Spring 2018 Pastel Class

Spring Pastel Class - The Plus Side: Acrylic Demo

Since my class is listed as "Pastel Plus" one of my non-pastel students asked me to do an acrylic demo based on a book she got on painting the landscape. The book was written by the man I learned to paint acrylics many years ago on PBS: Jerry Yarnell. He is still on PBS and Create TV after all these many years and he is still a good fundamental type of teacher, the link to his website is in the sidebar under Lerri's Links.

One of the things I think that that my students realized that even though it was an entirely different medium using paint and brushes instead of chalk and fingers, many things still remained the same: Things like composition, color mixing and working from back to front/dark to light all transfer between many of the different mediums with maybe the exception of watercolor (it likes to be different) at least working from dark to light, it is opposite in watercolor.

This is a fun thing for me to do and also to give a shout out to Jerry. He doesn't try to finish a painting in 30 minutes but takes several weeks to go step by step, I try to remember this when I am teaching so I don't lose my students along the way.

I will maybe finish the painting next class so you can see how it all comes together. Just keep painting and I will see you in class.

From Jerry Yarnell's book on Landscape Painting.

/Updated /

"Peace be Still" orig by Jerry Yarnell. My demo version.

Spring 2018 Pastel Class

Pastel Class Demo

Since we/I finished the Magnolia last week, this week I did a demo, more like a warm-up, for the demo I will be doing at the Torrance Artists' Guild on Tuesday. I needed to see if I could get it done in the time allowed plus I was able to find the colors I needed so I didn't have to look for them during the demo.

Another thing I think it is important for beginning and intermediate students to see is how other artists work. When I am teaching I am not going at my normal speed and I break up what I am doing into smaller chunks for students to digest but for me, it breaks my train of thought. When you paint, you can get into a groove and your brain is working several steps ahead of where you are so you see where you are going, that is how you build up speed no matter what you are painting or what medium you are working in. It was fun to just run with this and to see if I could bee the clock. I did with time to spare.

See you in class.

Spring 2018 Pastel Class

Spring 2018 Pastel Project: Magnolia Week 3

This is the final class for the Magnolia where I did detail and added final highlights.

In the lightest parts of the petals I added white this time, lightly blending into the darker colors. along edges I used a corner of the white and left it alone. I really didn't do too much blending at this stage to keep the white looking clean.

The center I used light orange, a very light yellow and a deep crimson for the stamens a light green and a dark green for the center cone.

I like to add "bug bites" to my plant paintings, for this painting I used a gold for the dying part and a sienna for the dead part of the bug bite.

On the branches I used a light gold color for the final highlights on the branches and the sunny part of the buds. I lightly smudges the branch behind to throw it out of focus.

On the upper parts of the branches I didn't use as much of the light gold and I lightly smudged the edges of everything to give an out of focus look to the area. The soft look will direct the viewer to the flower.

By lightly smudging selected ares of the branch while leaving other areas around the flower crisp, it gives a 3D effect to the painting.












This is how I finished up the magnolia in class. Because not everyone is where I am, I am not going to start any other class projects this semester but I will be working on things in class and helping you with your projects so keep painting and I will see you in class.

Spring 2018 Pastel Class

Spring Pastel Project: Magnolia Week 2

This week I started detailing my flower and stems.

I used a light warm grey for the sunlit parts of the stems and my indigo for the shadows. As with may types of plants, the new growth on this tree is reddish so I used a red/brown for the base color, a pinkish color for highlights, added the indigo for shadows and a light orange for the bands. (See next image for close up)

I also added some soft yellow/green for the moss that is growing on the branches.

The buds have a light mustard yellow/green, ocher, sienna and indigo in the shadows and I blended it lightly with my color shaper.

Note the curved strokes I used on the stems to give them shape. Follow the shape of the thing you are painting to help create the form.

I lightly blended with the color shaper so I didn't lose all the strokes.

On the flower I started adding my highlights and shadows. Fro the highlights I was using a cream color and a soft, very light lavender, I have not used white yet, that comes last.

The shadows were tricky because I didn't want to get them too dark or the petals lose their translucence but they need to be dark enough to create form. I ended up using a medium dark lavender with touches of indigo and if needed more of the light lavender to keep it lighter.

The center of the flower is a light yellow/green and a dark green blended and the stamens around the center are yellow, and pink. Watch the direction that they grow, they are not coming straight out but curve out from the center.

This is where I left off for the day, I will probably finish up this project next week but if you are not this far, don't panic you can take as long as you need, I will be starting another painting that will be more for demonstration than a project because everyone is at different points of this project. You can bring something you want to work on and I will help you when needed.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.

Spring 2018 Pastel Class

Spring 2018 Pastel Project: Magnolia Week 1

Pastel works up fast for me and I often forget to take photos of the steps before moving on as in this case, I forgot to take a photo of the background before I started working on the fun stuff.

I think we are all guilty of that at times because the background seems so blah compared to the subject that drew you into painting it in the first place but in reality, that blah background played a very important part in choosing the subject to begin with. This flower would not have caught my attention when I took the photo if there had been a bunch of leaves and other flowers fighting for my attention, I know because I have a magnolia in my front yard and rarely see a flower I want to break out my 300mm lens for, This is a different variety of magnolia from the one I have and it loses all of its leaves so in the spring it just has the flowers and I loved the way it was reaching out to me and with an out of focus background even a 2 dimensional image seems to have a third dimension to it.

