PASTEL WAVE PAINTINGS

If the video appears to be blurred and jumpy, I suggest the viewer go directly to You Tube to view it.

The paintings - based on my own photographs taken on location at south Florida, Delaware, and Mexico beaches – demonstrate the way water changes color and mood from day to day, season to season, and location to location.

Perhaps I have a flaw in my vision that causes me to see brilliant extreme color. Never the less, I avoid rubbing and smearing pastels together as much as possible because I find that traditional pastel technique muddies and dulls the colors. Instead, I use direct application with the pastel itself to enable the most intense color to develop. Blending is achieved by using two or more pastel sticks to smear separate colors together. For detail I sharpen the soft pastels with sand paper. For broad areas I use the side of the pastel sticks. Sometimes a gel eraser is used to clean and sharpen edges.

I feel most connected to God and the universe while walking on the beach and looking at the vast expanse of ocean and waves. I guess the beach functions as my church, and I hope the pastel paintings express some of that transcendence.