Pastel tips lighting in the landscape

 Rendering light in pastel

Continuing my discussion on how to paint the light in landscapes. As we develop our interests it's important to learn how to paint our subject. What are the techniques to accomplish this? This is key to learning. I turn to the masters to see how they did it. I also look at todays artists that inspire me. 

Light in water

How do you add weight to objects? Use lighting as a tool to create solidity. Back lighting or side lighting creates a dramatic look to everyday landscapes. I have a set of photos I have taken of the Stanislaus river that are full of rocks, deep mysterious water areas and places of rapid water flow. This is all back in the area next to Knights Ferry Ca. 

This painting was one result of some of my photo's

 18x24 mixed media 

This is a tree that has grown out of the rock. It was really fun to paint. My son has this hanging in his home. I did this as an acrylic painting for color and followed that with pastel on hot pressed watercolor paper. There may be some ink in this too. It probably is the most abstract painting I've done yet. But I do want to explore this more. 

The values are close but you can feel where the light is coming from (right to left). By using this side lighting effect it created dramatic line movement in the root portion of the tree. Solidity was achieved with the dramatic side shadow on the left of the tree. You don't see much detail in the shade but you can feel the heaviness of the rock. 

Thanks for looking, more on this with the next post. Happy painting. 

Lux paper review and planning the painting

 Lux paper review

Lux paper is white. It can take water, ink, acrylic under paintings. It is a sanded paper that feels very much like a 600 grit Uart paper. It can take dry application of pastel medium and the abuses with rubbing in the underpainting. It did not buckle on me at all. However, I did not soak the paper and only wet it with acrylic inks as much as necessary.

initial ink wash

I used Dewent intense sticks for this under painting. As you can see I used darker colors then I intended to finish with. My drawing is there, but not detailed. I tried to think of the darks that I wanted to make the finial painting sing on top of the darks. 

planning stage

Here you can see I worked out a lightly detailed drawing with value placement. To the right of this thumbnail I have written notes about my ideas for this piece. You will see in the end I did not add the cloud, although that can be done in another painting of this scene. I wrote the main color plan and other things like water conditions, warm and cool areas for possible color choices.  All these notations will give me some direction. As I initially draw in the big shapes I use my reference photo for the plan. I set it down at this point when I'm done and use the value study mostly during the painting process. I have the reference near by to refer to, but do not look at it much except to check cool colors against warms and small shape study. I also blurred my eyes to see the simple shapes in this initial blocking in of color. 

I started with my darks, but do make a small area of my lightest light. All color value use will always be affected by the color next to it. This dictates what color to use next to the sky, the trees and house. Initially I wanted to have the shadows in the house purple, but it wasn't working. I had to change it to a blue to get the effect I wanted. 

Also, note the soft and hard edges. I tried to use those lines to help direct the eye to the focal point. The porch next to the telephone pole. I also allow other areas of interest to the viewer in the house. The windows have on some harder edges but not really detailed. The trees are darker but take you through the color changes and edge treatment for the viewer to linger on. There can be more than one focal point in a painting. The other ones are supporting the main place that I want the viewer to see. 

11x11 "Summer Ranch"
See pastel page for sale price

I think I could of lighten up the picture better before posting. I'm finding that is necessary to get an accurate photo of the painting and it color. I will add that to this post later. I also should mention that the foreground is inviting the viewer into the picture with low value flowers and color notes. They're purpose is to invite you in to wonder around the house. Enjoy

Drawing the Light

 Keep light lines to define the light areas and heavier lines for the darker shadows. This helps the overall effect of the drawing. Simplify your shapes and the light vs dark patterns in you subject. Use hot pressed paper or Bristol board for best results with charcoal. A kneaded eraser is desirable to create soft areas and lost edges. It also is gentle to the paper. They make a white charcoal stick or pencil to help with highlighted areas on a toned surface. 

Portraits are often drawn in charcoal by the artist first, in preparation for the painting. This is called a grisaille, a drawing rendered in gray or neutral tones. Texture is achieved with mark making, scumbling, lost edges, line direction, curves and straight lines for energy. 

Surfaces

Today's artists have many surfaces to choose from. Although, some can be expensive don't save your best work for those papers. You should treat yourself to good paper, it frees up your expression to have a paper that can except multiple layers for drawing. 

