Try This to Make Interesting Texture!

'Somewhere Along a Mountain Road'             8x10             pastel              ©Karen Margulis
available $155

 Now that was fun! I tried something unusual and it paid off! Today I am sharing state number five form my Painting Our Beautiful World project. There is a story to share along with the technique I used for today's painting.

The state is Indiana. Somewhere along a country road. We were driving to Chicago to visit our son who was a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At some point we pulled off the highway for gas and the road led us past the most amazing field of Queen Annes Lace I had ever seen. I know I said that about the North Carolina meadow but this one was different. It was immense. It was a sea of flowers and bees. The flowers were tinged pink and they were all in various stages of bloom. It was simply amazing! While Michael gassed up the car I walked over to the field and took as many photos as I could. I wish I had written down the exact location because I never did find the field again on all of our subsequent trips to Chicago. Like the North Carolina meadow....this one never gets old.

About the painting: I used a piece of Art that was repurposed. The previous painting was a beach scene with soft pinks and violets. It wasn't finished but I was no longer inspired by it. So I used some clear gesso and brushed it onto the areas where I wanted texture. I had the reference photos of the Indiana field so I knew where I wanted the texture.  I was enjoying the shapes that were created and then I had a thought.....why not use the handle of the brush to draw into the wet gesso. It was revealing the pink pastel from the old painting. It was exciting! I made some more brush handle marks....some thick and some thin. The gesso was thick enough that it made fairly deep furrows.

Once the gesso was dry I started to add the pastel. You can se in the photo below how the pastel skipped over the grooves revealing a tangle of meadow grasses. It was like magic! I can't wait to explore this technique some more!

Here is a close up of the field with the flowers and grasses. Can you see the light violet marks? These are the gesso grooves where the pastel couldn't get into.

WHAT'S HAPPENING ON PATREON

Have you ever wanted to do Plein air painting but didn't know where to begin? In April we will be exploring a very simple way to take some pastels out in the yard to paint from life. Join us on Patreon for this focus and much more. We have a wonderful community of artists who are supporting and sharing with one another during these challenging days. Give it a look. $4 or $6 a month gives you access to over 100 videos and so much more....almost 3 years of lessons!

www.patreon.com/karenmargulis