Thinking of those summer greens

"marsh side at Plum Island" 14"x14" on Uart 500

Februrary is cold. This time of the year I start thinking about being in a warmer climate! For today's painting I decided to revisit  a photo that I have painted before.

5"x7" pastel on moonstone Canson Mi-Teintes

It was July and the greens in the marsh were really beautiful.  I'm trying to paint larger and decided to do this one in a square 14"x14"format.  I started with a drawing in my sketch book and reworked the composition to make the scene work.

sketch book drawing

I'm having fun with Inktense water soluble blocks and chose a nice violet to tone the paper. I used alcohol instead of water to wash it in for faster drying time.

my reference photo, toned paper and sketch. 

With all the green in the photo , I knew I needed to break it up and add other color to make it work. Violet is always nice with green, well for me , at least. So I used a blue/violet Nupastel and drew in the darks and then went over it with a brush and alcohol in a painterly way.

Nupastel and alcohol wash.

I ended up working on this one for 2 days. Our Siberian Husky had emergency surgery and  I have been spending a lot of time taking care of him. I worked on the painting when I could. I am so focused when I paint that it was actually a relief for me from my worries of our Kobi. 

Here is a little detail when I stopped.

I was able to finish it up today, but I had to tell myself to "STOP". With all the grasses and such in the scene I was headed to overworking the painting. It's hard sometimes to know when the painting is finished. At this point I am letting it sit and will put it aside and move forward to another painting.