 Canson Mi-Teintes paper to practice on, and this paper comes in multiple toned surfaces. Both sides can be used, there is the back side that is considered softer and the front side has more of a mechanical stamped pattern on it. This is great paper to practice your values, composition and color notes for a painting in an affordable manner. It is acid free so it can be used for finished work also. It's disadvantage is its inability to hold multiple layers of pastel. 

U-art, Pastel Premier, Pastel Mat, Lux and Art spectrum have more grit to them and are able to hold multiple thin layers of pastel which creates a luminous effect on your painting. These papers also have the ability to take an underpainting. This is any water based media, alcohol washes as long as the application is not thick (thick applications of paint clog up the rough surfaces). 

MDR & Watercolor paper & Archival mat board can be used if it is first primed with Gesso. The gesso helps to put a barrier between the wood and the paint helping it to last for years. Water color paper & Mat board should be coated as well, but a clear gesso applied to the paper produces a sanded like surface. Applications of this type would best be done with thin layers and finer brush strokes. To much texture will eat your pastels up, unless there is a specific affect you are wanting. Gesso ridges can also be sanded down some between applications to your desired finish product. This is especially important when using MDR board. This type of approach can help the artist save on expenses. 

There are still many types of paper that I have not mentioned. It's always worth mentioning to try out different papers and colors. Exploration is key to making better paintings. Always ask yourself "What if?" Never hold yourself back or feel like you need to ask permission. 

Tones

Your surface can be any color you want it to be. The color you choose may affect the mood and light of your work. It helps you to achieve contrast immediately, mostly used as a mid-tone value in a painting, allowing the artist to see the lights and dark patterns early. You will also create a consistent color harmony through out the piece if you allow the tone to show in places. The darker the paper, the more contrast in the light areas will be produced. On black paper all colors you put down appear lighter. This has a definite influence in the mood or light of the piece. Work with opaque and transparent applications in the media of your choice. Try out different warm or cooler colors on top of the underpainting to evaluate how the light and shadows effect the work. 

I have found for me, to identify the dark notes first and follow with at least a note on the lights. I define these areas first so I am careful not to overshoot these values as I paint. This helps me to stay true to my plan. I don't necessarily have to finish these areas, just stating where on the value scale I want to key the painting. Sometimes, I have a goal or look I want to experiment with, sometimes it's about the color relationships. What ever I think I want to do, I want to give myself a head start to get it right. 

Below, is a partial example using darker paper color allowed me to keep my lightest values in the midrange section of my pastel tray. The lightest values are not white but filled with color. The full painting of this little cowboy is framed without mats and is much brighter than this picture. He was practicing with his brothers and friends (dad was in the bleachers) at the Hollister rodeo grounds. One of my first portraits,  it currently sits on top of my mantle in the living room. 

Full sheet Canson dark blue

Expressing light tips

 Tips on painting light

8x12 pastel "Tuolumne Barn"

spring reference for sky painting

Painting light with different media requires the artist to know the limitations of each media. Prepping surfaces ahead of time with middle values is very helpful, especially if you paint plein air. All prep work can be done opaque or transparent. This tone will be helpful with keying a painting and keeping it harmonious through out the piece. The white d of the canvas or paper helps to keep paintings in high key. Review the lights of Sargent and sorolla's paintings. How did they handle the light? Was the painting in high key? How dark are the darkest areas of the painting? What is the balance of the painting as a whole? Was it a 70-20-10, or some other combination of lights, mid or dark values?

Toned surfaces determine the degree of luminosity. A dark surface will absorb more light while a light surface reflects it. 

A trick I have found to make the light shimmer in any media. Paint the surrounding darker colors, then add the first color in a lighter tone but not white. You can glaze this lighter tone on the surface. Keep the edges soft. Then add a mark of a very light tone of your light. This can even be a spot of white in the middle of your color mark. Be careful not to add to much spotty whites, these can be strokes too. Stand back and you will see the light shimmer.

Be aware there are groups of people in all media that are purists. This can mean they paint with transparent paints only. The lights of your painting are acquired by technique and not mixing other media in your painting. Just beware if you do paint in mixed media and want to show your work you will have to meet certain criteria for acceptance into some shows. There is no wrong way to paint. Feel free to express yourself.

