It's Just a Name

To this day I don’t know what happened. I zigged when I should have zagged, or the earth shifted to the left, or maybe my studio is haunted. At any rate, 2 entire trays of pastel sticks leapt off the table and crashed to the floor. That would be maybe 250 pieces of pigment ranging from palest to darkest in blues, greens and violets.

Pre-earthquake

  Y’know those times when you are so stunned all you can do is gape like a fish?

As luck would have it, a friend had recently sold me the last of her high-quality stash of pastels, and I knew that someday, somehow they would be integrated into my already full trays. What better time than the moment I am ankle deep – literally – in sticks already strewn hither and yon?

Four days later…

I ask you: what color is “wode”? Where does “heliotrope” fit on the color wheel? Is “aerial yellow” yellow-er than “atmosphere”?  And what about “#106”? Is it warmer than, say, “B712”?

I'm an equal-opportunity pastel purchaser. Great American, Diane Townsend, Art Spectrum - if its the right color, I'll buy it.

Oil paints are mostly labeled according to a historical system using clarifying words like ultramarine blue. This is a warm blue, always a warmer than prussian blue, which is always a very cool blue. Always. Cadmium red is an established color that varies only slightly from brand to brand. It is red. 

Pastel sticks are numbered and named according to whomever owns the label. Is “dead head” warmer than “sinopia”?  P12 lighter than 782.10? Compare 106 to orange, please.

Would you buy a painting if you knew it were splattered with “dragon’s blood”?

Same color, different value. Or is it? 

Is it warmer than "purange"? For those of you who keep up with my meanderings, as it turns out, purange is most likely dead head. Or sinopia. Caput mortuum, maybe. One of those. 

At any rate, re-configuring several hundreds of sticks of color has opened my eyes to all kinds of possibilities.  Two weeks ago my hand would have grabbed a color out of habit. Now I scan new hues, intensities and combinations, (regardless of their name). 

2016 Patricia Scarborough Coming and Going  9.5x9.5 pastel

What started out as disaster has actually given me a bump in a new direction, and I like it. 

Still, would Ray Charles's masterpiece sound the same if it were "Am I Wode?" 

Hunting Purange

Stalking the elusive purange ...

In starting a painting recently, I heard myself say:

“I’m looking for…a particular color for this spot…a warm tone, but not too warm…maybe a cooler version of warm…looking for a purple, but not quite a purple…warmer than that…

Too orange for violet -

 ...I’m looking for a purple-y orange – or an orange-y purple.”

same stick of pastel, too violet for orange

I'm looking for  purange!

Those Francophiles among you might pronounce it puhr-ahnj. 

"Purange" is what I'm calling that mysterious stick of pastel I grabbed to indicate "road" in this piece. The name will have to do; over time the paper wrapping has fallen off - that would be the wrapping that indicates manufacturer, pigment and other helpful tidbits that are useful for identifying and reordering. 

Gee what a good idea to have all that information right at my fingertips! 

"First Light", the painting I created using purange, is nearly done. It may indeed be one of a kind, the identity of that pastel stick used to create that gorgeous orangey purple area toward the bottom of the road that I find so lovely is unkown. 

Unknown. Not violet, not orange. In the middle. Unknowable. Once that stick is gone...it's gone. 

Bid on a Warm Breeze

2016 Patricia Scarborough   Warm Breeze 8x10 framed oil painting

Just east of town a few miles sits a short bridge over a dusty creek. I don't know if the creek even has a name, or if it travels very far. I do know that in the early spring, warm breezes pass over the dry grass and through the trees to warm the sand and melt ice in the creek bed.

In the spirit of generosity, this painting will be sold at silent auction on February 13th during the Fillmore County Hospital Foundation's Charitable Gala event.

Bidding starts at $200. Here's how to jump in:

Email Christin and let you know you're very very very interested in owning this lovely little painting.

Easy peasy.

The gala and auction will be held February 13th, just in time for Valentine's Day. A beautiful oil painting beats a box of chocolates any day of the week.

Bid high, and bid often.

Generosity 2.0

As you know if you keep up with this blog at all, I chose the word Generosity to move me through the next 12 months of 2016.

It has held a surprising kind of energy and there have been pleasant and unexpected results already.

I tend to be practical. By practical I mean that I’d pick Sears Toughskins  jeans because they would last literally forever. Why buy one pair of awesome fitting brightly colored adorable fashion pants that will make me happy for a short time when I can own a dozen pairs of  uncomfortable, stiff-legged but inexpensive britches that will never – ever – wear out? Verrry practical.

In other words, I am decidedly un-generous with myself.

2016 Patricia Scarborough  A Warming Breeze, 12x16 oil  This painting has been donated to the Fillmore County Hospital Foundation for auction on February 13th. Generous, eh?

When the word generosity was whispered gently in my ear I imagined selfless giving, donating gallons of blood or showering crowds of people with dollar bills. It never once occurred to me that I would be the recipient of my own new found benevolence. 

What does self-altruism look like?

I usually spend more time charging forward with my head down and my eyes closed than I do considering if I'm headed in the right direction. The first few weeks of the year it has occurred to me that personal generosity allows for time to consider which path, if any, is worthy of my bull-in-a-china-shop-ness.

I've realized a calendar is as much for opening up as it is for filling in. Rather than squeezing events in and around, I'm allowing empty spaces. Several exhibit opportunities have come calling recently and it was a surprise to hear myself say Thanks but no thanks. 

There has also been a new-found charitableness toward my own shortcomings. Suddenly I am willing to wipe out entire paintings and start fresh, just because. The paint in my drawer isn’t good for anything until it is squeezed out and mixed, beautifully or badly, but mixed and used liberally. My ear catches the whisper of generosity as I prepare my palette.

These weren’t planned events. I’m as surprised as anyone. As  my own private stash of generosity builds, I find there is plenty to share. 

Speaking of generosity, I really am donating the above painting to the Fillmore County Hospital Foundation. Show a little generosity yourself and call Christin at 402-759-2426 to place your bid.