Pastel
Class Project: Windblown Week 1
This
project probably won’t take more than a couple of weeks so I may have a second
project for the semester or you may work on your own project if you wish.
One
thing I like about this project is you can change the whole mood of the
painting just by changing the color. The test piece I did in watercolor was
done in warm tones giving the final
piece the feeling of hot, dry scorching wind that these trees are struggling against.
The pastel I started in class I am going with a different color scheme using
mostly shades of gray and a couple of soft lavender colors giving it a spooky,
windy night kind of feel and I will do the projects in my other classes in
other colors as well.
This
is an important thing for you as an artist to understand and explore. I took a
photo of the trees down at Veteran’s Park and used them as reference to create
my own version of the trees. I didn’t want all those apartments in the back or
the trash cans or benches, the trees were the story, why spoil that with all
that non-stuff around them?
I
have seen many of my students bring in a photo with an interesting subject like
a pet or child or flower that would have been wonderful if they had been the
main focus of the painting, instead the artists got so involved in recreating
the photo verbatim, that the subject got lost in the confusion. Just because
there is a block wall behind that rose you took a picture of doesn’t mean that
you need to include the block wall, that wall is irrelevant it could be sky or
shades of green or just some simple background that will let your rose shine as
the star. Think about this the next time you are looking at your photos, see
what is important, what draws you to the image and what you can use from it and
what you can leave out, this is called “simplifying” an all artists need to
learn how to do it.
Starting
my pastel I was using a gray, sanded board that I made using Golden’s Acrylic
Ground for Pastel. The proportions for the drawing for this project is twice as
long as it is high though mine will be a bit shorter than those proportions but
it is still a long format, this gives the final project the feel of being
stretched out.
I
lightly sketched in the ground line a little more than a third of the way up
from the bottom, it does not need to be a nice flat line because this is ground
it can be a bit wavy and I am going to suggest weed and grass on there as well
just suggest the line. There is also another line for the foreground about half
that bottom ground, again it doesn’t need to be perfect.
Starting
about a third the way over from the right side of the board, I started with my
lightest color which was a very light lavender, forming a 3/4 circle with the
ground being the stopping point with this light color.
Next
I found a lavender color that was just a couple shades darker than my light
color and put a band of this color about an inch think around the top of the
light color (I will blend when I get all my colors on the board). After that I
found a light gray about the same value as the lavender I just used to do the
next band, then a darker gray for the next band across my board until I had all
of that top part filled in.
Moving
down to the ground, use that first light gray to define the top edge of each
level but let it taper off towards the left side. These will be smaller bands
just like the top, get darker with each band until you run out of room. You may
not be able to get to all the darker colors near where the trees are going to
be but you should have a darker gray behind the foreground band so the lighter
color will show.
I
then blended my bands of color starting in the lightest color and working my
way out so I had a nice smooth transition from the light to the dark. You may
need to add and adjust after you get things blended just remember to clean your
fingers before you start in the light color and work out.
The
background tree was drawn in with the second lavender I was using. It is dark
enough to show against the light and light enough to show against the dark but
not so dark that it will compete with the foreground tree when we put it in.
When
you are doing branches and twigs, it is better to put in more not less. This has
to do with negative space and breaking up the shapes you are creating so those negative
spaces do not draw attention. I also used the same color to suggest windblown
grasses along that ridge.
I
did start to sketch in my foreground tree and dusted out some of the chalk in
the trunk so it will be easier to fill in next time.
I
will probably finish this or be close to finishing by end of class next week so
if you are doing the project you might want to get caught up to this point.
Keep
painting and I will see you in class.
