Mini Week... Painting Large from a Small Color Study

'Late Afternoon Show'             22x28             pastel           ©Karen Margulis
painting available $500

 Shark Week was good but Mini Week is even better!  What is Mini Week?  It is a celebration of painting small pastel paintings, the 2.5 x 3.5 inch paintings commonly known as Artist Trading Cards.  This week my pastel classes will be working on minis and learning just how helpful they can be.

This week I will be sharing tips for painting minis....why, how and what to do with them when you are finished. Today I am sharing my demo form my workshop for the Appalachian Pastel Society. I used one of my mini pastels for the demo.

inspiration

 One of my favorite uses for mini pastel paintings is to use them as  studies for larger paintings. It is less daunting to approach a big piece of pastel paper if you have a plan for the painting. I often have ideas for compositions and colors that differ from the photo.

 I don't always know if my ideas are good though.  It helps to test out the potential ideas in a small painting. The 2.5 x 3.5 size is perfect for this. It is too small to get too caught up in details but big enough to paint the big simple shapes and try out the color palette.

I often take this idea even further.....I will often paint some minis for relaxation and then choose my favorites to paint larger....no reference photos are used for the larger paintings....only the small studies.

color study 2.5 x 3.5

The demo in progress for the Appalachian Pastel Society

Stay tuned this week for more ideas on painting small!

TRY THIS:  Join me this week and paint some minis. Cut some scrap pastel paper into pieces that measure 2l5 x 3l5 inches.  Gather some reference photos and get ready to paint! If you are looking for ideas and a detailed demo have a look at my pdf demo in my etsy shop.

Limiting Pastels for More Intuitive Painting

'Where the Lupine Grow'              12x15            pastel            ©Karen Margulis
purchase painting here $150

 It was organized and well thought out. When I started the paint-a-thon I was methodical. I chose my papers and subjects. I wrote notes about my concept for each painting. I picked out a limited palette of pastels for my first painting and lined them up neatly on my usual butcher tray. I had everything under control.

Then the music got turned up and began to paint. All of my neat organized lines of pastels became a jumble.  I hadn't given much thought to what I would do with the pastels once I finished a painting. Would I put them back in my big studio box and start over for each painting? Would I try to stay neat and organized?

I decided not to clean up and just keep going! I was caught up in the moment. The plan was made, colors selected. Now it was time to just paint! After the ten paintings were done,  I ended up with four trays of pastels.  This is actually quite limited if you consider the hundreds of pastels I could choose from!

The 4 trays of pastels used for my paint-a-thon

 I ended up using many of the same colors in each painting only adding a few different colors as the subject required. I didn't decide in advance to keep using the same core group of pastels, but the end result was  nice color harmony among all of the paintings. They all work on their own but look like they go together in a group. 

TIP: I used to work from a very messy box of pastels. I changed to a more organized master box of pastels arranged by color and value. I choose a limited palette before each painting and put them on a butcher tray. I find I can be more intuitive and painterly when I don't have to pause and search for the 'right' pastel. 

The original unfinished demo that I finished during
the paint-a-thon. Can you spot the changes?

Choosing a Palette for a Sunset Painting

'Distant Light'                   11x14            pastel          ©Karen Margulis

Keeping it Simple. That was my goal for this painting. I loved the quiet mood and the intense colors in this scene. I remember it well. It was a 'drive-by' photo that I took on our way back to our motel after a day of painting. Sunset and dusk can be tricky to paint. It is a challenge to capture the colors of sunset without them looking artificial. I chose a very limited palette for this painting.

pastels used for 'Distant Light'

I used a total of 22 pastels for the painting. I usually choose my pastels in advance but this time I chose pastels from my regular studio box as I painted. I kept out the colors I used so I could reuse them if needed. You can see I ended up with mostly middle dark values with just a few lights. For the tiny lights I used a pale green and pale yellow girault pastels. My reference  photo was very dark and grey except for the orange light but I wanted my clouds to have more color. I chose blues and purples for the clouds. I chose very soft buttery Great American pastels for the oranges in the sky. I used a more intense orange than I thought I would need thinking I could always tone it down. I kept it intense!  In case you are wondering I have a variety of pastel brands in this tray including Terry Ludwigs, Great Americans and Diane Townsends.

Lesson from today's painting:

• I was surprised at how few pastels were need to create the mood I wanted. I love working with limited palettes!
• We don't need hundreds and hundreds of pastels (we can dream!) We can make a painting work with a few pastels. We just have to make sure our working set has a range of values and temperatures for each color.....80 to 100 pastels will work for just about anything.

Today's painting is on Wallis Belgian Mist and is 11x14.

What I Have Learned from the Limited Palette Challenge

'Morning Drive'       8x10      oil on panel        ©Karen Margulis SOLD

Keeping it Simple.  It is one of my goals these days.  It started last summer when we were thinking of moving out west (still would like to one day)  I cleaned out every closet and sold or gave away all but the necessities. I kept all my art supplies but did organize them.  It felt great!  I didn't need all of the things I had accumulated. It was so freeing. I have tried to keep it simple in my art life as well so the Limited Palette Challenge Group that Candy Day started on Facebook was perfect for me. The idea of the challenge was to paint using Ken Auster's limited palette of just alizarin crimson, cad yellow medium, ultramarine blue, black and white.  The challenge ends this week and we were allowed to submit 5 paintings to be judged by Ken Auster. I am sharing my five submissions and what I have learned from this challenge.

 

What I Learned From the Limited Palette Challenge

• Using a limited palette is a great way to learn how to mix colors. Coming from a pastel background I was new to mixing my own colors so learning how a few colors interacted was less intimidating.
• A limited palette forces you to look at other elements besides color to achieve your vision....value, textures, composition can be considered if you can't mix the 'right' color.
• A limited palette helps you create a more harmonious painting. Every color you mix is related.
• A limited palette is manageable and easy....it is quick to set up your palette and less expensive to only have a few tubes of paint. It is also so much more portable...great for plein air!
• I never felt deprived or lacking a color. I thought I would because with pastels I have hundreds of colors available to me. I know there are some colors you just can't get with this palette but sometimes the color isn't really what's important in the painting. If it is about that particular color, then at least I've learned the limits of the palette and I can move on and introduce the color I need.

I'm sure I'll think of more that I learned but I am very happy with how this challenge eased me into the world of oil painting. I was very hesitant to try them but I am so glad I did!  If you would live to see the other paintings in the challenge you can vidit the group on facebook   here