Pastels

Remember that you can use different paint strokes to increase effects. Start with light and dark areas in the composition. The middle toned paper should compliment your palette. Early in the painting process I would choose a color gamut James Gurney Color gamut to help with those types of decisions. Although, it is not an absolute rule to follow. Your strokes can be feathering (lay the light and then the shadow side of an object and feather in the transition of the light to shadow). This technique can also help with making an object recede. Broken color was very popular among the impressionist. You can express the light by placing a cooler color over a warmer color to gray it down with its compliment. Albert Handle refers to a bloom; application of a light color over a dark background color. Vary the pressure on the pastel stick and you can create different tones and blends that will be luminous. Always stay as light with pressure as you can, for as long as you can - Marla Baggetta 

Oils & Acrylics

Start your painting with thin washes of color at the beginning of the painting on a white canvas. The light will go through the thin wash and bounce back and reflect some of the canvas. You can follow this technique with opaque colors with similar values of the washes. This is a little like a watercolor approach to painting. Also, thin washes dry quicker in oil painting, so it may be possible to glaze easier. 

Opaque whites will contrast well with transparent darks. This can be built with a brush or palette knife. Along with direct painting techniques like scumbling (remember to use semi opaques over a darker value color to achieve this), scraping and glazing works well to show the colors underneath each other and the luminosity will show through. 

In oils you can use the thick and thin application of paint to bring out the lightest lights. 

Watermedia

Watercolors are painted with awareness of where the light is on the subject. It is important to save those areas for the lighter color nuances that will sing with light as you progress in the painting process in the shadows. This is key to understanding this media. Acrylics can also be thinned down enough to respond to the light the same way watercolor paints do. 

Acrylics can be painted thinly as watercolor but do have the advantage to take applications of this paint. With all water media it is highly suggested that you have a plan on your approach to the subject matter. It is easy to become lost or loose your whites and luminosity. Planning with color, drawing and composition is the foremost way to maintain success. Some artists are known to recapture the white of the paper with an application of opaque white gouache. 

How to Bring a Painting Together

 Ride to summer camp

14x20 

The photo reference I used for this piece was taken about 30 years ago. As a family we planned a trip with 5 of our horses and the kids. Troy brought a friend. We went for about 1 week into the Emigrant Wilderness next to Yosemite. This particular photo was taken by my son across an open meadow high up on the trail. The picture itself was not the best to use but did give me the sense of our crossing it. I remember it was warm, and there was plenty of Lupin flowers growing in the open. We sometimes would come across others hiking but this high up it was rare to cross someone else. My daughter and I rode, Nile rode off and on and gave the 2 boys a chance to ride at times. We went back into that country 14 miles. Mostly, followed lakes and would stop to camp and fish often. It is a wonderful memory for all of us. I rode taxi who was a huge red spotted leopard Irish thoroughbred, Wendi rode pokey, a well built quarter horse from Poco Bueno bloodlines. CJ and Buck carried our gear, Classey was ridden by Nile. 

I look back on this photo and a few others from that trip with fond memories. All the horses have since passed on, kids grew up and moved away and Nile and I divorced. So that life is gone. I do miss all those things we did. 

How did I get this all put together? I stared at this photo for years, knowingly that I longed to paint it but not quite sure what to say about it. So it stewed and stewed.

It's important to understand what attracts you to a scene or photo. What does the piece want to say? What kind of mood do you want to give the piece? For me this was about not only the beauty of the back country, but the quiet that comes with it. This is what it was like for the first settlers to come into California or the Indian tribes that dominated the area. 

So I started with line drawings. I did this to work out the flow of composition. I knew basically what I wanted it to say. 

As you can see I chose the vertical format. The important things for me about this scene is the majestic canopy of trees we were riding under. Thats what was important to me. All trees in the forest take years even hundreds of years to reach some of these heights. As a group of people that automatically becomes a focal point. I represented this as a square shape and made sure all lines lead to this shape

By doing this first, I have saved myself steps in the painting process, the planning process and I hope a successful piece. 

Next I examine the shapes. All shapes are divided by light and dark. Only these two things are considered. I am checking to see how the shapes connect to each other, are they pleasing shapes, and are they boring shapes? This is one point to make design changes in your planning process. This is your notan. It is the foundation that your painting will develop from. Each painting MUST be evaluated this way until it becomes a habit and can be seen without working out all these steps. In the beginning however, you must include all the steps to see design. Remember NO DETAIL at this stage of planning.

Ask your self; Do my shapes connect or is it spotty? How can I join these lines? 

Next ask yourself; do these shapes feel balanced?

