The opening reception of recent works by Joe Witzel was held at PANZA Gallery in Millvale yesterday. Joe, living in Troy Hill of Pittsburgh, frequently drives up to Moraine State Park to draw the goldenrods in different seasons. When I stood in a full room of goldenrod paintings in vivid colors and eye-catching forms, the first question I asked was why I hadn’t seen their beauty before, which filled the slopes of shopping malls around Pittsburgh with their untamed green and bright yellow.

All goldenrods are painted with pastels, but they look more like oil paintings from Van Gogh: short strokes wildly drawing in a diagonal manner, the majority in green and yellow, and the visible thickness of bright yellow tints built up on other layers. All these indicate energetic creation processes in plein air. Later, Joe told me most of the work was done within a three-hour range on-site, with possibly some final touch-ups in his studio.

Looking closely at those pastel paintings shows that Joe specifically chose grey-green paper for most of his works because he did not physically blend colors. Thus a base color with the right tone and hue is crucial. Without being covered fully with Unison pastel sticks, the papers, here and there, show the base color and give depth and vibrance to the whole picture.

In most cases, he places strokes of different colors on top of others. Sometimes feathering or scumbling are used but kept at a minimum. Therefore, each stroke preserves its pristine freshness, yearning to tell people how the whole image comes into being from hands with masterful drawing skills once you step back to allow different strokes of colors to blend into your eyes.

The Canson paper that he used for the majority of the pictures cannot hold many layers thus mistakes made can hardly be corrected without compromising the raw state of stroke work. He told me there are some failed pieces but these survived successful works look incredibly crispy and clear compared to Wolf Kahn’s haze color patches.

Other ink and pencil drawings show Joe is very efficient in his drawings. Each line has its meaning. There is no scribble or smudge. Shades and shadows are done by changes in intensity and density of short strokes. If Wolf Kahn’s pastel determines his oil work, then Joe’s economical stroke style in pastel can be fully appreciated in those ink and pencil drawings.

Mainly Goldenrod – Recent works by Joe Witzel can be seen until Sept 29, 2007, at PANZA Gallery.