Pastel: Safe Harbor Week 2

I started this week under painting the water with a light blue at the very horizon. I don't want a dark blue just yet, I just want a soft light blue and my strokes are very horizontal. I filled in the area of the water behind the boat and I went over areas that had the masts, the pipes and some of the extraneous things that were on the boat I will put them in later, I needed to get that color behind my boat so I don’t have to worry about trying to paint around things later on.

I brought the color all the way down to the foreground I even went over where my crab pots will be and back towards the pier behind the boat I did leave some of the area right in front of the boat open and I did added a bit darker blue this area which will be the reflection of the boat in the water. Also in the water I added a light green and some light violet because water is not just blue it has many colors in it so don't be afraid to add colors other than blue into your water, key thing is to have long flat strokes with your pastel. If your strokes are either to”U” shaped or are at an angle, your water will not look flat so keep your strokes horizontal to the top and bottom of your paper.

Next I wanted to start in on my boat and since I don't usually use black in any medium because black can be a difficult color when it comes to blending, it turns your color dingy and muddy, I try to avoid using black unless I have no other choice. I used my dark colors such as my dark grays and I have a dark indigo blue and some dark purples and browns to fill in the dark shape of the boat. I did gently blend these colors with my finger and I went over this several times blending to get a more solid color.

The wheelhouse of the boat has part  in shadow and part in the sun. The top part that is in the shadow I used a very light lavender color, in the part that will be in the sun I used a very light grey, you need to have contrast to show light so in the light area I will put the brighter white color later on.

Part of the problem with pastel is that you need to have a lot of colors to match the colors you see. I needed a color for the tarp I did not have, no color that exactly matched the tarp on the boat so I use a turquoise blue, a little green and some white to mix color close to the color of the tarp and I used my indigo (dark blue) for the shadows on the tarp.

Inside the wheelhouse I used darker blue gray and my indigo for the shadow inside the structure. For the window I used the light blue I had used for the water create the window shape.

The buildings on the pier can be any color you want them to be I used a cool pink for the shadowed side of the front building and to that I added some green to tone it down and my indigo to create a shadow color, I lightly blended them together. The front of the building was a soft pink color, the roof I based in and raw sienna (golden color) and use grays and darker browns to suggest tiles on roof. The taller building I use a dark brown and my indigo to create a color for the shadowed side and a warm brown for the front of the building. I used the same colors for the roof on this building as I used on the front building.

The foreground dock I just used the warm browns, grays and golden colors and lightly blended them together. This is just an under painting for what’s to come and once I had the foreground dock block in, I blocked in the water and the pier behind the boat using dark blues, greens and purple for the color of the water under the pier and the dark browns for the piling and boards of the pier.

Once I had everything blocked in I have now reached the point where I can spray my painting with Workable Fixative. From this point I think I have most of my elements under painted and I will now start working on detail. I hope you can get your painting to this point I will see you in class.

Winter 2015 Pastel Class

PASTEL – Class Project “Safe Harbor” Week 1

Watercolor version of Safe Harbor

I am working on a colored Canson paper. Colored paper is an option and it can be any color but it is best to choose a neutral color such as white or gray or a predominant color that will be in your painting. Since there will be a lot of blue in my painting this is why I chose blue.

I transferred my design to my paper by going over the lines on the back of my design with white chalk then tracing over the lines of the design when I laid it on my paper. The lines are only a guide so you know where you are going, they are not chiseled in stone so if you have to go over them do not hesitate you can always go back and re-establish your design later.

Starting at the horizon, just above the water, I took a soft yellow and worked it on to my paper about a third of the way up the sky, going around some of the larger elements in my design such as the boat house and dock buildings but went over the masts and pipes on the back of the boat. I can put those back in when I am done with the background.

Next I took a reddish orange and starting just inside the top of the yellow and working up

about another third and down about half way into the yellow, I blended with the chalk.

Pressure is everything when you are blending or applying your pastels. If I want a good solid color I press harder, if I want a soft blend like the transition between the yellow and orange, the pressure is very light. I like to leave my chalk blends when I can as opposed to blending with my finger or a stump because it gives a more pastel look to the finished painting, sort of the pastel equivalent to a painters brush stroke, it is the artist’s choice and I also let the subject dictate how much or how little I blend. For now I am just blending with the chalk.

I did a similar thing with the next color which was a deep pink color, blending down into the orange only then up into the rest of the sky. The last color I used was a deep blue such as ultramarine, blending with the pink then going off the top. This gives you a nice transition between the yellow to the blue without creating any green or brown in your sky. I then LIGHTLY blended areas together with my finger being sure to use a clean finger between the different bands of color so I didn’t contaminate the yellow with the blue and visa versa.

I then took a light warm gray and suggested some clouds. This is also another way to blend your colors, just don’t overdo it, you only want a suggestion of clouds.

Finally I took a medium light, warm gray (it should be just a value or two darker than your sky) and right along the horizon I just a variety made shapes. This could be anything from

the rest of the harbor to distant hills or mountains to buildings to whatever you want but mainly it is just random shapes in all sizes to suggest that there is something back there, it doesn’t matter what, it just makes your painting more interesting.

I will continue basing in the water and the boat next time, see you then.