The Rocks of Pemaquid

The Rocks of Pemaquid   6" x 12"   Pastel   ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $145

Hurry! You still have time to make it!  Put it on your calendar for Sunday, November 26, 2017....Santa arrives briefly via helicopter at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park in Bristol, Maine.

This is a beautiful, well-maintained park that makes it well worth the time to visit for a day while taking in Maine's lighthouses. There's a wonderful museum that houses much information about the fishing and marine heritage of the area. In addition, I was thrilled to see some lovely art by local artists in an art museum on the grounds.

The weather was perfect that day, with a wonderful sea breeze that coaxed us into staying much longer than we had planned. The lighthouse makes a fabulous scene, but today I chose to focus on the unique rock formation. We'll definitely plan a day here on the next trip! 

  

Maine Estuary

Maine Estuary     6" x 12"    Pastel       ©Sheila Ashley Liston
Available $145

Sometimes the ordinary scene has so much to tell, that it becomes an extraordinary painting subject. I'm drawn to these areas of transition between the ocean and the rivers, that offers some protection to the inland from extreme weather events.

After drawing in an outline, I used black watercolor to establish the value pattern.

Here I began to use Inktense sticks to begin laying in the local color

This is the fun part where adding water to Inktense causes a burst of color and dripping.

After the sanded paper (UArt 500) has dried, I began to add pastel. First, I used hard pastels. I worked with lighter values in the backgound and used peach, lavender, and pale blue pastels to paint the overcast sky, and then to use the same to add the final details in the water areas.

At this point I used soft pastels to add final details along with some hard Nupastels to add the grasses and weeds in the foreground.