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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Sun Kissed


Playing with pastels for a little bit today. The actual piece is about 11" x 14", but I really like this crop of the upper half of the piece.
Here's how today went ...



Starting with a piece of prepared mat board , with lines measured out to use a pre-cut 10 1/2" x 13 1/2" mat. (Board prepped with a mix of acrylic matte medium and very fine aluminum oxide grit, tinted with a drop or two of liquid acrylic paint. I wish I'd gone over it a second time, brushing the opposite direction with a bit more grip and matte medium, so that the surface was a little more even.) The photo is from Wet Canvas and was taken by Carlanna. First, I laid in the basic lines with a medium charcoal pencil. Now that I look at this, I wonder if I should have just stopped here... :-D

Within about 10 minutes I've laid in basic darks and lights. Again, maybe I should have stopped here, at least to consider my lower right corner ...
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One hour and 20 minutes later I'm as done as I'm willing to be right now. It was nice and fresh an hour ago, but now it feels a bit overworked. Darn it.

Can you tell that there is a path that leads up the hill, or does it just read as a stripe? There's still a lot of work to do on this one, slowly, though.... slowly!
I think it might be fun to try this in watercolor, too. It's a great reference photo -- lots to learn from it!
(And for you music lovers -- I'm listening to Cat Power's Jukebox CD. Amazing!!!)

11 comments:

Lin said...

BEAUTIFUL JOB !!! And yes it reads as a path -- the kind that we have here -- a tad overgrown, narrow -- but definitely a path! And thanks for the step by step -- Idon't know a think about pastels and it's interesting to see the way you work them!!! I'd LOVE to see this in wc!

Teri said...

I see the path also and lots of pretty colors along side of it. It was interesting for me too as I know nothing about pastels.

Good to see some beautiful work from you.

mARTa said...

your pastels are so beautiful. This one stunning!

Nancy Van Blaricom said...

I love the look only pastels can accomplish. This has such pretty movement to it. I enjoyed reading your step by step. This is lovely.

William F. Renzulli said...

I don't think it is overworked. It is a very nice painting that reveals your skills and potential. I hope you continue to work with pastels, they offer so many options.

Anonymous said...

You're way too hard on yourself. This is a lovely, bursting with color and yet so very soft.

blog queen said...

I agree with Janey, you are too hard on yourself. This is beautiful. I see the path and the color is wonderful. Pastels are a lot of fun, I'm taking some to my art group tonight to do some work.

littlemithi said...

Such wonderous colours ... I can indeed see the path ... wish I was on it walking down the meadow ...

Unknown said...

Oh, I think it's beautiful and inviting...makes me want to see where it leads...in a "Road Less Traveled" kind of way, you know? I love the crop at the top, too!

Brian said...

A very nice piece of impressionism, and does not strike me as overworked. And yes, the stripe reads as a path, not a stripe. ;-)

Felicity Grace said...

Just a quickie to say I answered your comment on my blog.

I'm always blown away by each new piece you post! Amazing!