Sue Flanagan’s Website

The first Great Lakes Pastel Society convention was held in Ypsilanti, Michigan at the Eagle Crest Resort. It was a very well organized event and an enjoyable weekend. I arrived on a Friday evening to register and enjoy the reception for the participants. It was stressful driving across Michigan because of the heavy rain. This unfortunately made it challenging for the artists who were participating in the plein air painting near the resort. However, it did not stop them and their paintings were hanging in the reception area. There was a computer slide show of paintings for the artists who were in attendance. It was a humbling experience because there were so many beautiful paintings.

In the next two days, I attended 3 sessions. The first was on how to digitally photograph your artwork. Now I have to learn more about my camera-ouch! The second session was a landscape demonstration by Larry Blovits. He is an accomplished artist and you can tell that he has a lot of teaching experience. Here are some photos of his demonstration of a fall scene. His photograph is his reference.

The third session was a portrait demo by Vianna Szabo. Vianna has a great ability to see color. Here are some pictures of her starting her drawing, doing an alcohol wash after blocking in with pastel, and then with pastel application. She did not finish but accomplished a lot. 

What did I learn from these great artists? There are many things but I was certainly reminded to be patient! There was a banquet Saturday evening. Richard Rubenfeld, an art historian, gave a commentary of modern pastel art. It included an interesting slide show.

It was a very pleasant weekend that was followed by some time in Saugatuck, Michigan. I painted an iris, beach and water scenes plein air. I hope you are enjoying summer and keep in touch with your creative side.
Sue Flanagan

Thank goodness that the days are getting longer and the snow is melting! It is time for some plein air painting.

I have started a series of pastel paintings of a nearby field next to a bike path. I took several photos of the process. Since there was a lot of green in this summer scene, I did an underpainting with orange and red gouache. I used U Art paper for my support. You can see quite a bit of the underpainting in the first photo. The next two photos show the progression where I started to build up the soft pastel from the background to the foreground. The underpainting continues to show through even in the final painting. The fourth picture is the final painting which is 12 x 16 inches. Click on the image to enlarge.

The painting was hinged with tape to a backing board. Then it was framed with a gold wood frame using clear spacers between the glass and the painting.

I just finished taking a class in Photoshop Elements at the LaGrange Art League. Sarah Rehmer was the instructor. I took the class so that I could fine tune the photos of my art. However, I have found it to be another creative outlet. It is easy to spend hours playing with this program. It is a lot of fun but the learning curve is high-at least for me. Here are two examples of what I did.

The first piece is the result of creating shapes, filling the shapes and using the other tools to modify on a blank canvas. The second piece is from a photo the instructor gave us. This one included selecting, moving, resizing and then using filters to obtain the final image. It will be in the LaGrange Art League Student show. All of the students were to start with this same photo and create something from it using the skills we learned. I’m sure there will be a quite a variety!

Peace,
Sue Flanagan

Here are a few of my recent plein air paintings. The weather in the midwest United States has been wonderful this summer! It has been around 80 degrees, partly cloudy and with light breezes. For me this is the perfect weather to paint outdoors or “en plein air.” I have minimized my equipment so that I can carry everything without the need of my luggage carrier. I even managed to finish a painting that I started last summer at the Felt Mansion in Michigan.

I also just finished a small preliminary painting for a commission. Once the client approves this, I will paint the final painting which will be a 16 x 20 in. pastel. I won a 2nd place ribbon at the LaGrange Art League and next month I will be in the Alliance of Fine Art, Best of the Best show.

Enjoy your summer,
Sue

The Vogt Visual Art Center in Tinley Park, Illinois had a fine art fair on the grounds in June. Local artists using all media  including watercolor, acrylic, glass, pastel, oil, and photography displayed their work. I decided to display small pastel paintings. Here are some photos of the process of setting up.

It was a hot day but it was dry and there was only a gentle breeze. I brought my easel to do a pastel demonstration of a few strawberries that I brought for lunch.

I met a lot of nice customers and fellow artists. It was a very nice day. I hope your summer has been pleasant.
Sue Flanagan

Spring is finally here! After 6 months of cold weather, we finally have some warm days. I do enjoy the changes of the seasons. Color is returning to the midwest United States. I have been to the Morton Arboretum three times for plein air painting. Here are some photos of my first day out. Here is my easel with pastel painting supplies, the set up and my inspiration.

It was a beautiful day for painting! On another day, I got to the Morton Arboretum early and joined the deer for their breakfast.

