 |
| Choptank River Lighthouse 12x12 pastel available $155.00 |
Ohhhh how beautiful the sunsets reflecting across the water are here in Maryland. My son and I had just finished dinner at a (new-to-us) restaurant in Cambridge which is about 20 minutes from us. We wanted to try somewhere different and chose this great place right on the water. When we were finished, we decided to do a little sight seeing and just drove with no real destination in mind - we'd just take a left or a right when we got to stop signs just to see what might be down that road. What a treat we found at the end of one of those roads. Wow! the red roof of the lighthouse was almost blinding with the glow of the setting sun. I parked the car and stood at the edge of the water in sheer bliss. The colors of the boats and lighthouse just danced on the water. We were hoping to get a tour inside, but unfortunately they were closed for the night. I see another trip in the near future.
This painting took a tighter drawing than the quick sketch I'm used to, but it's well worth the extra time so you don't run into perspective issues half way through the painting process. I tend to work back ground to fore ground for what ever reason - I start to paint what's furthest from view and make my way to what's closest to view saving the focal point for last. Here, I began with the sky, then the far trees, the boats, and then the foreground water - saving the lighthouse and the reflections for last.
The foreground water had a dappled texture that I just couldn't seem to recreate with a pastel so I looked around my supplies to see if there was anything I had that would be useful...... and voila! A simple kneaded eraser was just the ticket!
Just a bit of pouncing here and there brought happy results. These erasers are not only a favorite tool of mine for drawings, but also with pastel painting. They can lightly lift colors off the paper, they are great to blend, and they can clean up tight areas because you can mold and shape the eraser into what ever shape you need. Then a little stretch and squeeze and it cleans itself right up. One eraser will last me for many months before I decide it's time for a new one.
I'm joining in on a painting challenge..... to create 30 paintings in 30 days for the month of September. This list was posted on one of my Facebook painting groups page, but I thought if my artist friends that work in other mediums wanted to give it a try they'd appreciate having the list to work from. This begins tomorrow, September 1st, so today I'll be cutting papers to get ready. I'm thinking of working in a 6x6 inch size. Wish me luck, and if you'd like to try any of these challenges, I'd love for you to post your results here on the blog. Have a safe and happy holiday!
No comments:
Post a Comment