“Close to my home in Toronto, there is a park down in the ravine, where you can find a small pond that is overgrown with reeds and aquatic grasses,” Dalibor Dejanovic says of November Leaves (above). “During the summer months, this pond hosts numerous species of birds and amphibians and becomes a lush urban oasis, but as the winter nears, grasses die and autumn leaves fall and collect on top of the surface. The reflected blue of the sky and the leaves created a sort of abstract pattern that I was immediately drawn to. The contrast between the warm color of the leaves and the coolness of the sky created a perfect harmony.
“The biggest challenge of the piece was to stay true to the feeling of the vision that I felt as I saw the scene, but not trying to copy exactly what I was seeing. I wanted the colors and abstract shapes to dominate, but as I was working on it, it quickly became confusing and unclear what I was actually depicting. It took careful observation of the values of the water to set the atmosphere of depth and dimension. The pattern of the leaves had to be altered, and I tried to create a sense of pictorial movement with their positions.”
THE ARTIST’S PROCESS
“I painted this piece outdoors, using my pastel pochade box mounted on a tripod. My plein air box included roughly 250 half pastel sticks, just enough to get a decent palette but light enough to make it portable. My go-to surface is a Pastelmat by Clairefontaine. I laid in a rough tonal underpainting in harder pastel and then I wet it down, not using water and brushes but instead using a baby wet wipes. They act very much like a brush that turns pastel into a watercolor-like wash. In couple of minutes, the wash dried and then I began to put down accurate color with very soft pressure. I don’t layer much and I try to achieve the final painting effect with as minimal amount of strokes as possible.”
ON ENTERING ART COMPETITIONS
“I would say, just go for it. You got a chance but you can only win if you play.”
In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the annual PleinAir Salon online competition is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition. The competition rewards artists with $50,000 in all cash prizes each year, and exposure of their work, with the winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine.
Winners in each monthly competition receive cash prizes, recognition and exposure through PleinAir Magazine’s print magazine, e-newsletters, websites, and social media. Winners of each competition will also be entered into the annual competition. The 15th Annual Awards will be presented live at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in May 2025, where the winner will be presented with a $15,000 check!
