Contemporary Pastel Landscape Artists

The works included in the the Seventeenth Juried Web Exhibition 2010 of the International Association of Pastel Societies (see International Association of Pastel Societies - 17th Juried Exhibition 2010) were all selected by an international panel of jurors who, as it happened, are all primarily landscape artists in pastel.  I can't imagine that was accidental so maybe there's a push to see more pastel landscapes?

The International Jurors who selected works for this 2010 Web Exhibition were Lorenzo Chavez, (Colorado, USA) Margaret Evans (Scotland)  and Bill Hosner (Michigan, USA).

If you click the hyperlinks below you can view a range of different ways in which renowned pastel artists tackle landscapes around the world.

Lorenzo Chavez - pastel landscapes - available paintings and paintings in private collections.  Lorenzo Chavez was born in New Mexizo and is now based in Colorado and most of the landscapes appear to be local to where he lives.

Lorenzo Chavez - landscape paintings in private collections

Margaret Evans PSA - pastel landscapes - available in galleries throughout Scotland.  Margaret tutors workshops all over the world but has her studio and home base are Perthshire in Scotland.

a selection of the pastel landscapes of Scotland by Margaret Evans PSA

Bill Hosner PSA PSWC - pastel landscapes - available work.  Bill is based in Michigan in the USA.  He's a signature member of both the Pastel Society of America and the Pastel Society of the West Coast and his focus is on working plein air in pastel.

Pastel Landscapes by Bill Hosner PSA PSWC

My personal view as somebody who enjoys working plein air in pastels (although not as much recently as I used to do - see Places) is that pastels are a greatly underrated medium for plein air landscapes.  From beginning to end your work is dry and not susceptible to the impact of variations in temperature or humidity as both oil and watercolour paints are!

However it is a jolly good idea to have a very big cover for your work if it begins to rain!

Places to Paint - Marine Scenes

While visiting the Royal Society of Marine Artists - 65th Annual Exhibition 2010 (click link for my exhibition review) last week I made a note of all the places in the UK and overseas where people were painting marine scenes.  This was mainly because some of the names kept cropping up again and again.

So, as a further development of my "places to paint" theme, here's the list of the marine places I saw paintings of in the exhibition - split between the UK and 'overseas'.  That's everything which includes tidal water.

Two oil paintings of Cornish harbours 

Mevagissey and Mousehole

by Ivan Lapper ARCA ARSMA

Also included are images of some of the very impressive figurative paintings of places in the UK which could be seen in the RSMA Exhibition this year.  The exhibition has now closed but will return to the Mall Galleries next year. 

UK Marine Painting Locations

• Cornwall
• Boscastle
• Mevagissey
• Mousehole
• Polperro
• Polruan
• St Ives
• Devon
• Beer
• Bideford
• Brixham

• Dorset
• Sidmouth
• Essex
• Leigh on Sea
• West Mersea
• Wivenhoe
• Isle of Wight
• Yarmouth
• Lancashire
• River Wyre

Shadows and Reflections, River Wyre

Watercolour by Keith Noble RSMA

• Norfolk
• Cley Marshes
• Cromer
• North Yorkshire
• Staithes
• Whitby
• Northumberland
• Lindisfarne
• Suffolk
• Aldburgh
• Dunwich
• River Blyth
• Southwold
• Woodbridge
• SCOTLAND
• Scottish Highlands - Plockton
• Scottish Islands - Skye
• WALES
• Ceredigion - Aberavon

High Water, Polperro Harbour
Oil Painting by David Curtis RSMA ROI

Overseas Marine Painting Locations

• France
• Honfleur
• St Malo
• Italy - Venice

I've also commented in a previous post about a book British Painters of the Coast and Sea: A History and Gazetteer which I now own and which I need to get round to reviewing!

For details of how to submit work to next year's exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists:

• see the Mall Galleries for details of the Open Exhibition
• see the guidance on the RSMA website about admission to membership 

Links:

• Marine Art - Resources for Artists  This lens provides information and advice from various websites for artists wanting to understand and draw and paint marine subjects, seascapes and waterscapes. 
• The Best Books about Landscape Art  Do you want to learn about landscape art? Do you want to find out which which are the best books about painting landscapes? Do you want to know more about famous landscape artists?

Virtual Paintout October - in Mexico

A view of San Miguel de Allende - courtesy of Wikicommons

This is my regular monthly plug for the Virtual Paintout - but a little later than usual.  At the beginning of the month my prime concern was what I was going to be wearing at a big family wedding!

This month Bill Guffey has taken people off to San Miguel de Allende which is about as central as you can get in Mexico.  According to Wikipedia this is a historic town founded in 1542 that has become an attractive tourist destination for wealthy Mexico City residents and a large number of American and Canadian expatriates who are mainly retired. According to the town's website it's one of the world's top tourist destinations - although I have to confess to never having heard if it before.

