*Sensitvity*Serendipity*Solutions*

"Put your frock on before you put your bibbles and baubles on."

I very much enjoyed the 2-hour demo I attended this morning, by Richard McKinley. Excellent! It was sponsored by the Maryland Pastel Society, in conjunction with their (our?) biennial show, for which Richard was a judge. (It was held in the Music Room in the Strathmore Mansion, which is quite lovely. The show hangs in the mansion. Go see it! Note to self: see about concerts in that room.)

McKinley was very good, very knowledgeable, and a damn good teacher. The enthusiasm and the energy were all there, despite (it's my guess) he's done this same gig about eighty bazillion times before. (The more I see of this, the more I treasure and venerate real authentic teachers. Gadzooks.)

continue reading - - - - 

I learned quite a bit about how to think about what I am doing. How to plan. Or not. When to let the subject lead, when to let the underpainting lead, when to let the pastel painting lead, and when to take charge. All being very seriously interesting stuff that I'd dearly love to internalize.

Below is his sketch. It is not only a shape drawing, but he has given the shapes some contours that provide them bulk and presence and modeling. The lines of (as an example) of the hills or the horizon continue through and behind the foreground objects. All these whole things are there. Remember this! They are not merely shape-patches. They are whole rounded shaped objects: "Before beginning the painting, apply simple topography lines to a drawing to assist in the visualization of form and depth." [RM]

Also shown is McKinley's watercolor underpainting. The key here is to be relaxed, be open to serendipity, but (at the same time) to use it to 'set yourself up' for the pastel response.

Another important universe to internalize are Josef Albers' simultaneous contrast observations and lessons. The purpose of the underpainting is to set the stage for the simultaneous contrasts that will emerge in the pastel painting. Albers: No color exists alone. It is defined only in relationship to another color(s).

Finally, below is McKinley's finished piece. Wonderful. Dabs and daubs, and very deliberate.

Other tips:
. sanded paper hot press adhesived to museum board
. Tombow sketches for value and composition
. the 'center of interest' is not a thing, it's a zone
. the darkest zone in a landscape is no darker than #3, because the whole outdoors is suffused with light
. More on the Value Scale of the Landscape
. *Sensitvity*Serendipity*Solutions*
. When you suspect you're getting close to a finished painting, put black photo masking tape around it and re-assess. It becomes a new view.
. Birge Harrison Landscape Painting, Chapter 4: Refraction (Harrison was Carlson's teacher)
. start with your darkest mass (no darker than #3), not your darkest accents