"Violet Cruciform" a 12 x 9 in. pastel on Wallis paper came from an old painting.

My plan from my 3 bags of choices ended up being a cruciform design with violet and the analogous red violet and blue violet as my colors. I had an old painting that had a lot of violet in it. The paper was very good so I brushed off the old pastel painting.

Then I started with pastel applying shades of red violet and blue violet in a cruciform pattern.

I wasn't pleased with the image. So, I used transparent gesso to push the pastel into the paper and to add texture. Now I had a pleasing deep violet for the background.

I used extra thick transparent gesso for more texture in the cruciform pattern.

When this was dry, I applied pastel. The soft pastel really grabbed onto the ridges of the thick gesso which dries transparently. I wish I could show you intermediate steps but once I got into the rest of the painting, I was so absorbed that I pressed on to the end. After I took a photo I realized that the viewer could see too much texture in the corners. I wanted that reserved for the cruciform shape. So, I blended and softened the corners with my gloved finger. This is the end result.

I know, it is intense but I like the vibrant color. The next one should be quite a challenge. I picked a yellow, monochrome triangle from my 3 bags. I never would have come up with that combination.

Stay tuned,

My two personalities, Sue and Suzy

This is "Nature Yellow Diad" a 5 x 7 pastel on paper that was inspired by vegetation. On a recent plein air excursion to the Pilcher Park greenhouse in Joliet, I was fascinated by the tropical vegetation and the abstract patterns within them. So, I took a lot of photos.

Back home I used Photoshop to put them to the gray scale and printed out a few that I thought had possibilities.

I could have cropped them in Photoshop but I chose to explore the photos through a view finder and this is the part of one photo that I thought was interesting. This became my inspiration. Sorry for the poor photo. This is a low resolution photo of a low resolution photo. However, you can see the interesting shapes and patterns that interested me.

So, my design is nature. I randomly chose the primary color of orange, not green out of my bag of possible choices. My next choice for the palette was "Diad". That means the other color had to be two positions from orange on the color wheel. I chose yellow. See my other blogs for my "baggy method" to abstract art. I also decided that these colors would NOT be intense oranges and yellows but dulled versions. Some of my recent abstracts have been extremely colorful so I wanted to bring down the color intensity.

So, these are the pastels I chose out of my box but later I added a few others for more value shifts. When black is added to yellow to darken it, then the color shifts to green.

Here is the beginning phase of the painting on U-Art paper.

As I developed it I put in a lot of rows of the spiky cactus. I liked those fine lines in the composition. However, that became too busy so I erased a lot and blurred other parts. I kept only those that were near the center of interest. I tried to keep some spheres in focus and others blurred as if they were emerging. The photo is just inspiration. I was not trying to copy it. And that is how "Nature Orange Diad" was created.

Sue and Suzy, the two personalities of Sue Flanagan

"Zen Yellow Orange Complementary," is another experimentation in pastel abstract art and my 23rd painting in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I was surprised by this one. The random pattern I drew on the paper, the "Zen" pattern has no resemblance to the final piece. I'm sorry I didn't take a photo of that first step.

Here is the second step where I blocked in color in the shapes and spread it around with transparent gesso. Pretty ugly isn't it? And it was ugly no matter how I turned it. I did not like it rotated 90 degrees because it looked like a tree trunk so I kept this orientation.

The color I chose for the main color or star of the show was yellow orange and I picked the complement which is blue violet. Complements that are mixed together physically or optically will make a neutral like a beautiful brown. I wanted to embrace that neutral in this painting and I wanted to concentrate on lost and found edges. That is how I came to the final piece.

I put pastel color down and then brushed it with a foam brush to blur it. I repeated that many times letting the yellow orange and blue violet blend together. In the end I added some intense color to lead the eye and create a focal point. I like that it has energy and movement. Sorry, no other pictures because I just pressed on "in the zone."

You might be surprised to know that these violet oranges and blue violets are very dark pastels but when they are next to each other they sing!

Sue and Suzy

"My Digital Journey" is a 5 x 7 in. abstract pastel painting with a lot of symbolism. It is all about my experience in the digital age.

All of the colors, shapes and line have meaning in this piece. The overall, dull red (burnt sienna) represents the ever present frustration I have when dealing with any digital problem whether it is with my computer, an app, my  phone, DVR, etc. The red means anger. Bits of yellow are moments of optimism and white means hope.

In the west we read from left to right so this digital problem starts out in the upper left corner with irregular lines because a solution is never straight forward. Note the lines eventually go downhill which is the way of all my digital problems. As the saying goes, think out of the box but you can see most of my activity is in the box even though there are clear ways out of it. The circles are times when I try something. It doesn't work so I do it again thinking I will have a different outcome. We know how that works out!

The spiral is that time when I get out of the circular thinking and actually get out of the box. There are fractured white areas and disorganized shapes at the top where I am all over with my problem solving or, I have irreparably broken the device.

Finally, there is a line where I break out of the box on the bottom right. There is a bright yellow area of optimism followed by red anger. One line goes off into the distance because a digital problem is never really solved. It just changes or returns. This is when I get my computer geek husband to rescue me.

