Flying In, 16″ x 20″, Pastel Premiere White 400 grit

Watercolor underpainting

Just completed a third painting from the Delaware Bay trip after finishing a weekend class.  My final touch was to add the herron (egret) flying into the picture.  It was not easy!  More on that below.

I did this on Pastel Premiere white so used watercolor for the underpainting, using warm greens under the cools that I would put on top, and warm reddish oranges in the foreground. It worked OK.

Compositionally, I made two slight changes that I liked.  In the photo, the trees are all about the same height with a lot of sky above them.  I made them go off the top and dip in places to be more interesting.  Then I moved back the shoreline at the upper right to give more distance to the picture.

I began the sky with a very light, soft red violet and went on over it with Ludwig pale yellow.  I used nothing by Blue Earth pastels in the background trees, using my boxes of turquoise, and cool and warm reds.  I did it very slowly and delicately and had such a good time with it!  These are wonderful pastels if you learn to use them with a really light touch.

The foreground was more difficult.  I began the dark bushes with red violets and added warm greens on top–this took a certain amount of give and take.  When it came to the grasses and orange reeds, I found the Giraults to be more useful.

I knew that I wanted some kind of bird flying in from the left. I did a search of the great white egret and used it for my reference. However, I used soft blues and greens, along with a little white, so he may look more like a blue herron.  I tried using pastel pencils–ended up just using them for the beak and leg and used small pieces of soft pastels for the body and wings.  The main thing is that I think I got him the right size!

What about the title?  As soon as the bird got into the picture, it was all about him!  So I came up with this for the lack of anything better.  Other suggestions will be greatfully received.

This is the last marsh picture I’ll do for now. I have a couple of pictures of back alleys in Lewes, DE that I like that would be different.

Hope you all have a lovely Memorial Day weekend.

Woodland Walk, 16″ x 12″ Uart 400

Hard pastel and alcohol underpainting

Here is the second painting that I just completed today.  This is my annual spring ode to greens!  This was from a walk in the woods at Prime Hook and I loved the spot the minute I took the picture. But it was ALL green!  I chose to do this one smaller, on a mounted 16″ x 12″ piece of UART 400.  And I did an underpainting with hard pastel and alcohol.  I used violets and a variety of oranges for the underpainting, with a pink sky.  My painting experience was a much happier one, I have to admit!

What I loved about the scene was the way the dirt path wound up into the woods with a lovely bend and a slight uphill tilt and the shapes of sky coming through the trees.  I also liked the variations in value at the top of the trees to the left.  I made a large change in the composition, however. In the photo, the entire right side was covered in leaves, probably from a large branch of a tree (you can kind of see this in the underpainting).  There was some shadow, but no trunk of tree.  I started out with a larger trunk and many leaves above it (kind of a big lollypop).  Neither Sunny nor I liked it!  So I brushed it off and put in the background leaves and grasses, then put in a more spindly tree with a few large leaves and some vines.  I was much happier with this.

For the greens, I used a range of very blue greens, very warm brownish greens, and a lot of “true” green. I used Sennelier, Ludwigs, Unisons, Giraults, and Blue Earth.  Probably some Schmincke as well.  I needed them all!

I loved my painting experience because I really took my time and used a sensitive approach to adding the color.  I particularly loved painting the upper left greenery and the path.  In the path I used a combination of Blue Earth blue violets and grayed reds (i.e., browns).  By using them very lightly I could create interesting layers of color to approximate the look of the hard, damp earth.  I really used an observed color approach on this one.

Doing these two paintings one day after another proved to me how important underpaintings are to the success of my paintings and, maybe more importantly, to the enjoyment I have in doing the painting.  Once I have a lovely rich underpainting, as I created with this one, I have the value shapes and composition laid in.  Then I can work as slowly as i want applying the pastel on top.  I’ll be showing both paintings to a critique group on Tues. and may make a few changes, but I was anxious to get something out since it’s been so long.  Hope you are all happily painting and staying dry!

Salt Marsh with Egrets, 20″ x 16″, Pastel Premiere “Italian Clay”

Dry hard pastel underpainting

Hello Friends.  It’s been exactly one month since I posted my last painting!  I’ve been in Massachusetts, playing Bach, and doing other things I guess!  But this past weekend John and I spent several days at Prime Hook and Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuges on the Delaware Bay, walking, looking at birds and taking pictures.   It was overcast the entire time, but not pouring as it has been ever since!  This rainy week has been a good time for the studio and I’ve spent three days there with two new paintings to share.  It felt really good to be back in the studio painting, listening to music, and sharing my space with a good friend.

For the first painting, I looked through my available surfaces, and decided to use a mounted sheet of Pastel Premiere “Italian clay”.  I really do like this surface, however, I also really like doing underpaintings.  Using alcohol on top of hard pastel on this toned surface doesn’t work very well (I did an experiment!). So I chose to begin with analogous colors that would be  a little different but not too much, using hard pastel.  I basically wanted to lay in the big shapes before I started with any detail.  I wasn’t sure where I was going with the bottom!  I liked the top, but found the bottom to be a challenge, so I kind of went abstract with the shapes.  Then ended up changing it and having to do some brushing off.  I ended up splitting the bottom layer of greens to allow the eye into the picture and keep it flowing.  Marsh pictures can be awfully stripey!!!

I used pretty soft pastels on over the hard and felt like I was getting a little too cakey at times.  But I was happy enough with the results.

I’m having a show at my church next year titled Shorescapes: Maine to Chincoteague.  I have lots of Massachusetts and a fair number of Maine (despite just selling one), but I needed more from this area.  So I hope to get a few more from this batch of photos.