The Morton Arboretum was established by Joy Morton of Morton Salt Co. It is 1,700 acres of woodland, lakes and praires that has a collection of 4,000 trees and plants from around the world. It is a plein air painter’s heaven year round.

In the studio, I have taken a break from my pastel ground exploration. I have temporarily gone back to commercially prepared sanded papers. I am almost finished with two Ireland landscapes. I have also done a couple of non-objective multi-media pieces and I have a couple more in progress.

It’s great to be an artist.
Sue

This pastel painting is called “Misty Morning on Apple Canyon Lake.” I woke up early one morning when I was on a retreat in northwest Illinois. I stood on the dock and took this photograph. The beauty and quiet have stayed with me. This is the second painting I have done of this scene but the first on a homemade support. This time I did not use a commercial acrylic ground.

I took an acid free matboard and applied a ground with a roller. The recipe for the ground was published by Richard McKinley in the August 2006 Pastel Journal. I used the Simple Grit Mixture No. 1: 1 cup acrylic gesso, 3/4 cup fine pumice powder or marble dust, and 1/4 cup water. This time I was careful to accurately measure all of the ingredients.  I also mixed in a variety of acrylic paints to make the ground a light gray tone.

I applied this mixture to one side of the matboard and straight gesso to the other side so that the board would not warp. Even so, the board tends to warp a little. If this bothers you, compress the support under something heavy for awhile or use a heavier board.

Then I did a water color painting. After that dried, I applied the soft pastel on top. I liked this surface so I used it again to make this painting, “Misty Winter Morning.” I guess I am into mist right now.

After the ground was dry, I lightly sketched in the big shapes. For the foreground hill, I applied extra texture with rice paper and light acrylic modeling paste. When this was thouroughly dry, I again, did a water color painting with pastel on top of it. I still feel this is a pastel painting because that is the pigment you see. What difference does it make if I use pumice, paper or paste for texture underneath? Next time, I will try the next formula for making a ground with acrylic gel medium instead of gesso.

This month I am showing 15 paintings at Essential Chiropractic and Health Center, 7229 W. 103rd St. Palos Hills, IL. 60465.  Dr. Rory McKenna is the owner. There will be a reception at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 26, 09. Please come and bring 5 nonperishable food items for the local food pantry.

Hope to see you there,
Sue Flanagan

This is a recent pastel painting that I did. The mixed media work that I have been doing is making me more adventerous with pastel.  I set up a still life of a cup, potted plant, and an apple. The first picture is the beginning step where I laid down pastel using the pastel sticks. I then took a bottle of distilled water and sprayed the image, tilting the board to let the pigment move like watercolor. I used too much water and the paper I was using buckled too much for my liking so I had to press the paper between boards.

Then the real challenge for me began. I then layered pastel over the dried surface but only as much as needed to give the viewer enough information. I did not want a lot of detail. As you can see I ended up eliminating the glass cup of coffee and cropping the image to a 16 x 16 in. size. The picture on the right is the final painting.

Well, I was going to show you pictures of the Koi fish paintings that I did for a client. However, the video card in my camera is damaged and I cannot retrieve the images. The client ended up buying 3 paintings for Christmas presents and for herself. This is just one more battle I have had with technology.

Laura Svencner, a collage artist at the LaGrange Art League, organized an “Art Jam.” Approximately 15 artists came together in the League’s studio to make art. We all challenged ourselves to do something that was different.  I experimented with acrylic products: self leveling gel, gloss medium, polymer, string paste, sand medium. The artists worked in a wide variety of media. We brought food and music. It was a wonderful, creative, day. For more information and pictures go to www.lonecrowart.blogspot.com.

I hope you are off to a good start for the new year!
Sue Flanagan

This pastel painting is called “Family Outing.” It is a scene of a family enjoying a nice spring day at the Morton Arboretum. This painting has been accepted into the “Young in Art” show at the McCord Gallery in Palos Park, IL. It will be used in the promotional material for the show.

Right now I am working on paintings of Koi fish. I am experimenting with different approaches. This is a commissioned piece for a Christmas gift. I’ll post a picture of it when the client makes her choice.

I won the best of show award at the LaGrange gallery in their holiday show. I also sold my first miniature painting. This was a picture of an Oregon sunset approximately 3 x 2 in. Working that small was more time consuming than I thought but I liked the outcome.

I apologize for the lack of pictures in the galleries. I have had another computer snaffoo. I will have to put the photos back into the pages and this will take some time. I hope you are having a good holiday season. May God bless you and your family in 2009!
Sue Flanagan