The Black and White Challenge! Art Play Activities

'Cherry Blossom I'.      6x6            pastel               ©Karen Margulis
available $75

'Cherry Blossom II'                  5x7                 pastel               ©Karen Margulis
available $75

I have a cherry tree grove in my yard and it is in its full glory this week. I have dreamed about having a cherry grove ever since I saw a photo in a Southern Living magazine. When the two huge pine trees in the front yard succumbed to pine beetles it was my opportunity. We planted 4 cheery trees......little sticks really. But they grew....and they grew and I think we now have a called cherry trees in the neighborhood! The birds have done a good job spending the love and we have three other volunteer cherry trees. I also have a huge weeping cherry tree in my back yard. Did I say I love cherry blossoms???

So it was about time that I painted them! I used them for my black and white challenge but I do need to paint them in color next. The top painting is on black Strathmore artists card paper using just black and white pastels.  The bottom painting is 5x7 and is on white Pastelmat. I did a wet underpainting with black Art Graf pigment squares. Here is a photo of the underpainting. I didn't add much pastel to the background.

The wet underpainting using black Art Graf on Pastelmat