Summer 2018 Pastel Class

Pastel Project: Marsh Madness Week 2

This week I was working more on the foreground area and starting on details. Because it is the foreground there is not only more detail but also more and purer colors, meaning less grayed colors. You can see how many more colors I was using below, refer to these for suggestions on what colors you can use on your project.

I have marked the ones I used the first week and the ones I used in the last session, it included not only more and brighter greens but also browns for the trees and blues and purples to use in the shadows.

The first thing I did was to reflect the light down into the water. I used the same light yellow and soft gold that I used the previous week down in the water. Remember: When you are painting water your strokes need to be parallel to the top and bottom of your paper, if you add reflections, you can pull straight down as well as across, this will keep your water looking flat. If your strokes are at an angle, your water will look like it is running down hill.

After I got the light in the water, I added some light holes back into the tree reflection, brightened the reflection of the tops of the background tree line and added more dark colors and some blues under the trees.

When I thought the greens were dark enough - for now - behind the tree trunks, I added in the two lighter trunks with the light tan from this week as well as the dark brown. I didn't draw them on with one continuous chalk mark but with a series of smaller marks that followed the shape of the trunks, this will start the idea of bark on the trees, giving them a rougher texture and I did lightly blend with my color shaper.

Look close and you can see my chalk marks in the trunks of the trees, I will be doing more next time.

Also notice the suggestion of leaves in the trees behind the trunks. This I just made marks that suggested leaves of various colors - medium light greens to cool blue greens because a lot of these leaves are in shadows - I did not blend these shapes so they will stay well defined.

Up in the sky I used a medium blue-green and made the suggestion of leaf shapes. I had the reference photo - the actual scene, not something I did - to see how the leaves grew and hung from the branches. This breaks up the sky (a large negative space) making it more interesting.

Finally, I added the more dominant trunks of the small trees/bushes on the right that are coming out of the water with a dark brown. I will save the other smaller branches until after I've gotten more of the water done so I don't smudge that dark into the light water.

I also used the same blue/green I used previously to suggest the reflections that are under those bushes by pulling straight down and the reflections of the trunks as well. 

At the tops of these bushes are a lot of bare twigs, I used the light raw sienna color from this week's colors to make the twigs. I also added some brighter highlights to the top leaves. I will need more but that will be next time.

Try to get your own paintings up to this point if you can so we can start working on finishing this up. Until then, keep painting and I will see you in class.