Speaking of Art Blog

Mourning Meditation, pastel, 14x11"

This is my latest pastel painting, of a Mourning Dove on our deck railing, just chilling for a moment. I love the peacefulness that Mourning Doves exude.  That was my goal, to depict that soft quietness visually, giving the scene a meditative mood. One main way I achieved that was to keep this painting high key.  High key in art speak means that the dark shapes in the entire piece are kept at a bare minimum. So, the only dark darks are the dove’s eye, a few small dark markings on its feathers, and the eye of the railing’s knot hole, that’s it. By keeping all the darks minimal in size and number, the piece overall has a light bright feel to it.

Timeless Beauty, pastel, 11x14"

In contrast, here’s a painting I created just last month of a Pileated Woodpecker. This is definitely not high key. In fact, it’s just the opposite, high contrast. There are lots of large dark shapes contrasting sharply with some bright white shapes, giving the whole piece a weightier impactful effect. The result is a much more dramatic in-your-face look.

Maybe an illustration would help to explain the difference between high key and high contrast.  Think of a thunderstorm approaching.  If the storm comes on fast, there’s suddenly wind and thunder and lightning and driving rain.  That’s high contrast.  Now let’s picture a different front passing through. Imagine a softly approaching weather front with barely noticeable wind, no lightning or thunder, and with just a gentle pitter-patter rain shower that lingers almost silently as it moistens the ground and foliage.  That’s high key. Both are beautiful in their own way.

What would make me go from one extreme to the other in one month’s time? It’s all based on how I’m feeling when I want to start a painting. Last month I was feeling more in control, more assertive. This month, I’ve been feeling more uncertain and contemplative in my outlook on the world. It all affects me and what I produce at my easel, and it should. I pour my heart and soul into my work. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be connecting with viewers out there. My goal is to communicate my thoughts and feelings visually on paper, not just paint a pretty picture. How do I assert myself and show my boldness? High contrast is one way. And how do I show my uncertainty about life? Well, in my opinion a high key painting is more sensitive and tentative, gentler, and so it better expresses how I feel when I’m more tentative, when I feel less in control.

I must admit that most times I’m somewhere in the middle, not too shy and not too bold, and so my artwork exhibits that with elements of both boldness and quietness in the same painting. But this time a very quiet Mourning Dove spoke to me with its soft cooing and subtle light-leaning coloring. Perfection. I couldn’t have expressed my feelings in any better way than by using high key.