Painting Shadows on Snow with my New Pastels

'Winter Blues'         10 x 10           pastel            ©Karen Margulis
click here to purchase $145

I am back from the beautiful blue Caribbean Sea to the blues of Winter. We have no snow here in Georgia, only rain. Lots of rain. I really need to be unpacking and baking for Christmas but I was itching to get back in the studio and paint something!

My newest pastel acquisition was calling out to me.....Paint something with us today!  These are my new Diane Townsend pastels... a set of 12 blue Terrages. They would be fun to try out on a snowy landscape!  So I dug through my winter reference photos to find something suitably frosty!

Diane Townsend Terrages Blue Collection

If you haven't tried Terrage pastels you are missing out on a fun to use pastel. Here is some information about Terrages from Diane Townsend's website:

Terrages Pastels are larger pastels containing crushed pumice stone which enables the artist to open up the surface of paper and work in more color. The added pumice will also help create complex layers of color and a luminous sensation of depth and space. Terrages pastels are made in a size and shape that can accept a more forceful application without crumbling.

What I love about them is the shape. The thick and wide pastels fit nicely in your hand and allow you to cover a lot of paper with few strokes. I do like the idea that you can be more forceful without them exploding in your hand. But what I like best is that the shape prevents you from getting too detailed and fussy. It is about making big juicy strokes.

The blue Terrages were wonderful for painting the shadows in the snow. The coverage was thick and juicy so that I didn't even do an underpainting or block-in. I just went right in with the Terrages on my Uart paper.  I did use some Terry Ludwig pastels and some Diane Townsend lights in the painting but most of the shadows are Terrage blues.

detail of blue shadows on snow

Tip for Painting shadows on snow:
Most of the time when I paint the shadows on snow I try to use warmer blues (turquoises) in the foreground shadows and purples and pale cooler blues in the distant shadows. I remember that atmospheric perspective would cause the warmer colors to be lost in the distance so I apply that to the blue shadows as well.

I am now back to regular blog posts. The ship's internet connection was painfully slow and I wasn't able to get my scheduled post to publish. So I had a technology break of sorts but now I am back to the studio and the computer!