"beauty in the sky"

"beauty in the sky" 9"x12" pastel on Uart 500 $80

The sky never stops amazing me! I see beauty in it every day - rain or shine, daytime or nighttime. Last week we had a beautiful sunset. 

I took a couple of photos, but put the photos aside because I was focused on another painting project. Looking at FaceBook today , Mary Bentz Gilkerson posted a link she wrote about the" 7 Keys To Using Color"

 Sorry it's not a link but you can google her. I need to get better at my blogging!.Anyway, she is an oil painter and I really admire her work and use of color. So I thought , why not try to take her 7 keys and apply it to pastels. I wanted to have fun, loosen up and I had those beautiful sky photos sitting there.

I decided to do an oil stain underpainting, two 5"x7" 15 minute studies and one larger 9"x12" that I would spend more time on. 

 3 oil stain under paintings

 I did the oil stains this morning, so they would be dry later for me to work on. I had about 30-40 minutes before I headed out for dinner, so I decided to do the two 5"x7" studies, spending just 15 mins on each , simplifying my pallet and getting in the color.

5"x7" studies  $35 each 

When I came back from dinner I worked on the larger piece , spending maybe 30 minutes or so on it. I wanted  to just have fun painting the sky, not worrying about getting it perfect and having fun with the color. I think I like my 2nd 15 minute study the best. To me , I captured the essence of what I saw. This is where I am trying to go with my pastel work. I just love my boxes of pastel colors!