This piece is a war-themed piece, inspired by the terrifying devastation of drone strikes in modern warfare, and specifically the successful attacks by Ukraine which destroyed Russian ammo depots in the summer of 2024. This piece is not for sale.
This piece was inspired by my July visit to the Taft, on Siletz Bay, south of Lincoln City, Oregon. It is the view from the hotel I generally stay at when I take time on the coast to paint, and the early morning sky is often a soft smudgy assortment of pinks, mauves, and pale orange hues. The gulls circle the pier, and above the nearby fisherman, and even at such an early hour there are often people walking the beach at low tide.
This is another piece I photographed immediately after completion although the Pastelmat tends to warp just a bit when I remove the masking tape I use to mask off the border and release it from the surface I’ve secured it to. One reason I recently switched to Ampersand Pastelbord is to avoid this warping (and the time required to press new work flat again, risking smudging or damaging the work).
I painted this with stormy weather in mind, and recollections of my July trip to the coast, watching a storm approach from the western horizon, dropping showers as it passed over the ocean and the bay.
I’ve found that one challenge using unmounted Pastelmat is the paper tends to warp just a bit when I remove the masking tape I use to mask off the border and release it from the surface I’ve secured it to. This observation inspired the subsequent (recent) switch to Ampersand Pastelbord, although I’m not firmly committed to one or the other surface; they each have their advantages. This piece was photographed immediately after completion, and before I had pressed it flat again.
Inspired by a vibrant September sunrise at a local trailhead. A favorite source of inspiration for me is the opportunity to watch the sunrise before a hike.
An exploration of light and color, inspired by summer Dahlias at a local market. This piece is done using Henri Roche pastels on Ampersand pastel board.
Early work in a new (for me) medium. This piece is inspired by September sunrises I have enjoyed this year at a local trailhead. This piece uses a combination of Sennelier and Henri Roche soft pastels, on Ampersand pastel board.
As was the case when I first picked up a paint brush, in the early 1980s, I find myself most inspired by landscapes presently. Perhaps it is as simple as “seeing them everywhere” that makes landscape painting so approachable when I am exploring the first work in a new medium? Watercolor, oil, acrylic…they each followed a typical (of me) flow, first landscape, then botanical work or some still life, eventually breaking things down in new increasingly abstract ways. I wonder where pastels will take me, over time?
It’s been a bit more than a month since I made the switch from many years (a lifetime, really) of working in acrylic and 3D mixed media. So much has happened since then, and I’ve been enjoying my first explorations in pastel. I’m definitely enjoying the brands I’d selected (a combination of Sennelier and Henri Roche, and a small assortment of iridescent hard pastels from Sakura’s Nouvelle Carre’ line, some of which I’d apparently purchased “back in the day”, and lay long-forgotten in a box).
I took a couple days of solo creative time, late in July, and “played in the colors” without any specific agenda or rigid goals. It was very much an exploratory time, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The results were sometimes a bit humbling (how am I this messy??), and often satisfying and delightful.
Still, it’s not about neat vs messy, so much as the results, and I am pleased with those. I’ve surprised myself, too; of the new work, one piece is already sold, and two others are already spoken for. I did not expect that. This works for me. I also did not expect this medium to feel so… wholesome? Pure? Freeing.
I’ll no doubt do a post for each of these individually at some point, although they are part of the same weekend’s work. I hope you enjoy taking a look at my most recent work, and the first in this medium.
I’ve got a number of pastels now, and the additional supplies I need to begin exploring what is, for me, an entirely new medium. I may have gone a bit overboard, as starting points go, but I dislike half-way measures, and I’ve reliably found that good quality pigments and well-prepared canvases or good quality paper selected with the purpose in mind gets a better result that “going cheap” – which can often turn out to be more expensive than investing in good materials with care.
My pastels? I’ve selected Sennelier for my “basics”, choosing a variety selection of 40 half-sticks from a local art supply shop (to try them out and make damned certain I wanted to proceed with this exciting change), and the 80 half-stick landscape selection, which don’t overlap (as far as I can see). I added (very much an artistic “treat”) a selection of 12 Henri Roche half-sticks (their “vivid” assortment), less because I needed them – I just wanted them very much after seeing a video about their history and how they are made. It was this video that initially inspired me to consider pastels as an artist.
I found a nice Richeson “Roz Box” pastel case, used. I purchased a set of Rosemary & Co brushes and tools selected for pastels, and some Pastelmat in a comfortable size for “everyday work” as I take my first steps in this new (to me) medium.
Looks like it’s time to paint!
Every journey starts with a first step. Every painting begins with an idea. The Sennelier pastels came with a small piece of their sanded card paper, and I started there, exploring the colors, getting a feel for the medium, learning more about my limitations, my ignorance, and the nature of soft pastels (the dust! the smudging! the beautiful luminous hues!).
I don’t recall what specifically inspired this piece, painted after a stormy October weekend in Lincoln City, Oregon. Depending on the quality of the light in the room, it can appear as a stormy afternoon, or the twilight of evening.
Shot in different light:
This is one of several pieces that I spent time on in 2020 and 2021, without doing much about documenting the work or sharing it; we’d just moved into our house in McMinnville, Oregon, and frankly life was pretty busy. lol
A lot of my work is inspired by things I find more difficult to put into words. Emotions. Profound joy. Deep sorrow. Painful memories. Nightmares.
This piece is acrylic on canvas, 8″ x 10″ with glitter and glow-in-the-dark. It’s a painting in my personal collection that has a fairly practical purpose for me; it anchors me in the here-and-now when I wake abruptly from a nightmare. It is my “nightmare city” – a place I frequently come back to in my bad dreams and PTSD-fueled nightmares. I charge the glow with bright light before I retire for the evening, and if I wake, the painting is glowing brightly in the darkness, reminding me where I am, that I am awake, and that I’ve left the nightmare city behind.
Charged, and viewed in red light…
The Art of M. Elisabeth Howell 