Why I Liked Blue Paper for Painting Trees

'On to Distant Meadows'        12x9        pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available $155

 I am all packed and ready for my almost annual family beach trip. I wasn't going to bring any art supplies at all. But today I caved and threw in my mini watercolor sketch kit. Of course I will have my camera so I won't be without a creative outlet. Since I have already packed (I've packed or set aside my things for the next two trips as well) I had time to paint today just for fun.

I never let a piece of paper go to waste so I decided to repurpose the cloud demo I did for my Patreon page.  It is a piece of Canson Mi-Teintes gray paper (unsanded) To give myself a fresh start I simply rubbed in the blue and white pastel marks with a paper towel. Now I had a blue toned piece of paper.

The start of a new painting

I took out a photo from trip to Ireland and blocked in the darks with a 305 Spruce Blue Nupastel. I quickly built up layers of color on top of the blue. I used some Blair low odor workable  fixative in between layers. I often do this when working on unsanded papers. Below is a photo of the midway point of the painting.

I enjoyed painting on the blue toned paper. It actually made it look like the trees has some sky holes! Click on the photo below to enlarge it and see details of the blue paper peeking through the tree layers. I also like how bits of blue show up in the grasses making this area more interesting. Try blue paper for your next tree painting!

midway through the painting 

I am playing with signature ideas. I am looking forward to getting your input on how YOU sign your paintings. Add your thoughts in the comments.