I remember being hunkered down on a bench. My pastels were on my lap. I was as sheltered from the wind as possible but still able to see the magnificent view before me. There was no way I could stand at an easel under the conditions but I was determined to stay and paint. The air was fresh but the sun felt lovely. Ireland in the summer! I made great memories last summer at Art in the Open and my photos continue to give me inspiration. I took one out for today's painting. It was perfect for my old textured board.
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| an older unfinished demo with a textured bottom half |
I found an older unfinished demo painting in my pile of unfinished objects. I had used it as a demo to illustrate how to add texture by adding clear gesso to a painting. In this case I painted the clear gesso over the first layers of pastel. This liquified the pastel and created a dark base. The pastel layers on top of the base revealed the texture. I knew I could make better use of the texture with a new painting. I brushed off the loose pastel and drew the shapes of the new scene.
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| Brushed off and ready to reinvent! |
The blue sky was already started to I began at the top and worked my way down through the sea into the dunes and grasses. When I got to the grasses I began with some dark pastels to create some dirt. I then layered several layers of greens. I enjoyed how the green pastels skipped over the grooves of the gesso creating the suggestion of grass.
I finished with the addition of some flowers and some individual grass strokes with my harder pastels. It is so much fun to reuse paper and reinvent a painting!
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| close up of the textured grass |
1 comment:
This worked so beautifully. I love the way you totally changed the original demo painting and how the texture became something spectacular with the grasses. The sketch-over startled me because it didn't look anything like the first image, but it really didn't come through! Gorgeous results. The flowers are so cool the way you do them. They always scatter like that, it's hard to find them in coherent clumps of solid color except at a distance.
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