James Geddes Pastels, Watercolors and Sketching

My pastels are under painted with either Nu Pastels and gamsol, gauche or watercolor.

Soft pastels include: Rembrandt, Sennelier, Great American, Girault, and Diana Townsend, Unison and Terry Ludwig, Schmincke and Mount Vision.

Pieces shown here are images of original works. Please contact the artist to purchase an original work: jamesgeddes at comcast.net
or 360-982-2474. If you would like to purchase a giclee print using a shopping cart system, follow the links attached to each image or go to the artist's gallery:
ARTIST'S GALLERY

If you would like a giclee proof from the artist personally, use the contact information above.

"Sharing Our Secret Spot" 16x20 on Pastelbord 2/9/2012
	Winter Trees 12x16 on Wallis Belgian Mist Photo reference courtesy of Paolo De Faveri
Big Horn Sheep 12x18 Wallis 1-2012
	Finger Painters 20x20 PastelMat 12/15-12/17 2011
Meg's Farm 18x24 Wallis Sanded Ground 12/7/2011
	Chugger 11x14 Charcoal and Lyra Pencils Canson Mi Tientes
Merced Crossing 18x24 Wallis Sanded Ground
	Tulip Red 18x24 Wallis Museum Grade on Foam Core Watercolor Under Painted 7-17-2011
Alder Crossing 12x18 Pastel on Wallis Museum Board Under Painted with Watercolor and Gamsol July 13. 2011
	"Point of Morning Light" 12 x 18 Pastel on Dakota Arts Wallis Museum Board Watercolor under painting 7-1-2011 Gallery
Kootenay Plains, Alberta CA 18x18 Wallis Museum (Dakota Arts Mounted) 6-16-2011 Gallery
	Aspen Road 2 12x16 Pastels on Wallis Professional 5-27-2011 Gallery
Half Dome Mist 12x12 Wallis Gamsol & Pastel Under Painting 5-1-2011 Gallery
	"Barefoot Daydreams" 12x18 Wallis Paper on Panel water color under painting Photo reference provided by Trine Sirnes Gallery
"Playing the New Game" 16x20 - Handmade Ground on hard board 2/25/2011 Gallery
	"Lola" 16x20 Ampersand Pastelbord 2/16/2011 Gallery

2008 was my first year painting. I wanted to learn to paint with watercolor and after some miserable attempts, I was finally able to produce some enjoyable works. During that time I purchased an inexpensive set of pastels and started to become more intrigued by them. By 2009 I had begun to explore pastels and became infatuated with the media. I find the sequence of pastel painting in layers more suited to my thought process which grew from working with layers in Photoshop. I am still very fond of watercolor artwork and I regularly paint and under paint my pastels with watercolors.

The art I have displayed here is from 2009 and 2010 and are all pastel works. If you have visited here before, you know that before 2007... I didn't paint at all. I am a professional photographer and sketch artist. I retired from instructing high school students in photography and I was our high school curriculum specialist. 6 years ago we moved to Washington. Nancy and I now live on Whidbey Island, Dugualla Bay to be more precise. This wonderful location has allowed my inner soul to flourish and allowed me to pursue my passion for creating art.

The works displayed here are photographs of original paintings that I use for giclee prints. The prints may be ordered for purchased here: Giclee Prints. The original works are in my personal collection or in private collections.

If you would like to purchase an original, please contact me directly. Thanks for visiting!

James Geddes

Examples

Do you remember learning something new as a kid and just wanting to do it all the time? And sharing the joy that this new found experience brings? Well, that's what it is like for me with pastels and watercolors right now...

In 2007 I decided I wanted to learn to watercolor paint. I knew nothing about it what so ever. Ask my first instructor, Melody, who was amazed at how unfamiliar I was with concept of paint and paper. I have sketched youth sports players with a WACOM tablet for years as well as other subjects. But that is NOT paint on the paper! My short session with her led to embarrassing disasters. But, as I used to tell my photography students, failure is a large part of the learning process. So I continue to watch DVDs, read articles and books and visit galleries - when I am not busy with my photography work.

In 2007 I purchased a beginning watercolor DVD from Julie Cohn which I would highly recommend. I had fun with Susie Short's DVD on clouds and skies, John Lovett's instructional DVD brought a knew prospective to watercolor for me. Then I found a TV program on "Create" channel featuring Sue Scheewe who instructs in watercolor. Susan is more than a great artist. Her many years of teaching all levels of aspiring painters has helped her to develop a method of instruction with interactive components that allow you to "watch", "read", "hear" and "practice". Sue's step by step instructions is where I finally "got a clue"! Her DVDs coupled with the instruction books with exercises are a perfect learning experience.

I am NOT a professional artist, I'm a professional photographer. But I love exploring art and I am not afraid of falling on my face... it took years for me to develop sketching from photographs using the WACOM tablets, I am sure this will take a lot longer...

At some point I became drawn to pastels and I have been enjoying my growing passion for them. Pastels allows some drawing as painting or as well as painting. 2009 has been all pastels so far. Some of the 2008 works toward the bottom are my beginning pastels. These are my first attempts, they are crude but I learned a lot from each attempt. I find pastels to be so vibrant in color and entirely different experience than watercolor. I truly enjoy both methods of painting and also mix the media.

I am continuing to paint and learn on my own by visiting other pastel artist websites, investing in DVDs by artists who instruct workshops, books by renown pastelists and visiting our local galleries. Here, I am sharing the journey of learning how to paint.

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