A Tip for Creating Depth in a Pastel Painting

'Marsh Music'         8x10         pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available $125

It still amazes me. The idea that we can take a flat piece of paper and create the illusion of a three dimensional reality. Imagine that! All we have are paper and a few sticks of pigment and yet if done properly we can create a painting that has depth. Creating depth is always one of my top goals for a landscape painting. There are some things we can do to help create this illusion of depth. Understanding aerial or atmospheric perspective it the key.

As objects recede into space the atmosphere causes their appearance to change.....things tend to get lighter, color, less intense, less detailed and there is less contrast.

In today's painting I tried to cover a few of these ideas with my focus on the level of detail I used.

The addition of clear gesso to provide more texture. It will dry clear.

In the foreground we can have as much detail as we want. It is in front of us so we can see all of the detail. As we go into the distance the level of detail decreases. Things get fuzzier! In my painting I purposely painted the distant trees as simple cool shapes. There are no details in those trees even though I saw details in my reference photo.

To emphasize the depth I wanted to have more clarity and detail in the foreground. It was a tangle of grasses and brambles at the edge of the creek. I wanted to capture this tangled feeling with some texture. I used my usual technique for creating texture in grass with some workable fixative. It just wasn't enough! I had an idea! A 'what if' moment!

•  I took out some clear gesso which has a slight grit and brushed it allover the foreground. I used random brushstrokes to convey the tangle of grasses. Once the gesso was dry I repainted the foreground. The pastel glided over the grooves leaving a nice 'grassy' texture. Click on the painting to see the detail.