Painting my New Obsession with an Art Graf Underpainting

'Evening at the Fort'            12x 9            pastel            ©Karen Margulis
available $165

I spent last week camping at Fort Wilderness Resort in Disney World. It really feels miles away from the craziness of the theme parks. We had visits from raccoons, turkeys, deer and of course the resident squirrels. The best part of our campsite was the view. We looked out over a swampy area filled with tall pines and cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss. I became obsessed with this view. It was constantly changing. I took photos every day of the intriguing light. From sunrise to sunset to twilight and even evening I wanted to paint the view. Since I only had a very small box of pastels and mini paper the paintings had to wait until I returned home.

First up on the easel is the twilight view. This is just after sunset on a cloudy day. There was no fiery colorful sunset the evening. Instead there was a subtle yellow and violet glow in the sky. It was peaceful and very beautiful. I hope I did it justice. 

Using Black Art Graf

 I wanted to capture the darkness of the trees without using black pastels. I decided to begin with a black underpainting which would give me a strong dark base to layer without dark value pastels. I love using black Art Graf for dramatic underpaintings.  Look at the photo below to see how interesting Art Graf is when wet with a brush and water!

My finished underpainting