My pastel landscapes are created on Canson pastel drawing paper. I use the smooth side of light gray sheet because it provides an ideal surface for layering and blending. My drawing technique lends itself best to small, tonal landscapes. My goal is to keep the composition simple and work with a limited palette and draw the viewer in with strong use of light and composition.    

I begin my drawing by sketching lightly the general shapes in the landscape. I then lay down the colors of the sky with soft pastel sticks. These colors are shades of yellow and orange along with blues and lavenders depending on the time of day or evening. I use both soft pastel sticks and pastel pencils to blend and build up layers of translucent colors. Details in the sky, such as clouds or sun breaks, are later added with the soft pastel stick and gently softened with a blending tool or pastel pencil. The same technique is used to create the land. Large dark areas are laid down beginning with the darkest colors. Shades of earth green, umber, crimson and purple are layered and blended to create earth and shadows. I then add the finishing touches: the last light of dusk reflecting off a stream, or perhaps the hint of wildflowers in the shadows.

When the drawing is finished, I place it in a mat, prop it up and leave for a few hours. When I return, I am able to see the drawing through rested eyes and can make final revisions. I then sign the drawing and spray it with a pastel fixative to help preserve and hold the surface before the final matting and framing.  Each of my pastel landscapes is an original work of art.

This is an in-progress drawing of Jason which is now finished and in my pencil gallery. After taking the original pictures of him, I asked Jason to come back for a couple more sittings. The drawing is a composite from those sittings. I worked on the drawing evenings and weekends for about 10 months. It is my latest pencil drawing.

Morning Prayer is a pencil study of Ya-meen-wat, a woman of the Wy-am tribe who lived at Celilo Falls, a salmon fishing village on the Columbia river. Her village was flooded by the waters of the Columbia when The Dalles dam was built. The original photo, which inspired this drawing, was taken by Archie McKeown.

Some of my favorite art books:

• A Day in the Country; Impressionism and the French Countryside - Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers
• Andrew Wyeth, Autobiography
• Andrew Wyeth: Master Drawings from the Artist's Collection - Henry Adams
• California Impressionism - William H. Gerdts & Will South
• Camille Pissarro - Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers
• George Inness and the Visionary Landscape - Adrienne Baxter Bell
• The Natural Way to Draw - Kimon Nicolaides
• Wyeth at Kuerners - Betsy James Wyeth

"To draw is to be like God when he put life into Adam; it is the outer breathing of the artist and the inner breathing of the model that creates a new third life on paper. Drawing is an act of love."
                                                                                                                                                                   - Bertoldo