Pastel Garden Fantasy Week 3

I have sprayed my painting at least twice with workable fixative to this point. I have everything

under painted so now I'm going to start the finishing process. What that means is that I am going to come in and make things darker for the shadows more intense in color more defined I want this to pop.

You must have the photos of the pagoda and the stream from the Botanic Gardens so that you can see where you are going I use these reference photos just as a matter of course I would not know where to go if I didn't have them where I could see them, they don't help you if they're at home or in your bag. You need to see where the shadows are; you need to see the changes in color; you need to see the changes in shapes. This is why we have reference photos.

Most of the time at this point in my painting I try to blend with the chalks and not my fingers or a

stump because this leaves chalk marks that gives pastels their unique look. However, if I need to I will break out my stump or use my finger to blend I also have what's called color shaper and that works really well getting into smaller areas for blending.

When I am working in shadow areas I want to make sure that I am using the darkest colors. I have I have an indigo color I also have some very dark browns and greens and I will often use the Indigo color with these other dark colors to create darker versions of the other colors. This is so that I avoid using black unless I have absolutely no choice. Black will dull your colors and make shadows look rather harsh so try to use the dark versions of the color and add dark blue instead of black.

I do occasionally use a purple in my dark colors but I find that in pastel purples tend to be more of a reddish purple and I don't like the results I get. Its probably just the colors I have but I don't like the way they mix with my other colors so I prefer to use my dark indigo blue.

I will probably finish my painting in the next class so try to get your painting as far along as you can if you have questions let me know but keep painting and I will see you in class.