Local Wave

"Local Wave"

Image size 4.5" x 8.5"

Pastel

I love painting waves and I am enjoying working with pastels.  I used a small piece of mat board coated with pumice gel.  That gives such a nice tooth to the surface.  I'm happy with the more subdued colors in this painting.  Usually, when I use pastels, the colors in my paintings are really pure and bright.

I'm almost finished painting the ceramic pieces for my mural.  All of the pieces are laid out on my worktable in the garage and I am adding a variety of different blues and some greens to the water and bits of blues covering the fish to push them underwater.  I'm pretty sure I will finish the painting portion of this project this week.  I need to start interviewing concrete guys so I can pick someone to create the base for this mural.  I thought about trying to do it along with my handyman, but decided that I really don't want to take on that part of the project.  Ten years ago I probably would have, but I'm getting more selective in the projects that I choose to take on now.  I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Onion Value Study

"Onion Value Study"

Image size 4" x 6"

Pastel

I spent most of the week painting the pieces for my ceramic mural so this is all I finished for my weekly painting.  I enjoyed working in black and white last week so I decided to do it again.  Last week I used charcoal.  This week I used pastels instead.

Wave Study in Charcoal

"Wave Study in Charcoal"

Image size 10" x 13"

Charcoal

I've worked with charcoal very little in the past.  For this painting, I used powdered charcoal to give the paper a medium value base and then used my kneaded eraser to lift lighter values and vine charcoal for the darks.  I finished with white pastel for the lightest lights.  I enjoyed working this way and I like the black and white result as a change from my usual love of color.

Solo Garlic

"Solo Garlic"

Image size 4" x 6"

Pastel

I found a sample piece of a sanded pastel paper that I haven't tried so that was the start of this painting.  It is called "Pastelmat" and I really like the surface.  It almost doesn't feel like a sanded surface because the texture is very subtle.

I like working on sanded papers, but usually,  it really eats up my pastels.  This one had enough tooth to grab the many layers but used the pastels much more conservatively.  Also, it was easier to fill the paper for more solid colors.

I enjoyed adding colors to this white object that aren't really natural.  I think it gives the subject a more vibrant look.