Pastel Project: Summer Fun Week 1
This project we will be facing our fears: The fear of making a mistake, of doing it wrong.
There are times as an artist we need to break out of our comfort zones and try something new or different, whether it is a new kind of paper or surface, new colors, different style... adding these new skill to our tool box only makes us better artists. We may not always use this new skill but we won't be afraid to use it if we see a place where it will work.
That is what I wanted to do with this lifeguard tower. Yes, I could have done something very close to the photo, but what fun is that? So I am going to just break out of my comfort zone just a bit and try to liven this routine scene up a bit.
I started out on a gray sanded surface I made myself using mat board, gesso (black and white) and Golden's ground for pastel. To that I transferred my sketch.
I like to start with my subject when I am working in pastel. I just base it in and only do a bit of detail then work on the background. I started with the tower using 2 colors for both the shadow areas of the tower and for the light areas. The shadow was a lavender blue and dark teal the light was a light blue and light teal. then I blended the colors.
The PV peninsula behind the tower was soft gray tans and gray greens with a bit of the lavender blue in them as well. I lightly blended the colors. Don't forget to do the area behind the railings and under the tower as well.
The windows I used a dark blue and a bit lighter blue, using the dark blue to suggest shadows and "things" inside the little office. You do not need to be specific, just make some shapes.
The sand was several colors of tan - one lighter one darker and some dark indigo. Because my surface was a dark gray to begin with, some of it shows through, even after blending, creating texture in the sand. I kept the lighter sand nearer the tower and used the darker colors as I got closer to the bottom, this helps focus the viewer into the painting and breaks up that stretch of brown. I may do something with this area later, this is just the beginning.
The water was just a couple of shades of blue that I had already sued in the lifeguard tower, thus repeating colors already in my painting.
With the basics of my painting based in I started on the background sky area, this is where I went a bit wild - at least for me.
Near the top of the peninsula and around the tower I started with my lightest yellow, then switched to a darker yellow, then orange, crimson then dark blue. I blended them together starting in the light yellow and working my way out to the darker colors so the transition areas blended gently together. Keep a wet paper towel handy to clean fingers when you blend especially if you are going back into the light area after working in the dark blue, if you don't you will get green.
This is where I left off in class. I will continue to work on this and I may change or add things as I work and inspiration hits me - that is the fun part of art. You can chose your own colors or just do a normal background or play with it like I intend to do. It is just a piece of paper and we are having fun.
keep painting and I will see you in class.
Portia Study.
Not much to say about this, I just kept working and adjusting my color, adding detail. I put the back ground in before I started on doing any finishing work on the leaves or before I started on the flower.
The soft fuzz around the edges of the flower were done with a couple of different colors of a soft grayed lavender, the rest of the flower were soft smudgy, strokes of greens that were as close to the color in the photo as I could get. This finished very quickly so I will have to find something new to paint next week.
Keep painting and I will see you in 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.
Pastel Project: Farmer's Market Week 3
Once I had everything under painted and based in, then I started adding some detail. It is important to always work around and through your painting so you don't get stuck in one place and it gets over worked while the rest of your painting suffers. Often time the reason the area does not look correct to you is because it looks out of place compared to the unfinished areas around it. It is a better habit to bring things up to the same level before moving to the next level of detail in your painting, a good indicator that you are spending too much time in one place is you feel frustrated with the area you are working on. Time to move on.
Notice that things that are in the background have little or no real detail. Even the little woman's face is just a suggestion as are the fruits on display which are just rounded shapes of color to suggest tops of the fruit, they are not dots or complete circles, just rounded, overlapping shapes. If they got too distinct when I was adding the shapes, I lightly touched and smeared to area to soften and push that area back. Remember: These things are in the background so they are softer, grayer and closer together.
I am just getting started on my worker. I used a very light golden yellow for the highlights on his T-shirt and a soft lavender for the shadows. the "white" boxes are also a light lavender color yet to the eye they read white.
On the floor, I wanted it to look like light was coming in from the door in the background even though you don't see it in the photo, I am the artist and I like the idea that light is coming into my subject.
The detail on the boxes are not precise replicas of what is in the photo, they are more essence suggested with color and shape, don't get too hung up on lettering.
Whenever you start working on detail, you will slow down a bit, just be aware not to get too caught up in it. As an artist you can fool the viewers eye with just a few shapes that might look like something such as the oranges and apples in the foreground: They look like the fruit so it tells the viewer that it is a fruit stand, the viewer fills in missing detail in the background because of what it sees in the foreground.
I will probably finish this either next class or the class after, so keep painting and I will see you in class.
Pastel Project: Farmer's Market Week 2
My goal this week was to get everything blocked in before I started working on details. This lets me see where things are in general and if I need to change anything before I get too involved in detail. It helps to stand back from your painting to look at it in total so I usually move to the back of the room to see how my painting is developing. This is a very good habit to get into as you paint as what might look terrible up close, makes the painting when you look at it from a proper viewing distance (6 - 10 feet).
I added some simple figures and shapes in the light doorway behind the worker as well as a female figure on the right. Please note that there is nothing detailed about ANY of the people in the background they are only vague human shapes, the viewer will fill in the gaps. Even the little lady by the bananas is just shape and color, she won't get much more detail than she has already. It is only hard if you make it hard.
The flowers and the plastic wrap are also just shapes and color at this point in time. Don't over think what you are doing, you are just basing in color and shape at this point, refinement will come later.
Even without detail this patchwork of color looks like a fruit stand with a customer checking it out. With just a few more strokes of chalk you could call this done and leave it impressionistic or - if you are like me - you can make this as detailed from this point as you want it to be, the choice is yours.
Keep painting and I will see you in class.
Farmer's Market: Week 1
I am working on a sanded piece of mat board that I made myself. I toned it in a charcoal gray.
I had to freehand the drawing for this painting because I left my template at home. This was probably better because I did leave out a lot of detail focusing on the major subjects. Detail can come later if I want.
Next, I did a tonal under painting using using just my black, white and grays to base in changes of color and changes of value, then to set my sketch and values I took Isopropyl alcohol and a soft watercolor brush and went over all of the chalked areas rinsing my brush between values.
At this point I am not worried about detail, I am thinking of shape and value. If I don't like what I have, I can change it using a stiff bristle brush to dust off the chalk.
Be very aware of the perspective in this painting it is very important to show depth.
Whether it is in the under painting or when I am doing finishing touches, I am very aware of the shape of the object I am trying to paint. If it is a round object, I add my chalk onto the surface in a circular motion as I did with the fruit. The under painting of the pineapple reflects the spiky nature of the top of the fruit. The boards of the table holding the fruit are long and angled, so are my strokes.
When I started putting color on my board, I still was not looking to create a finished product, I was more interested in finding the right color, value of the color and basic shape of the area, again using a circular motion to lay in the color and lightly blending in a circular motion as well.
I did mix colors like I did here with the oranges using a medium yellow and a soft orange, always thinking of the shape of what I am painting as I add my color.
The background behind the worker is very suggestive, I did not spend a lot of time worrying about exact shapes or detail it is just there to show a place.
The under painting for the worker at this point is just light and dark - the shadows on his face and arms. I used a soft golden color for the highlights of his shirt and a soft lavender for the shadows,
Having the alcohol wash under painting helps keep my sketch in place as I work around my painting. While it will brush off with enough effort, it holds up well to casual touching that you do as you paint.
This is as far as I got during class, I will continue from here in our next class.