Next work out the values. I use a 4 step value process. White of the paper, middle light, middle dark and dark. I also use Tombow markers because they don't bleed through the paper. But, you can use varying pressure with pencil or  pen. At this stage I follow Carlson's guide to landscape painting. He designates values by planes. The planes are the lightest light is the sky, mid lights are the flat planes across the landscape, mid darks are slopes or mountains and tree shapes are the darkest dark. This value step showen above follows his guidelines. This lays out how I begin my painting and how to stay true to the values so I don't get lost. When beginning a painting I use this as my starting point. Not the Photo. The Photo used at this point is ONLY used as a reference for placement of objects. Keeping in mind that I may have moved shapes to make a better composition. 

Next I do a small thumbnail using this information and building on shapes and patterns. This may seem to have more detail but it really has only enough for me to work out basic information on the subject. I use this sketch to place my subject on the paper. I'm only concerned at this point that my shapes are correctly placed, that they are pleasing, and is my FP in the place I want it. 

Next I did an underpainting. I know where my values are so I was able to pick some inktense art stick based on value. I used two dark shades of purple for the darks, yellow and oranges for the lights and just a hint of blue in the sky. I wet with this a very inexpensive stiff brush and water. I started with the sky and the lights and then went into the darks. I used a controlled amount of water in each section. Sometimes I got runs but I did try to control this somewhat. I also let the colors mingle in places. When this was dry I had a very vibrant underpainting to work with. At this point, the only color decision I had made was the compliment color set up for the underpainting and identifying the lights and darks with it. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of this. 

I did however start with my darkest cool darks in pastel and a very light touch started to identify these places. I chose next some basic colors of the scene and in the lightest light I used warmer colors to move into those spaces. One I identified that, I decided I wanted the sky to be a grey color. Here I layered in light colors (same value) blues and oranges to create a grayed down but vibrant sky. I did leave larger areas of underpainting showing to continue to guide me with color choices. 

As I continued through the piece, I let my intuitive sense take over and responded to color by its value, hue and intensity as I placed it around the painting. I know as things recede in a painting you have atmospheric conditions that cool color down, gray it and dull it. So when I addressed these areas I keep that in mind. I also know that complimentary colors vibrate when placed next to each other (even if they are grayed and dull). I love this about color.  I like my color to sing out, so I paint that way. I always have had a sense for that.  Some people have line, simple shapes and such that becomes your style. It does develop and we as artist just try to identify it and embrace it. 

Over all I think this painting is successful. I leave it up for awhile to look at and see if and where it may need corrections. I do study other artist I like and see how they have worked through their pieces. I think, if it worked for them, maybe I can try it. I try to avoid ambiguity in lead in lines. If something looks like a bad shape or unclear I fix it. I don't go over the entire painting. At some point you have to trust yourself. 

Happy Painting

Debi

Working through a pastel painting

 Working through a pastel painting

Planning Stage

First I find a pleasing composition and value study. Below I used warm TomBow markers to help identify the values. Notice the lines were loosely placed before I worked on the values.This is my idea I want to try.

Next, I place my paper in the vertical format on my easel. I use this sketch book design to place my shapes onto the paper. I used vine charcoal for this part.

I took the line drawing and placed a very small amount of black acrylic ink into a throw away plastic cup. You certainly don't need much. I then wet my brush with water I had available and put the design down on the paper. This is light gray pastel mat. I love the drips, to me they create a vibrating energy I want to show in my painting. 

Today I picked out some starting colors for this painting (on the first inked example if you look closely there is a color guide I made with these examples). This is my identification process to see not only how all the colors work together but, to identify values of my choices. I don't always do this, but I wanted to free myself up for application of lines and energy, so I thought this might help me. Always try to make your painting process easier for yourself. So if multiple sketches, color studies feel like they need to be done, then you should do it so you are very familiar with your subject. I often have an idea for what mood, composition and colors I want to use in a painting. With this in mind I know how my colors will react with each other, next to each other and so forth. This frees you from using your left brain and letting the right take over. I've always painted this way. The left side of our brain is the analytical side. It likes to figure things out, read, write and solve mathematical challenges. Hard to get past this stuff sometimes. So your goal is to engage the right side of the brain. This is your artistic side. This is the side famous painters, musicians and discoveries are used while creating. I listen to inspiring music often piano, acoustic guitar and old Gene Autry music. I also take this time to listen to audiobooks. I find the distraction allows the right brain to start creating and I find that I'm not thinking about the process and just being intuitive with my painting. It's a wonderful feeling, to set aside everything you think about normally and just let go. 

