Spring 2017 Pastel Class

Class Project: Farmer's Market Week 4

This week was all about finishing touches. I worked on the fruit and suggesting some detail in the faces, but not much.

For the lattice work on the bottom of the counters, first I darkened what was there is a bit of indigo to what was there, then took a soft gray and made a series of /////// strokes from the foreground to about his knee then switched to a warm white. Coming back towards the foreground with the white I did a series of \\\\\\\\\ strokes until I got back to the gray area, switched color and finished making my strokes, this gives me the IMPRESSION of of the lattice work but it is done simply and quickly.

Notice I left a little space under his foot where you see a little bit of light, this gives the impression that he is resting his foot on the cart.

The big lights were done in 2 steps, first I uses a light gold color for the area that will be brightest around the fixture and made it slightly bigger than the light will be then soften it in to blur the edges. Next I used a very light yellow or you can use white to make the lights themselves in the center of the glow you just put in leaving the edges hard. The fixtures them selves were just suggestions of something holding up the light bulbs I used dark brown for some and indigo for others.

The string lights were also a 2 step process. first I took a dark ocher color for the lights in the back and just made scribbles about a third of the way to the front, then switched to a lighter color but still like a dirty white. Remember as you come forward your scribbles need to be longer and further apart to create distance in your painting.

For the lights on the strings  I used a very light yellow. In the back, they were more small dots and dashes close together and as I came forward, they became larger and more dash than dot. Remember to put them at all angles off the strings.

One of the great things about painting something like this is you can  create the illusion of something by using just a bit of detail someplace else. On the sign behind the oranges and the sign behind it, I did some simple writing then all the other smaller tags, I just made marks in a similar color and the viewer assumes that there is writing. Same with the clock on the wall, it is just a few simple marks and it is done.

Basically, I am done with this painting. Could I find more to do? Yes. I. Could. But why would I want to? I have everything I need to tell the story without detailing this thing out and I like the way it looks at this point. I always live with a painting for a while before calling it done as I will with this one, if nothing jumps out at me, I can sign it and put it on a shelf (sadly, that is where most of my paintings live). However, if you feel like you need to do more to your painting please go for it! You aren't doing this for me but for yourself and so you need to finish it  the way you want, and that is perfectly okay in my book.

I will start something new next class that won't necessarily be a project but if you have questions on what I am doing as I work, please feel free to ask. Keep painting and I will see you in class.