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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