This is after the first pass. I really like how this piece is going. I've only lightly applied the pastel. I've used my dark selection in the foreground trees, identified the pathway and the shadows. I haven't laid in color for the sky yet but if you look in the high right corner you can see a bit where I tried some color for it. Not sure at this point if I want to use it. Seems to light right now. 

So here, I've identified some of the background plane. Notice my color choices are lighter and duller. This helps to push that background plane back further creating a 3D effect in the viewers mind. The composition is clearly a Z pattern of the pathway through the trees. I have color harmony and the foreground is cooler colors, and the background although duller are warmer versions of color. It is a good rule of thumb to decide if your foreground will be warm or cool and vice a versa before you start your painting. My warm background has the potential to pop forward too much so that is why the colors must be duller or grayed down if you will to keep that plane in the background. You can see I've started to explore some sky colors and have added a darker gray to it which I like. 

Here you see I've taken it a bit further. Notice the orche color in the middle ground is also in the foreground tree on the left. It also is by the purple tree shadow. It is a good idea to use color in a few spots to  help move the eye around the painting. Karen Margulis calls them spice marks. I feel at this point the tree on the left is too dark. I like the background, it seems to sit back where it should. 

I continue to carry out my idea and even sign my piece  😉. LOL then I decided that I didn't like the foreground tree shape. So now I started the picking at my painting, looking for corrections. It can be a pitfall for all of us. I decided the tree on the left was to dark, I didn't like the trunks on the background trees. So I started fixing things. 😞

So this is where I left it. I lighten the tree on the left to set it back. I changed up the foreground tree to a shape I liked better and darkened it on the overlapping edges to bring it forward more. I decreased and grayed down the values in the background too. I worked on the pathway colors. I was concerned that my color was to spotty between the planes so I calmed the blue down in the background too. I wanted the blue in the tree and its trunk to make the foreground tree sing and ultimately get you to look there. Notice the value of the blue is the same as the purple so it could be effectively used to move your eye around the painting just taking away the strength of it in the background but still moving your eye around the painting. It's now hanging where I can look at it for a few days before I put it away. 

My take away from this piece is; 

•  keep my planes clear to the viewer.
• working on pathway colors (it almost looks like snow) needs variety
• dulling the background trees even more or darkening the foreground tree to define the planes
• keep working on loosening up my mark making

Is it perfect? Heck no. Every piece I do I try to learn something I can work on with my next painting. I didn't let much of the ink show through and I wanted that so that is something to work on also. Do this breakdown of every piece. Do you see the Z composition? It's the path, in the lightest colors of the painting. I'll talk about this more in another post. You'll be able to find it under the composition label. 

Have fun painting!😀

    

Thumbnails

• What does the thumbnail tell you?

    Thumbnails can hold so much information for you. They are your roadmap for a painting. By doing thumbnails you are creating pathways to be successful in your paintings. Lets face it art is expensive. Paper or Canvas isn't cheap so it becomes precious. The main way to reduce failure is to practice and plan everything out so you are successful. So how do you do this? Practice!!  😉

     I hope to explain to you my journey into the drawing process. Give you tips on subjects that they don't tell you in books, but are tricks every artist uses from time to time to be successful in a subject that they may not be so familiar with. Some of the most successful artists today have been former Illustrators and have years of practice and college training. If you can start in a junior college, take all the art classes you can. There is so much to learn from the History of Art. Visit museums and study from the Masters in history, you will often see students sitting and drawing or painting in the museums with permission of course. Copying their (The Masters) works. You shouldn't try to sell these, but can give them away to friends and family. It's an ethical thing. At the very least you should give the original painter or photographer credit. But the experience of copying them enlightens you with so much "Aha" moments in drawing, color mixing and composition you can't help but come away with knowledge. 

    A note on today's Artists, if work is done in practice workshops as long as the artist gives you permission to post your work you may. It is not excepted practice to post those pieces for sale in a public domain atmosphere or enter a competition. However, this is a very deep and talked about subject for another post. Just keep these key points in mind before selling your work. As long as you made the drawing, your picture and your rendition of the scene, you will not be infringing on any other artist. 

