Where light falls… The colors light makes… Translucence…
These visual considerations provide an exciting focus for me, especially in recent landscape work.
Unlike paints with colors mixed on a palette, pastels are mixed directly on the canvas. In my studio I have hundreds of pastels in little heaps, seperated according to color, density, and hue. By layering and blending a variety of colors over and over each other, I work to create an atmosphere of light and subtle color changes. When a painting is completed I spray it at least nine times with my own fixative formula to keep the pastels fresh and permanently adhered to the canvas.
Each painting comes from sketches, photos and observation. I live on top of a hill surrounded almost entirely by a nature conservancy. Sunrise, sunset, big skies, light on woods and open fields – all this silent beauty in nature is part of my life. I hope the “Atmospheric Series” communicate a kind of calm or a sense of tranquility.
Like many native East Coast residents I spent all my childhood summers by, on or in the water! So an ongoing interest has been the effect of light on water and I frequently incorporate this in my landscape compositions. – Alice Pritchard
