Inspired by the night-dark clouds of a storm moving in, and rain falling as a misty curtain over distant hills. This piece makes use of Henri Roche’s “Feu d’artifice” selection of dark pigments enhanced with sparkles.
Stormy Weather
Tag Archive | inspired by life
Summer Sunrise, McMinnville
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.
Views From The Ester Lee in June
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 Passes
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…
Inspired But
I happened to glance at this page recently and realized it has been many months since I last picked up my pastels (or paints)(or pencils). Last April, actually, some 10 months ago. It hasn’t been the longest gap in artistic output for me, and I don’t measure success or judge myself creatively by that, but it is dismaying to have lost so many moments of inspiration to circumstances that leave little space, time, or energy for painting…but I’m around. Still taking pictures of things that inspire me in some moment, still thinking creatively and planning new work, still yearning to paint on some solitary mountainside or beach. The time will come. It is not now.
I think about creative drive versus creative opportunity for a little while. My “lack of opportunity” is more to do with choices than anything else. Choosing work over art. Choosing caregiving or housekeeping over painting. Choosing rest over the effort involved in setting up and tearing down from some creative project or another. The economy drives my choices more than a little bit, too; I am not a “big seller” as an artist, and I don’t put as much into the business of selling my work as I do into creating it (never have). The cost of pastels, paper, destination travel, and other such things have increased (a lot). I can’t simply take a few days off, book a hotel somewhere, and go paint for a few days. Work keeps me home, fatigue keeps me from painting. Real life, even for artists, sometimes gets too real. lol
Still – there is a lot to inspire me in my daily life, and I’ll be back with new work eventually. 😉
Portraits of the Artist
I’m working on a commission, presently. A long-time friend who appreciates my work recently commissioned me to do a self-portrait. An interesting commission, and I undertook it enthusiastically, without giving the matter any hesitation at all – now I’m mired in it. lol Self-reflection is deep on a thing like this, but it’s not as if it is the first time I’ve done a self-portrait. They’ve changed over the years.
In the 80’s and early 90’s, when I was still “finding my artistic voice” (still a work in progress, as it turns out), and painting in both watercolor and acrylic, I found emotional safety in abstraction for self-portraiture.
I didn’t “stay in that place” indefinitely, things sometimes felt better, sometimes they felt worse. It was a complicated journey, artistically, and I often found that painting was a way of saying what I did not have words for at that time in my life.
Some of it I still lack words for, and I’m happy to be in a very different place in life now. My feelings about these works, and the experiences they represent, remain very complicated.
When my first marriage ended, in 1995, I fought hard and went through much to keep a small painting that remains one of my very fondest pieces, and it hangs in my home even now. I’ve never managed to take a decent photograph of it, and I guess I’m okay with that.
By 2000 I was painting exclusively in acrylic, and doing a lot of 3D mixed-media work, abstractions and pieces that used a lot of glow, glitter, ceramic adornments, and often working quite large. There were certainly pieces I could call self-portraits in the years between 1995 and 2014, when this next piece was painted, but they weren’t necessarily intended that way. (I think art as a form of self-expression of necessity says something about the artist, one way or another.)
The last self-portrait I started on is still “work in progress”, and I don’t know that I’ll ever finish it. I’ve moved on from that moment. I don’t feel the way I did then, and I’m not sure I can finish it in an honest way because I have changed.
So, here I am, now. This person, this woman, this artist, reflecting on self, and preparing to do one sort of self-portrait I’ve never done before; a work on commission for someone else. It’s an interesting project, and it is prompting me to reflect on details of the answer to a question in life that is simultaneously quite deep, and also quite mundane. Possibly one of the least useful questions one can ask oneself; because we already know the answer, however reluctantly we choose to acknowledge it. Self-reflection has value – but does it have hue? I chuckle to myself as I consider how best to portray the woman I see in the mirror every day.
Bald Peak Viewpoint Misty Morning
I sought out this location with some plein air painting in mind, but what I actually got was a rainy day with muddy trails and mist-obscured views. It was beautiful in its own way, and worth the trip. I’ll go back again, when the weather is fair and try to get a look at the view this spot is known for. There are lovely spots with picnic tables convenient for lingering awhile, and I can see this location becoming a favorite spot to paint.
