Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, 12 x 18, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

A Summer Sunset, As We Move Into Autumn

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, 12 x 18, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, 12 x 18, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I love tackling the complications of woodland and water. So much detail and color, yet I want to simplify, share what I feel instead of everything I see. And for one more week this original painting is eligible for a 25% discount.

25% discount on summer artwork originals

Until the Autumnal Equinox you get 25% OFF select original paintings with a summer theme or subject. Use the coupon code SUMMERSOLSTICE25 in your shopping cart.

About the painting

This photo was from an August visit to the Panhandle Trail when I decided to cool off before I went home in the evening with a little swim in Robinson Run. It’s not deep enough to swim in that spot, but deep enough to submerge in the water cooled by its shaded route to this spot. The sun shone through the woods as if it was following me and could still see me even through the trees. As I held my spot in the current I studied the scene before me. Within all the shades of green and blue and yellow were other tones of red and violet and gold.

I took several photos, difficult to capture because of the contrast of the brilliant sun through the trees and the dark woods all around, so I used several settings to capture more and more light, trying to hold as much detail as I could. I have one photo that is a favorite because of the colorful sunflares I captured, and in the past five years it was those sunflares that helped me remember all the complimentary colors I saw in the woods and the water.

But how best to capture that feeling of fluttering leaves, rippling flowing water and fleeting evening light? I use pastel most often because I visualize best in the areas that pastel has superior quality over other media: blending, whether one color over the paper, or multiple colors together, partially or completely, and even being able to draw on top of that area creating multiple layers. Sometimes I get a lot of pastel on the paper and act like it’s finger painting time, or I use my whole hand to move and blend pastel.

But for this painting I wanted no blending at all. I wanted that feeling of fragmented light on the leaves and water, brilliant, hard highlights and all the details even in the shadows. I’d been studying other artists’ use of pure pastel on paper with no drawing or blending but gentle to vigorous taps and swashes of soft pastels on the paper. I knew this took an artist’s sort of courage, not building a color or a shape over time, but just aiming your hand and pastel so that it made exactly the right shape and intensity of color on the paper, in just the right place.

I painted this in February 2018 during the painting challenge that month, a time when I catch up with paintings I’ve been wanting to do and encourage myself to experiment. I also tried a new-to-me pastel paper for this one, Clairfontaine Pastelmat Card, and I absolutely love the surface, but I had no idea it would be absolutely perfect for this technique. It was all meant to be.

I have grown to love this painting so much, and I chose it as my featured artwork for my fifth annual Seasons Along the Panhandle Trail exhibit.

PURCHASE THE ORIGINAL OR A PRINT

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, Pastel, 12 x 18, 2018. The framed original is still available. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.

And your 25% discount on summer artwork originals

Until the Autumnal Equinox you get 25% OFF select original paintings with a summer theme or subject. Use the coupon code SUMMERSOLSTICE25 in your shopping cart.



This is my painting from Day 21. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, February 2018.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US is included in the cost of each print.

Prints up to 16″ x 20″ are shipped flat in a rigid envelope. Larger prints are shipped rolled in a mailing tube unless otherwise requested; flat shipping is an extra cost because it’s oversized.

GICLEE PRINTS

The giclees are printed on acid-free hot press art paper for a smooth matte finish using archival inks. Giclee is the highest quality print available because the technique uses a dozen or more ink ports to capture all the nuances of the original painting, including details of the texture, far more sensitive than any other printing medium. Sometimes my giclees look so much like my originals that even I have a difficult time telling them apart when they are in frames.

I don’t keep giclee prints in stock for most of my works. Usually I have giclees printed as they are ordered unless I have an exhibit where I’ll be selling a particular print so there is a wait of up to two weeks before receipt of your print to allow for time to print and ship.

DIGITAL PRINTS

Digital prints are made on acid-free matte-finish natural white 100# cover using archival digital inks. While digital prints are not the quality of a giclee in capturing every nuance and detail of color, texture and shading, I am still very pleased with the outcome and usually only I as the artist, could tell where detail and color were not as sharp as the original. Digital prints are only available up to 11″ x 17″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

CANVAS PRINTS

Because the standard size canvas prints are not proportional to the original painting, canvas prints of this painting will have a portion cropped off.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. Smaller canvases are a 3/4″ in depth, Canvases 12 x 16 and larger are 1-1/2″ in depth. I set them up so the image runs from edge to edge, then the sides are black or white or sometimes I slip in a color that coordinates with the painting.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

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