     Here is an example of a copy of work I've completed. This is originaly a work from 'Edgar Payne called "Morning Light". I won't sell this, I could give it to family though. This held a great amount of information on how to handle greens and his composition decisions for me. This also was started as a classroom study of the Masters. 

18x18 pastel

Notice in the left lower corner my signature and copy of Edgar Payne, even though copyright laws have expired it is highly recommended to give the original artist a nod. This painting will never be for sale, however I may frame it for my personal use. 

Edgar Payne's "Morning Light"

• What are my main shapes?

    Identify the main shapes of your composition. Try different formats of these shapes to see if they are pleasing to you. 

    Here is a photo I took many years ago in Knights Ferry California. Not that great of a photo but it has potential for many compositions. 

original photo

These following pictures are possible format and shape identification possibilities, to consider.

    So you can see how 1 photo can become more paintings. I did try different ideas of color for the first example. They are so different as I explored this idea. These were done on Canson paper because I wasn't concerned about a finished painting. Remember, Canson paper does not hold many layers of pastel marks. It's ok to stay with a light touch especially with soft pastels since they tend to deposit thicker deposits of pigment on the paper. I like to use it to identify in color light and shadow areas. I also like to try different background colors for effect. On this particular example I used a green leaf color paper, but could have used red as a compliment just as easily.

  

  

  

8x8 pastel

    Next time we'll talk about using the photo verses life, it's advantages and disadvantages. I'll share with you the process of making this little study. I hope this is helpful for you. There is so much to say that I don't want to cause confusion. I'll try to give this to you in steps that flow. I know your probably anxious to get going. Please refer to the book club for suggestions in books of drawing that directly relate to the information I am sharing. This will get you going as we go through the subjects to help you to get started. Practice and Practice in your sketchbook will help you get where you want to be with greater satisfaction quickly. 

    Please follow me if you like this blog and sign up with your email so you get notifications as I post new content. Thanks again. Let me know if you have questions on this subject or if you want me to talk about concepts you think may be helpful. Have a wonderful day. 😀

Debi

Pastels

 Starting a painting

Number one thing: Use a light touch

Gosh, I can't express that enough. It doesn't matter what paper you use, just that you start with a light touch when painting with the pastels. It doesn't matter if you use hard, soft or pastels pencils this is a must. Why? because you must preserve the paper tooth to apply multiple layers.

Why multiple layers you ask? Well, pastels for one are pure pigment and unlike paint that you can mix on the palette, pastels must be blended to reach the desired color. That's what you do on the paper instead and the end results is color that blends much like the impressionist painted. I started out in the 1980's to get more serious about my art. Back then I didn't have a complete understanding of some of these concepts. Sennelier and Schmincke were the only soft pastels on the market so I relied on Rembrants. Paper was also limited so we made our own paper. A class with Master Pastelist Doug Dawson introduced me to that method. Mostly during that time I used Canson Mi-Tientes. I had no choice to learn a light touch but it was difficult for me. Now there is a beautiful selection of papers to choose from.

Gene Franks asked this question to his readers in a Walter Foster Pencil Drawing 1988 publication, "Why Draw?" "Pencil is the basis for all other media. It is important that every artistic person learn to draw. As you master this medium, other creative fields will open up to you". So I studied how to draw. I can't stress that enough. Please review my pages and labels on drawing in this blog. I go into great detail to bring you the most important concepts that I may have struggled with while learning. I do have an AA in art, but that's as far as I could take my college courses at that time in my life. Largely self taught, I have taken workshops from other very accomplished Artists. 

After you have decided what to paint, you've completed your thumbnails and have decided on the best composition, value placement and if applicable worked out you perspective your ready to start on it. I recommend a woodless B graphite pencil (any pencil will work) or a hard pastel in a darker color (lighter if using black or very dark paper). With a light touch get your basic drawing with indications of object placement and a dark value plan. This is using much like a grisallie approach (a painting completed in shades of gray). 

Notice the margins around the piece that will be used to try out colors and relationships with them before I place them in the painting itself. I don't paint to the edge of a board usually. A good practice. 

With this approach you have identified your darks. Now, its time to decide the next step, Darken up your darks. This example is on Canson paper. I like to explore color options and chose a leaf green sheet I had. I want you to consider this: The hardest thing for me to get through my head was the values of my pastels. Even though they are laid out for you (if you did them like me), you probably have few really light options to pick from. Try to paint the whole piece at once, meaning to begin you can use a very light touch to put in the local color on your work of your idea, including the lights. Add these elements to help guide you to your idea. Your mark making should be a light pencil sketch idea (using harder pastels). 

