I did it again, it also changed.  I am hoping to find my favorite one, or may choose a totally different picture.  Here are the three I have done so far.  As you can see in the first one I was quite stiff and traditional.  The second one is a little more fun, and today I was really getting into it.


               Pastel.  It is 11 by 8 because I tore a piece of Canson Mi-Teintes paper in half.


Pastel.  This one I cut down to 10 x 8


This one I measured out the 10 x 8 but left plenty around the edges for a mat.

Which one do you like better?

I am posting this to Paint Party Friday, boy, I have been away a long time!  Check out their site, lots of interesting artwork there.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Gloria J Zucaro's " Some Plein Air"

I have stepped back a little from my daily art and my blog because of shoulder and neck pain that gets worse when working at the computer.  I am now going for acupuncture in hopes of relief.  I had x-rays a couple of months ago and some physical therapy for arthritis in my neck.  The x-rays  also showed a complete loss of all cartilage in my shoulders. So anyway, that is why I have not posted in quite a while. But today I am sharing some of my thumbnails and Plein air paintings done the first week in June. 

On the first day of our Plein Air workshop, I was still doing thumbnails. We were at Ginger Blossoms in Richmond Illinois. There is a main house and a large barn filled with ceramic tiles, furniture, rugs, paintings, tableware, etc. a silo, open fields, and about 6 other little buildings filled with unusual items from Mexico. Around the grounds there are many sculptures.
The front porch of the house.


The side of the ramp going up to the barn, grasses and part of the silo.

A statue, just taking it easy!

A shed and corner of the barn.

Another small building with a latticework entry, and shadows from the trees.

Trees and the aluminum roof shining on a small shed.  Grapevines in front.

A facsimile of a Greek building.

The second day was at an old farmstead on Route 22 not far from the Mainstreet Art Centre.  The wonderful white farmhouse, several out buildings and the main barn, as well as grassy fields and charming fencerows. I did my thumbnail and then my first actual painting. I need to make my large barn darker for more punch. The day was cloudy, so the barn was dark at first, but then the sun would peek out and confusion ensued!

"Two Barns on Route 22"

I did two paintings that day, my second is below.


"The Tree in the Far Field"

The last day we painted along the Fox River in the North Barrington area off Robert's Rd.
I chose an area along the path where you can look through the trees draping down and see a distant shore.  It was sooooo cold.  Cloudy, some wind and a damp 55 degrees!  Only one painting that day. We had a critique first thing in the morning from Frankie Johnson, our fearless leader!  Then off to the latrines, and finally picking a spot to paint. Lunch and then an early stop at 3PM.


"Along the Fox"

Thanks for looking, next I will talk about the convention in Albuquerque, NM.

Gloria