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| 'Morning on the Marsh' 2.5 x 3.5 pastel ©Karen Margulis available here $15 |
Have I convinced you yet? Have you tried painting a mini? Mini Week continues with a look at a simple way to paint small. There are so many ways to paint with pastels. There are hard pastels, soft pastels, Pan pastels, pastel pencils.....anything goes. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes I just want a simple method. This is a quick look at my favorite method ....6 Steps to a Mini.
1. Quick light drawing of the big shapes with pencil.
2. Block in the dark shapes.
3. Block in the light shapes.
4. Block in the most intense color.
5. Fill in the rest of the paper. Usually middle value.
6. Continue developing the painting and clarifying the focal area.
This is a quick look at this technique. It is a helpful way to simplify a busy reference photo and it works for any subject. I painted a snowman for my class showing them how this method still works! If you would like to see it in more detail you might like to explore my pdf demo available on Etsy.
3 comments:
Beautiful demo! I love the way you organized and developed this one. It's a great method and I can also see how much it changed over each stage.
There is one thing about doing these mini paintings, they help simplify but also promote rapid growth. I look at this masterful little marsh scene and can see how well you know the marsh. It's like when I sketch my cat, you build on everything you've already done and explore still more ways to go beyond the photo.
Multiple successive paintings of the same subject improve your skill at any level. This one is so amazing, not least because you manage to convey water in so few strokes. It's gorgeous.
Karen, as always, you do such a wonderful job of taking students from beginning to somewhere close to the end (a spot that is different for each artist). This is simplification at its best!
Thank you Rob and Marsha!! I appreciate your comments!!
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