I enjoy a beautiful sunrise. Happily, there are so many!
This June sunrise is done on Ampersand Pastelbord, using Blue Earth soft pastels. It captures the western horizon on a colorful morning, seen from a local trail.
This piece is available for sale. If interested, please contact me by email.
I spent a couple days painting on the coast on the southern edge of Lincoln City, Oregon, in June. The view from the window of my room was lovely. I watched the tide come and go for hours.
Both of these pieces are available for sale (please email me if interested). These were painted en plein air from the open windows of a room at the Ester Lee Hotel, using Sennelier and Henri Roche pastels on Ampersand Pastelbord.
I have been finding myself more inspired lately – ocean views, forest trails, expanses of fields in full bloom, and so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
Time is a finite resource, it passes. Unused minutes get lost along the way. My last new pastel (or painting in any medium) was November 30th of 2024. That seems a very long time ago, though I’ve had at least one other very long period without new creative work.
I delighted myself with clearing the clutter from my studio and getting my workspace set up once again, over the past week. It feels functional, and the work feels satisfying. Maybe that’s enough?
I haven’t had the use of my studio for the time between July 1st of 2024 until quite recently – yesterday, actually, call it not quite two years. I happily sat down at my tabletop easel this morning, and did the first piece of new work in a long time. I have mixed feelings about it, which does not surprise me a bit. I’ve had plenty to inspire me over this past two years, and finally sitting down to do something about it feels a bit…strange. I’ll get over it. lol
Instead of giving up after one piece, I sat with my thoughts and an assortment of photographs from recent hikes and visits to hidden coastal places. After spending some time refreshing my recollections of a particular favorite spot, I got back to work.
It feels good to be painting again. I cue up a new playlist. More to come…
This piece is inspired by recent world events, global warfare, and the unsettling sensation that the world is on fire, which has begun to seep into my dreams. It’s not a coincidence that it is similar to “The Nightmare City”; it is a place I see often in my dreams. In my PTSD-fueled nightmares, I find myself on this street, looking up the road toward…what, exactly? The distance? What is beyond, I never quite find out, however long I walk – or run. Sometimes it helps to paint these images, sometimes it doesn’t.
Plein air on a recent visit to the Oregon Coast. I was fortunate to have a great view of the sunset from my balcony.
I sat down to paint, feeling the lingering fatigue of a busy week, and a little low, generally. My heart felt heavy with the weight of unexpressed concerns, mostly fairly abstract and unresolvable. This painting is inspired both by my heavy heart, and also by the awareness that a new day will dawn. I could have titled it “This Too Will Pass” and conveyed similar sentiment.
This piece is painted entirely with Blue Earth pastels, and on Clairefontaine Pastelmat, taking advantage of a new tabletop easel. It’s been awhile since I worked from an easel, and in pastel there are some definite advantages, one being that loose pastel dust falls away from the work immediately, reducing the risk of smudging it into the work in spots where it doesn’t belong.
The Art of M. Elisabeth Howell 