Bottom line, the background is important. However, by itself the background wouldn't be too interesting, what makes it interesting is how the flower and the branches break up the background into interesting, irregular shapes. These soft out of focus backgrounds work great in all kinds of subject matter and often time are a better choice than what you might have in a photo you are working on.

I am working on black poster board that I have treated with Golden's Ground for Pastel to make it into sanded paper, you can work on any color paper sanded or not, I just like to work on a sanded surface because it has more tooth and I don't have to spray it.

To create that soft background I used all kinds of colors from browns and blues to green, red, yellow and orange. I usually put down all my colors first then I start blending with my fingers to soften the colors together. I will probably have to come back in near the end to fill in gaps between branches and the background, but this is where I started. BTW, I could have waited until I had the branches and flower in but I didn't want the colors to drop down over my white flower.

I next found a warm grey to base in the lighter parts of my branches and indigo for the shadows. There are golds, greens and a red/brown for the new growth and buds.

The important thing to remember is to follow the shape of the thing you are painting so rather than doing a branch in one smooth stroke, I did a series of small rounded strokes over the top and sides of the branch, it gives it a rougher look. I have not blended this yet.

I under painted the petals of the flower with a medium light lavender and a darker lavender where I have shadows. I have not put in the center yet that will come later.

While it seems strange to start with blues and purples when you are painting a white flower, you do need to have someplace to go with your values, white on white is just white.
At the end of class one of my students was unclear on the purpose of starting the white flower with these darker colors so rather than trying to explain it again because words can fail, I just showed her with just some quick strokes how the highlighting on this lavender color is going to make the flower pop.

I also want to point out that I applied the pastel to the curves of the petals and I did blend them as well again following the curves of the petals.

Try to get your own paintings up to this level if you can and I will continue working on mine defining and detailing the flower and branches.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.

Winter 2018 Pastel Class

Pastel: Sky, Water, Rocks

I decided to do the project I am doing in the other classes with the sky, water and rocks because it is simple but sometimes those simple lessons teach you the most.

First, I sketched in my design with a black chalk. This is different from how I usually start a painting but I will get to that in a moment. I am working on a piece of mat board that I have treated with ground for pastel to give it a sanded surface.

Once I had the design on I looked for my darkest shadows and used the black chalk to fill them in, then lightly went over the middle values with a light layer of the black, basically skimming the surface of the paper so it wasn't too dark.

Next I took a brush and some alcohol and went over all the black chalk to set the design. This is a basic alcohol wash. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of this part of the painting.

Once the alcohol was dry, then I started adding my color, working from the sky down.

Notice that the sky is lighter than the water though the top is darker than the bottom of the sky and I did use a bit of a burnt orange along the horizon.

The water included not only blues of various values but also lavenders and greens. The foam is under painted with a light purple.

The under painting for the rocks included a dark brown, a middle brown, a gold orange, a light gold and a sienna keeping the lighter colors at the top of the big rocks and in the dry areas of the shore.

I will finish this in our next class. Keep painting.

Winter 2018 Pastel

Pastel Project: Oasis Week 3 and 4

I didn't get the previous week posted last week so this will be a combination of 2 weeks of work. I finished the project in the last class so this will be the last post on this project.

This was where I ended on the 3rd week. I finished putting in most of the rocks, added the trees and started on the water.

The trees I sketched in with my indigo blue mostly to place my trees before filling them in with a dark brown on the dark side and a light gray on the highlight side. I used the indigo for some of the branches and for shadows in the larger parts of the trunk. 

Using a harder pastel to draw in the branches makes it a bit easier to get fine lines and when you are painting trees you need a lot of branches not fewer, the need to cross over each other and branch off often otherwise the trees look like the gardener has been there trimming the trees.

The rocks in the water should, for the most part have flat bottoms where they go into the water.  These rocks are in the shadows so the water is a darker blue moving around the rocks.

The under painting for the water coming down the center of the rocks goes in and out of the sun so your choice of colors needs to be appropriate to where it represents, for instance the water foam in the sunlight can be white but the foam in the shadows needs to be blues and lavenders so they look cool. 

The water for the most part isn't blue but more of a green/gold color and I used the indigo again in the shadows as well as some darker blues.

In the final week I finished adding the water using the gold/green for the darker shades in the water and a gold color for the highlights and lightly blended the colors to suggest rocks under the water. I used white in the sunlit areas for and lithe blues in the shadow areas for foam and sparkles.

The grass I used a dark green with indigo at the base, a medium gold color for the middle part of the grasses and a light tan color for the light ends.

Here is another view of the grasses along the edge of the stream. Be sure that you get the grass down in between the rocks and that they are going in all directions.

The leaves in the trees aren't much more than smudges of color. I used a dark burnt orange for the darker color and a bright yellow for the sunlit leaves and I did add more clumps of leaves than were in the photo so the leaves ant the top connected visually with the rocks below. As an artist you have those options to improve your paintings you are not a slave to your reference material.

This is the final version of the project. I will be starting something new next class but it won't necessarily be a class project. You can finish up on this project if you want or work on your own projects until the end of the semester.

Keep painting and I will see you in class.