This piece was done using a combination of Blue Earth and Sennelier soft pastels, and inspired by the dense mist, and rain-drenched early spring landscape of grassy slopes and mature hemlock trees.
Spring on the Clackamas River
My week scouting inspiring locations for a bit of plein air work took me out to the Clackamas River. I enjoyed a chilly morning of hiking new trails, and scouting likely spots to sit alongside the river somewhere taking in the view. I finally found “my spot”, and I know I’ll be going back there. The chilly gray day threatened rain, but I did manage to get a bit of painting done before heading for home.
This piece was painted with Sennelier and Blue Earth pastels, on Ampersand Pastelbord.
7″ x 9″ pastel on pastelbord, 2025
There and Back
Inspiration is powerful stuff, but plans don’t always lead to the hoped for outcome, and that was certainly true of my recent time spent scouting beautiful places to do a bit of plein air painting. It rained. It rained like all the rain ever was going to have to fall on those days I was out on the trails and exploring new locations. I can’t be mad; I got some great hiking miles in, and took some useful pictures for later work – and I did find some great spots to paint on some future, less rainy, days.
What I mean to say is that it was time well-spent on new trails, seeing beautiful places, and being inspired, and it met my needs pretty well, in spite of not actually doing much painting. I managed two new pieces, one plein air, one in the warmth and comfort of home. More on those another time.
Funny thing, I found myself equally inspired in my own wee garden, and spent some of my time there, happily working in the Spring soil, and there’s probably a lesson there.
Inspiration & Adventure
It’s been a couple months since my last new work came off the easel. Honestly, I’ve been feeling a bit cynical and gloomy due to the current state of things in the world and in the United States. It’s less than ideally inspiring. I need to get away from all that, and expose myself to new paths, new sights (and new sites), and I’ve decided to take a few days away from my “day job” to devote myself to creative endeavors, and get a bit of plein air work done here and there, places I’ve yet to visit, or passed through once upon a moment, intending to go back. Seems a good time for such things.
My thought is to begin each day quite early, go to my selected location, get a hike in and maybe some photographs for other work, some other day, and once the morning chill has eased a bit, get set up and paint for awhile. Maybe take a break in the afternoon to make coffee or enjoy a picnic bite and watch the light change before painting awhile longer, then make my way back home. I’ve got 4 such days planned, each with a different location (and a different “plan B” option just in case I’ve got to account for something unexpected). Should be fun. It’ll at least be time well-spent on creative things and self-care, and a momentary break from the day-to-day routine.
I’ve got a day planned for a riverside location, with good views, and convenient spots to work from. I’ve never been to this specific place, only passed by a couple times on my way elsewhere. I’ll be starting with this one.
The next day, I’ll head up into the hills (mountains?), to a creekside spot I’ve picnicked at a couple of times, and always thought I’d like to come back to do some plein air work, there. The view is pleasing, and easy to get to although quite out-of-the-way. The risk here is weather; it may have snowed up there. If that’s problematic, I’ve got a beautiful meadow location I’ve wanted to visit, with a pleasant easy hike I haven’t yet tried as my “Plan B”.
Another day, I’ve got planned for two locations rather near to each other, and not too far from home, that I’ve simply never gotten around to, but I’m eager to visit them. One has a spectacular view across the valley; I glimpsed it once as I passed it on a drive some time ago and have wanted to return, managing never to get around to it. The other is, so far, only a mark on a map – a place I’d like to visit.
My final day is planned for a State Park known for its waterfalls and trails. This is another that may have snow (and although I enjoy a snowy landscape, I dislike plein air painting with cold fingers! lol). My “plan B” for this one takes me quite the opposite direction, to the coast, to a picnic table nestled in a forest, very near a small rather private beach.
I’d share more pictures in this post, but in all but one case, I’ve never been to these places long enough to take a picture! Modest adventures, to be sure, nothing especially exotic, but lovely opportunities for painting and enjoying some solitary time with my thoughts. I look forward to sharing new work with you!
The Art of M. Elisabeth Howell 