Tuesday, November 29, 2016

On my easel

I had a plan to deal with Winter.  I set up pastels in my old studio, the sun room off the bedroom.  I like to get up early but not to walk down to the studio.  I thought I would use this space to do small studies in the early morning and evening.


For this painting I followed Liz Haywood Sullivan's lessons in her book "painting Brilliant Skies and Water" using my own reference photo.  I am trying to find a method of painting that works for me.This is the first step, an underpainting washed down with alcohol.


At this point I have applied pastel all over matching color to value. The small set I brought up to the house is missing colors and especially brands.  There are no Giraults, my favorites.

The surface of this is Pastel Premier, white. It handled well and did not buckle with the alcohol wash but the tooth seemed rougher than I remembered possibly due to the missing Giraults that I rely on to blend.

It is noon now and I still haven't been down to the studio! This plan may work better for evenings.


Hope
18x24 pastel on Uart

I named this "Hope" because after a rainy week-end the sun was just starting to break through on my way home from the mountains.

This is 4 times the size of my usual work and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed working larger.