Anyway, armed with that information, you can have a look round the town via Google Maps and Streetview.  This is the link to the relevant post - San Miguel de Allende - October 2010

This is the link to the big map - View Larger Map

You can participate until October 31st - after which Bill moves on to a new spot.  Make sure you read the rules for participation carefully if you've not taken part before - or you'll kick yourself - because submissions not following the rules will not be posted! :)

National Gallery: "Venice - Canaletto and his Rivals"

More places to paint!  This is where I'm going tomorrow - to Venice, via the National Gallery and their latest exhibition Venice - Canaletto and his Rivals

This exhibition presents the finest assembly of Venetian views since the much-celebrated display in Venice in 1967. It features works by Canaletto and all the major practitioners of the genre.

Remarkably, considering the dominant role of British patronage in this art form, 'Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals' is the first exhibition of its kind to be organised in the UK.

This landmark exhibition presents the finest assembly of Venetian views by Canaletto and his 18th-century rivals to be seen in a generation. Bringing together around 50 major loans from the public and private collections of the UK, Europe and North America, Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals highlights the extraordinary variety of Venetian view painting, juxtaposing masterpieces by Canaletto with key works by artists including Luca Carlevarijs, Michele Marieschi, Bernardo Bellotto and Francesco Guardi.

I'll be doing a review of the exhibition on Making A Mark and will insert a link here when I've done that.

Below is a video introduction to the exhibition



Venice - Caneletto and his Rivals 
National gallery Sainsbury Wing | 13 October – 16 January 2011
Admission charge
Catalogue

You can find out more about Canaletto on my resource site Canaletto - Resources for Art Lovers

Places to Paint: Bridget Hunter's West Coast of Scotland

Blue Sea at Portuairk

Oil on board  24 x 20
Bridget Hunter 2010

This is Bridget Hunter, who lives in Ayrshire, on the topic of her favourite place to paint - the west coast of Scotland.

You asked for favourite places to paint and I would have to say the West Coast of Scotland.

Yes, there are midgies at certain times and yes it can be wet for days but when the skies are high and the seas are turquoise and the sands are white there is no better place that I know. The islands with the mountain backdrops almost compose their own compositions. And the air is so pure you can almost touch it.

Rum, Muck and White Sands

Acrylic on board  20 x 16

Bridget Hunter 2010

You'll find Bridget's attempts at capturing these landscapes on her blog Bridget Hunter's Paintings.  The images are, I think, two views of the same spot on different days.  Here are some examples

• Eigg, Rum and shore sheep 
• Rum, Muck and White Sands 
• Blue sea at Portuairk 
• Dark sea at Sana 
• Acharachle with Blue Skies

My own experience of the west coast of Scotland

My uncle and aunt lived in Helensburgh when I was a child. We'd often stay with them before heading off to another part of the west coast. As a child we never seemed to go anywhere other than the west coast of Scotland for our holidays and I've stayed everywhere from Kirkcudbright (known as"the Artists Town") in in the estuary of the River Dee in the south to Loch Broom/Ullapool in Wester Ross in the north with nearby Gairloch and Gruinard Bay being two of my favourite all time Scottish places.  I've got very vivid visual memories of a lot of places.

I can only concur that it's one of the most attractive places I know and I'm left wondering why it is I haven't visited in a long time.

Mind you I do remember the midges - very well!  Out of midge season would be a good time to go or paint in a windy exposed area!  ;)

Below are some relevant websites.  Sadly there's no national park as yet which covers the west coast or parts of the west coast.  However there is hope that it might happen at some point in the future - although there are others that argue that Scotland doesn't value its natural heritage enough. 

In June 2005, the Scottish Executive announced their intention to create Scotland’s first coastal and marine national park. Five possible locations for this were being considered:

• Solway Firth
• Argyll Islands and Coast
• Ardnamurchan, Small Isles and South Skye Coast
• North Skye Coast and Wester Ross
• North Uist, Sound of Harris, Harris and South Lewis

Overview Map of 10 indicative areas

Here are some relevant websites

• Scottish National Heritage
• BBC "Coast" - West Coast Scotland
• Gone to Scotland - West Scotland
• Undiscovered Scotland

Here are some maps of the area

• Undiscovered Scotland - Sutherland
• Undiscovered Scotland - Western Isles - including Lewis, Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra
• Undiscovered Scotland - West Highlands and Coast - including Eigg, Muck, Rum and Skye
• Undiscovered Scotland - West central
• Undiscovered Scotland - Argyll & Bute area - including Mull, Jura, Islay and Iona
• Undiscovered Scotland - Map of South West

Those wanting to explore other attractive parts of Scotland could do worse than investigate the only two national parks created to date

• Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park website 
• Cairngorms National Park Authority website