You will discover that your pastel colors mostly are in the middle to dark values. You might have some lights where the colors are almost white. Pay attention to this, it's been the hardest thing for me. Color change does not equal value accuracy. Please test out your colors BEFORE you put them on your painting next to your work. Ask yourself, How do these colors work together? Are they the same value? What do my lights look like next to the darks? Do I have the value changes in the range on the gray scale like you want. This relates directly to how you want to KEY the painting.

What is Key? Key is how light and dark your values relate to each other in your painting. Let's say it's a very foggy kinda day. Your darkest darks might only register around the number 5 value on the gray scale and lighter lights register 1 on that scale. This can be labeled a high key piece. Using the scale as 5 being your lightest and 10 your darkest would be considered a Low key work. 

These concepts are really important to understand. Once you know you got this, you will have the ability to create successful paintings more often. In unsuccessful attempt repeat the same painting idea over and over until you achieve your idea. This applies to drawing and color skill building. Don't be hard on yourself, bad paintings happen to everyone. just learn from them and move on. Throw them away or repurpose the paper if it's possible. This is partly why I use Canson sometimes because it's not precious and I will toss it. If it's on other paper that has the ability to take more abuse, I will try to repurpose that piece. 

Techniques to fix a mistake. It's good news for all papers that we can fix mistakes. Some papers you can only try a couple of things and others can take much more abuse. Canson Mi-Tientes you can take a small or larger brush and brush the pastel off. Take care with the dust it creates when you do this. You do not want to breathe that in. Wear a N95 mask or respirator (best option) while doing this, or take the work outside. Dust from pastels is pure pigment that you are taking into your lungs, something you want to avoid. You may also use a workable fixative (Outside for safety) that wets the paper slightly and recovers the tooth so you can work in that area some more. These techniques will work with any paper that doesn't take wet applications. Papers that take water applications well. Pastelmat, UArt, Spectrum Art Fix and more that hold up well with wet underpainting in any other painting mediums. Although, I never have used oils it would be something worth checking out. Any painting media used needs to be applied in thin washes to save the tooth of the paper. With these papers you may use the same techniques as on the other papers not acceptable of water products mentioned previously. Additional, you can use a wet brush to wet the areas that you want to remove. It will take the pastel and wet it to recover the tooth. The area will look much darker as you remove pastel with this method but usually dries a bit lighter allowing you to work over that area again and again if necessary. Note, if using a colored paper or underpainting color you will loose this original color. The nice thing about this method it can be done over and over as long as you allow the area to completely dry prior to putting more pastel down. Do you have to wait? No, on the more robust papers you can try painting into these wet areas and discover an effect that may work well for you. 

This was done in the water for this classroom study.

UArt 9x11

Even looking closely next to the rock formation you can't tell I used water to rework that area 2-3 times. It did create a nice dark to work on. 

Next time we will look at the process itself of painting with pastels. Remember as you practice use a light touch with your mark making. Save those thicker applications of pastel to capture your highlights. 

Feel free to comment on the type of art process or questions you might that you would like me to address. I would be glad to help out. 

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Pastel prep

 My work space for pastels

I like to have my tray setup on a workbench that rolls so I can place it where I want it. Not everyone has a lot of space. I'm currently using a table in my home to hold my 4x6 foot pastel tray. I will provide link to how to build this from Marla Baggetta's mini lessons Marla's mini lessons that you must sign up for by email. 

I learned along time ago the concept of color. My bible then was Blue and Yellow don't make Green. I read and did the exercises in mixing to understand the importance of color. I missed, I think along the way that the Value or Intensity of the colors importance in painting. 

Everything about color and our choices hinges on what is the color next to it. I also learned that separating my pastels to reflect not only the Hue and Intensity of the colors, gave me a better understanding of the spectrum of color. 

I separate into this tray by Hue (color), Intensity (Value). There is some consideration for saturation but not as important to me.  I also removed all the wrappers around any pastels. This is a must, you want to learn to be intuitive in your color selection. You also won't remember the names of the colors, it's just to daunting and frankly we aren't wired that way in our brains. You will eventually have colors that you really enjoy and you will remember them. That's ok, it's perfectly normal.

These are some pastels I use to keep in a Jackson's pastel box you can purchase from the website .

