Spring Pastel 2017

Portia Study Week 1

While this is not an official project for the class, I think it is important for you to see the process. I will be working at my own pace on this one so if this looks like it has jumped a long way from one week to the next, that is the reason.

I am working from a photo I took when I was walking my dogs. With cell phones and small cameras it makes it easier than ever to get reference photos for your next masterpiece. Take several images and from different angles include close-ups for detail and wide shots to include the environment, all this will be important when you get back to your studio.

I chose to work on a dark gray sanded paper because there will be a lot of dark in the finished painting and it is much better to have a darker background when working on something with a lot of dark, than to try and fill all the little holes with dark if working on white or light paper.

I always use either a light blue or lavender pastel to sketch in my subject because it is a neutral color and blends in well with colors I will put on top of it.  I then start basing in my colors.


 

 I try to not worry too much about detail at this point, I am basically looking for light and shadow and getting the shapes correct, detail will come later.

That one little leaf I couldn't resist doing a little detail to sticks out like a sore thumb, now the rest of the painting needs to catch up.