Tag Archive | September Sunrise

September Sunrise

Sep27
“September Sunrise”, 9.5″ x 12.5″, Sennelier soft pastels on Sennelier 170lb pastel card, 2026

Inspired by a recent sunrise, seen in McMinnville, Oregon. I find sunrises give me a sense of hope. I’ve been needing them a lot more lately. This is available for sale.

This piece is my largest pastel to-date, and is also on a different surface; Sennelier pastel card. I did my very first pastel on a small sample and I was very pleased with the results. I like the coarseness of the grit on this card stock. It holds pigment well. More delightfully than the texture and tooth of the card stock, I really like how well it stays flat (unlike the Claire Fontaine Pastelmat, which reliably curls).

September Sunrise

Sep7
“September Sunrise” 5″ x 7″ pastel on pastel board, 2024

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?