Jackson's Wood Pastel box is located in the UK. I have 2 here. They have assorted sizes to fit your needs. I've also purchased other items I wanted from them without any hiccups. You might also check out Dakota Pastels they are very easy to work with as well. I buy all my paper from them located in Washington USA. 

I lined my box with thin white foam I bought at Joanne's. I also lined a small butcher tray I use to hold the pastels I use in a painting while I'm working. This also holds a wood graphite pencil to draw with initially or a dark hard pastel to do the same. I would not recommend using the graphite pencil if your planning a background wash to color your paper. I keep a small inexpensive brush to remove unwanted pastel color on my paper to reclaim an area I'm not happy with. Any slightly stiff brush will work. 

I keep a damp rag next to the box to wipe my hands off. You may wear gloves. The SDS of each company is available on their websites to view any toxic concerns with the sticks. I protect my hands with baby oil before I start. I rub it in really good and have not had any problems. Some artist use a lotion called Gloves in a Bottle, it has good reviews. When your done for the day just wash your hands with soap and water. I have a small scrub brush on hand to get into the nail beds. I also keep a kneaded eraser on hand to dab out areas too and reduce paper damage. Its helpful to keep a disposable small cup with a bit of water on hand too. Some artists use this technique for corrections, but caution is needed to make sure your painting surface can except water or other wet techniques safely. 

List of additional supplies:

• small butcher tray
• small painting brush
• graphite wood pencil
• moist rag
• kneaded eraser 
• reducing glass (to help limit the distance of stepping back to view your work)
• a dust catcher to collect falling pigment as you paint. I use foil.
• masking tape
• recommended papers; Pastelmat, U art, Spectrum Art Fix, Lux, Pastel premier, Kitty Wallace are examples of papers that except light amounts of water, inks, alcohol and paint without buckling. 

here is an example of my easel set up. This is Canson paper I plan to do multiple studies of a scene. I will share those processes in another post.

Pastel setup

Some of my pastels

Pastels are dry pigment that contains a binder (hard to soft) pumice and talc. Each company has they're own formulas for making their pastel sticks. It is good to get a variety of manufacturers.

The best place to start (although it can become expensive) would be

a complete set of;

     Nupastel sticks. It comes with 96 but a mid range set of 48 will work. 

    Sennelier Paris half sticks

I have many more pastels not shown here, but I have been collecting for 30 years. It's an investment for sure. 

Additional sticks to buy would be;

    Terry Ludwig Intense darks ll

    unison 

I would also recommend papers

    Pastelmat

    Art fix

    U art 400 or 600 the 400 has more layering capabilities.

Canson paper is inexpensive but for the beginner painter it requires a very light touch and I don't recommend it. I enjoy it as a paper for exploring ideas.

Any art related questions feel free to ask....

Introduction

 Hi I'm Debi. 

I wanted to start this blog along time ago, but I just didn't have time with work and life. Now, working part time I feel I have time to this blog.

My goal is to share my knowledge that I have acquired over the last 40 years with you. YIKES 🤪 that a lot of years. I have studied with Master Painters over the years and have come away with so many new insights on artwork in no particular order; Doug Dawson, Dale Laitnen, Marla Baggetta, Bill Inman, Karen Margulis and others. 

My biggest take away is the understanding of light and shadow. But, that's not the only thing. There is so much to learn and you can take it as far as you want. No artist I ever met thought that they had figured it all out. It's a continuous learning journey and a drive to be better in the painting process for most of us. So I'm here to help you with that.

I thought first we would start with drawing. I know some of you probably think ugh. But it is important. Without a good background on value, design (composition), perspective you may get frustrated and quit. Why do you have to draw if were just going to paint? It's not for a paint by number set up. But our goal is to paint a 3D painting on a 2 dimensional surface. We can be representational, impressionistic or abstract, but we need the fundamentals to have a strong foundation. Can't build a house that will be strong without a good foundation. Same goes for art, if it's poor design or draftsmanship it will not convince the viewer. 

Not all art is the same. Initially, my plan is to give you that foundation and then add other fundamental tools that will help you with your art. 

8x10 pastel on board
For Susan

I also paint oils, acrylics, watercolor and mixed media. I love all, and will explain each one to you and how to safely use paints in your home. Products have come along ways in the last 30 years to insure the safety of artists. 

Please comment on subjects you'd like for me to talk about or questions on any art subject. 

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