Pastel Safe Harbor Week 4

I was finishing up my project this week and I wanted to make sure that I had all of my water done, I had all the detail done on my boat and on my dock behind the boat. Once I had that done I started working on the dock in front of the boat which included the crab pots, the pier and the pilings.

First, I worked on the water to make sure that I had all of my colors correct and that I had my reflection correct. I went back in with more color to break up any hard lines in the reflection part of the water because water is not hard so I wanted to make sure that I had soft lines. I made the water a little bit darker up by the pier by using my darker blues and some greens, and I softly blended with my finger this is an important step with water to make sure that it is it looks like water and not glass.

When that was done with the water, I came to the pier in the foreground and I put dark wood colors underneath where the pots were going to be. I used dark brown, some sienna and even some indigo because I wanted to keep it looking like shadows under the pots. On the edge of the pier where there was a possibility of some sunlight, I used a more golden color and I used horizontal strokes with these these colors so that it looked like wood grain. I did the similar thing with the pilings using my my dark browns, my burnt sienna and a golden color for any highlights this time using vertical strokes I followed the wood grain of the pilings, this is important if you're trying to create texture.

For the crab pots I didn't get out my ruler or anything else to make straight lines, these crab pots are old they have seen a lot of abuse and use so they have no straight lines on them

they may not even be square so I just made some rectangular shapes to represent the pots. I used the dark, cool grey for the frames of the pots and a lighter gray for the netting of the crab pots. Please notice I did not go to any great lengths to make the netting straight, even or anything else it's basically just scribbling. I went diagonally from one corner to the other and then I want the opposite diagonal from one corner to the other corner but it's mostly just scribbling. To make the highlights I took a soft white and just suggested highlights you don't need a lot of detail the viewer will fill in the blanks you just need to suggest.

The ropes that went around the pilings I just suggested texture and light and shadow but my strokes followed the shape of the rope, they weren't flat strokes they were curved strokes and I used a soft, cool grey for the shadowed side and on the warm side in a lighter, warmer version for the highlight. Also, into the shadows I used my soft lavender color all the time thinking about what I was painting and that is a round rope so much strokes follow the curves of the rope.

The boards of the pier I just suggested also with the gold color and then some sienna colors in the sun lit area and then with a dark indigo color I created some cracks between the planks and just suggested some detail you don't need a lot, just some suggestions.

The same goes for the detail on the boat the netting that is stretched from the front to the back of the boat I use two colors of gray a darker gray and a lighter gray and mostly just squiggles, again let the viewer will fill in the blanks you do not need to spell it out for them.

I finished up the details such as the railings, I use soft white for the highlights on the boat, and basically just look for places where I could add some contrast or add some interest to the boat there's just stuff on there you just don't need to spell it out, even the name on the back I just suggested with some shapes that suggest a name. In the water I just made some little bright highlights on the top of what might be some ripples. For the ripples around the boat in the reflection, instead of using white I use the soft green and soft blue because it's in the shadow. Around the front of the boat I created some ripples and that's it is a painting is done. You need to finish up your painting the way you want it to look and this becomes a personal preference for the artist so it doesn't need to look exactly like mine but it does need to look the way you want it to look.

Next week you need to bring in something that you want to work on, if you are still working on the boat feel free to finish it up in class if you have problems I will do specific demos on those problems so I will see you in class keep painting.

Pastel Class Safe Harbor Week 3

I didn’t really have much of a demo for class this week because most people who were working on the project were still trying to get caught up or had just started, I will see where everyone is next week and we will go from there.

I did work on my own project a bit. I worked on the water bringing up the color and the reflections. I also worked on the boat and put in some of the details like the port holes and cabin windows and the masts and pipes on the deck, I also looked to be sure that I had

my background covered and filled in places where I missed.

I might finish this project off next class depending on how far others are in the class. Keep painting and I will see you in class.