The other line spirals toward an arch which is the doorway to another problem. The new problem is that Windows 10 will not load. I have a "thread" error. Really, I'm not kidding! I Google on my phone which is currently working and find out it is a common problem. I did what I was told and of course it didn't work. Where is my geek?!

Sue and Suzy

"T for Blue Violet Analogous Texture" is a 7 x 5 in. pastel, the 13th painting in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. It looks like an alien from Star Trek to me but I love the shape and texture in this abstract.

The design pattern I chose was a "T" shape. The color was to be blue violet and the other colors are analogous, a purple violet. Texture was not initially part of the plan but came out of the process. I fixed a light red violet into the background with transparent gesso. As I applied the gesso I put too much on but noticed that it made a nice pattern and decided to let it dry that way. This is what it looked like wet.

After it dried I applied very soft pastels lightly to the surface where I applied the thick gesso so that it would grab to the peaks of the gesso. I also lightened the background. It created a surprising pattern in the final painting.

Well, I am done with my baggy method since I have gone through all of the tags in the 3 bags. I'm thought about trying a different approach  I tried to paint an experience with an emotion using strokes and color with acrylic fiber paste. The result was disastrous and in the garbage.

For those of you just tuning in to my current method, I have 3 bags. One contains tags with designs. One has colors that are to be the important color in the painting. Finally, the third bag has information about the rest of the palette of colors I should use. I randomly pick a tag from each bag and paint according to this information. This approach gives me direction and structure.

I think I will return my tags with designs and colors in the bags, shake them up and start again. After all, the possible combinations are numerous. I am going to include a story, emotion, or concept with pattern, mark making, color and symbolism when inspired to do so.

So, I'll give it a try. What is there to lose but a piece of paper?

"X Blue Green Diad" is the next abstract experiment with soft pastels. I wanted a more subtle, soft expression this time.

An "X" pattern was pulled from my plastic baggy that contains designs. Blue Green was pulled from the second bag as the main color for the painting. "Diad" was chosen to tell me the rest of the palette. A diad is two positions next to blue green on the color wheel. I could go in either direction. I chose yellow green. I didn't want the X to be centered or too obvious. This is my start with the initial colors I chose.

The soft pastel was then dissolved with rubbing alcohol using a brush. I liked the drips and wanted to keep some of them but always keep open to possibilities.

When this was dry, I started to apply pastel.

I wasn't happy with the painting and realized I needed more pastels and I needed a lighter neutral around the X. Here are the extra soft pastels that I chose.

Here is the progression of the painting. I worked on a focal point and lightened the negative space around the X pattern.

Here are a few final touches with some more yellow green. Done!

Sue and Suzy

This is "Zen Red Complementary Tetrad," a 5 x 7 inch pastel on paper, my latest daily painting. My baggy method seems to be working for me in exploring abstract art with soft pastels.

What is the baggy method? My first Ziploc bag gave me the design which is Zen, the way I start a Zen Tangle. The first bag contains designs. This is the random Zen like pattern I drew on acrylic paper that was coated with transparent gesso. This gesso provides tooth or grit for the pastel.

The second baggy told me that red was the main color, the star of the show. The third bag told me that the rest of the palette was to be a complementary tetrad so I chose red violet which is next to red on the color wheel. Then I looked across the color wheel for the complements which are blue green and yellow green. I picked different  values of those colors. Value means light and dark versions of these colors. This is what I had for my palette of colors.

Then I fixed the design using more transparent gesso. I know, it looks a mess. Fortunately, when the gesso dries, it seals in the charcoal so that it will not mix with the pastel that I will put on top. I can keep some of the lines and cover up others.

I didn't take any more pictures of the process since I entered the zone. As I look at this final piece, it is clear that I like bold color, some hard edges and a sense of depth. I like it when one shape goes over and under other shapes or when a color looks like it is spilling into another color. I like transparent and opaque passages.

I am going to continue with the baggy method because it gives me structure and direction. Otherwise, I would lack focus.

Stay tuned,

Sue and Suzy

This is my most recent exploration into nonrepresentational art, "Zen Orange Analogous Complementary" a 7 x 5 in. pastel on paper. This is also the second painting in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge in January 2016.

Abstract or nonrepresentational work is not as easy as most people think. All of the principles of design still apply but now I do not have a reference to work from. My alternate personality, Suzy came out to play.

To give me direction, I have developed a system. I have 3 baggies. One has a design pattern. One has the main color or star of the show. The third baggy has the color palette. The title of the piece describes these 3 factors in developing the painting.

So, in this one, it starts out with "Zen" because I randomly picked this word from the first baggy. Zen means that this is how I would start a Zen Tangle. I draw shapes with charcoal starting from one side of the paper and moving to all of the sides until I have some interesting shapes. I used acrylic paper with transparent gesso on it. Then I fixed the design with more transparent gesso. The lines might or might not show in the final work.

The next baggy tells me that the main color is orange. The third baggy tells me the other colors should be analogous complementary colors to orange. Those colors are blue violet and blue green. I pick out soft pastels in these colors choosing different values. I have my design pattern and palette. Now the hard part begins when I develop the painting, keeping open to possibilities.

In this piece I could create a beautiful gray by layering the orange and blues with the pastels I chose. The center of interest was pure color

Suzy