Monday Pastel Demo...Queen Anne's Lace

'It's a Blue Sky Day'           8x10          pastel          ©Karen Margulis
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 I am on an Underpainting Kick.  I go through that. Sometimes I don't want to bother with underpaintings and other time it's all I want to do.  Maybe it has something to do with the workshop I taught last week on underpaintings. I am in that mode. So for today's Monday Demo I am sharing a Queen Anne's Lace painting done with an Oil Stain Underpainting.

An Oil Stain is easy. Just thin oil paint with turpenoid to the consistency of tea and paint!  In this photo I have begun reinforcing my dark areas with dark value pastels.  I always begin the painting by reinforcing the darks.

Next I work on the lights....the sky. I add a few pale blues and pinks to the sky area.

I decide the sky needed to be less active since the flowers will be so busy so I gently blend the sky with my fingers.

Next I work on the distant trees using cool greens and blues. I use a very light touch!

Time to work on the meadow so I add some pinks and purples which will be the clover.

Next I layer some green pastels over the underpainitng in the meadow. Cool in the back to warm in the front.

I now block in the flowers with a gray purple. I arrange them so that they are moving or dancing in the wind.

I gradually lighten the Queen Anne's Lace by using pale greens, pinks and yellows. And finally white.

I put in some of the clover shapes and add a suggestion of stems to the flowers. I add some warmer greens and put in some grasses and and call it finished! (see photo at top)
Be sure to click on the photo at the top to enlarge it so you can see the detail of the underpainitng.