"twilight"

"twilight" 11" high x 22" wide

Assorted pastel on Uart 320

I have about a 45 minute to an hour drive home from from day job. I travel in a north westerly direction and during this time of the year , I am able to get a good view of the sunset. This really helps to make my drive home a little more bearable. I always have my Iphone ready to snap a quick photo as I drive along. I use these photos as a reference for my paintings. 

These are the photos I used as a reference for "twilight"

I am still working off those left over scraps of Uart 320. I love exploring the underpainting for my vision of the painting.

some progress photos

I have not used my Nupastel sticks for awhile. They are a hard pastel and great for sketching and blending The blue violet seemed the perfect color for the underpainting using these reference photos. I brushed the pastel in with some alcohol. When that was dry , I added some pumice gel with a bristle brush to areas of the painting where I wanted more texture. When the pumice gel was dry I started laying in the dark colors of the landscape and the some of the lighter colors of the sky. These paintings are a lot of fun to do, no pressure to make a perfect painting, but I love exploring the possibilities of the underpainting. Then I usually spend a few hours finishing up the painting. Most times I let it sit on the easel for a day or so, so that  I can come back , have a look and and then put in the final marks.  These ideas sometimes end up as ideas for larger paintings.  I'm trying to push myself to work on larger scale paintings. 

Hope you enjoy, and please,  comments are always welcome!

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a winter's day

"a winter's day" 16" high x 22"wide pastel on Uart 320

The weather is chilly. I have some time in my studio today , so I thought I would paint something to reflect  the feeling of the day and season. I love playing with the underpainting and texture of the pastel paper. I chose a Uart 320 grit sanded paper, my favorite paper to use. These winter days can be gray, so I started with staining the paper with Payne's Gray oil paint and turbenoid and brushing it in with a large bristol brush. I love to add more texture with pumice gel, so I brushed in some areas where I wanted the paper to be more rough. 

Here are some images of the process I use. First I stained the paper with oil paint/turbenoid and after that dried, I added the pumice gel to areas on the paper where I wanted more texture . I also put in my horizon line. I don't like to divide my landscapes in half and usually the area I want to focus on will be larger. I started with putting in the tree line , since they were the darkest. From there I went to the sky and work my way to the bottom of the painting, taping off the pastel dust as I go. I like a lot of texture and layers of pastel, so I will use a light spray of fixative to help build the layers.

 

I work from my own reference photos. It's important that I remember the feeling I had when I took the photo. 

Sometimes I use a sketch  or in this case I did a small 4" high x 7" wide study. Occasionally I will just just jump into painting, but I think it's valuable time, making plans for a larger painting.  I have  been concentrating on doing larger paintings, but I do love doing these little studies. 

I do hope you enjoy this winter day painting. As always , I welcome your comments. Please be sure to check out my website BMH fine art.

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