PASTEL 2015 FALL CLASS Project: Cool Refuge

I hope everybody was able to get their project transferred to their pastel paper. I want to remind you that I am working on sanded paper that I made myself, I wanted to color my paper but it is not necessary for you to be working on a colored background or a sanded paper, it is just one of those “artist’s preferences”, it is not a requirement.

Starting with the wall in the back I used a lemon yellow and a very light yellow for that back wall starting with the darker yellow first. My strokes were going in every direction, this is an old stucco wall so I don't want nice neat strokes, I want it to look messy because that creates texture I want, and here's where my colored paper comes in, because any places that I miss it will show through and have an overall warm tone. If you are working on white paper that white becomes highlights if you are working on gray paper the grey becomes shadows so it's not really that important it's just preference.

First I covered the area with the more colorful of the two yellows and then I took the lighter yellow and went over it loosely again. In theory there should be both colors visible but when you stand back they blend together visually to create the sun lit color of the wall. If you don't have a light yellow and you only have a medium to a medium light yellow for the first color you can use white to lighten it but be sure that you are leaving texture and chalk marks so that it looks like old stucco.

The wall behind the chair is probably the same color as the sunlit wall but because it is in shadow it is a cooler color so you will need to find a cooler more ochre yellow for this wall but not too dark you can blend colors to get this if you don't have an ochre color, use a darker yellow with a touch of Brown in it and put it on the wall. Negative paint around the chair it doesn't hurt the chair to go over it but painting around the chair you'll know where your lines are for the chair.

Once you have the first color down the other color or the blended ochre color, you want to find a light purple. You don't want it to light but you don't want it too dark either, somewhere in the middle value and then lightly go over that whole wall with this purple once you have done that then you can blend in.

I like old dirty nasty ugly things because they're very interesting to paint and one of the things I find interesting about this photograph is the mold growing on the wall behind the chair you don't have to put it in but if you do, you want to find dark, ugly green and to that you can add some purple and some orange and some blue and just kind of muck it all together. Remember to make it an irregular shape because it's something that's growing naturally, it won't have a nice even pattern and just have fun with it. This adds character to your painting.

On the sunlit wall where the door is you can use that same medium purple that you were using on the shadowed wall in the recess where the door is and also where the window is. Use the chalk itself to blend the colors this leaves bits and pieces of the colors that are being mixed and it gives a better pastel look to your painting. The red door was two different dark reds: a darker one and a richer, lighter one. The darker red goes at the top because it might be in shadow, the lighter one starts about a third of the way from the top of the door. If you only have one red use what you have and then use blue or a darker purple up at the top to make the red appear to be in shadows.

I used a Siena color to base in the window frames and the planter box underneath it. I used

a blue grey for the window panes I will be doing more this is just the underpainting for the window. I did a demo for the little pot that sits by the door, I used a dark brown, a sienna color and orange starting with the dark side, I did about a third of that in the dark, switched to the Sienna color mixing into part of that dark and towards the sunny side and I picked up the orange and blended into the Sienna color then to the outside edge.  You can take a little bit of yellow or white to create a highlight on the pot. I did a similar thing with plants in that pot but I use greens instead, so it was a dark blue green, a medium green, and a light green. For the flowers on the plant are used a bright orange red for the sunny side, a medium red for the transition into the shadows, and then the dark red I used on the doors for the flowers that are on the shadowed side.

I started to do the walkway back near the door where the sun is shining using a golden ochre color it should be a nice bright, warm, light orange color and the strokes need to be parallel to the top and bottom but slightly rounded on the top to give the look of stones or flagstones that our walkway is made of. I came almost to the edge of my paper with this color and I was aware that there is a shadow being cast from the wall onto the walkway. That transition shadow is a bit warmer and lighter than the shadows around the chair for that shadow color I used a soft brown as well as some soft blues and purples. I went into parts of the light part of the transition and shadow colors for the walkway because I want a soft uneven edge where that shadow is falling over the rough texture of the walkway. See the example of how shadows follow the surface of what they are falling on.

In the darker areas around the chair, I was using dark browns, blues, purples throwing in some greens and blended them together. This is just the underpainting this is are going to be the shadow parts dark parts between the rocks or flagstones it will all have some nice texture once done you are done. You might want to leave the area where the plants are growing underneath the chair so that they don't get muddied up and that is where I left off for the day try to get as far as you can keep painting and I will see you in class.