Reimagining As a Diversion

'My Florida'           9x12              pastel            ©Karen Margulis
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My Florida family made it to Georgia! It was an epic road trip taking double the time of a normal drive. We stocked up this morning at Costco with food for 14. Then everyone went their separate ways playing tourist...trying to get their minds off the impending storm.

When the house was quiet and the dishes done I retreated to my studio. I do need to prepare for possible water from whatever comes our way but before I started I decided to paint. It was a good diversion.

I decided to reimagine another one of my unfinished demos from our Blue Ridge workshop. Of course Florida is on my mind so I pulled a photo from an area of Central Florida that I love. Follow along as I reimagine the painting:

My unfinished demo....the main lesson was about creating the illusion of depth

• This demo is on 9x12 mounted Uart paper. The demo was done with a dry wash underpainting. I wanted to show the class how I work quickly to simplify the scene into a few big shapes. I also wanted to show the tools we have to create the illusion of depth. The demo only needed a few refinements to finish but I decided to reimagine it into a totally different scene!

Deciding wha it should be

• I selected a favorite scene from a wildlife preserve in Central Florida. I brushed off the demo and sprayed some workable fixative.

Drawing the new shapes with a Nupastel

• With the pastel layers fixed into place I drew the big shapes with a mid value Nupastel. I used my photo as a loose guide.

• I began by blocking in the dark shapes of the trees in the foreground and along the edge of the dirt path into the scene. I used some blue and blue green to block in the distant tree line. I do not want them to be as tall so I will be cutting them down next!

• Ahhhhh I love negative painting! I chose a soft warm blue and pale yellow and peach to create the sky. I used these pastels to carve into the big dark tree mass. I created several palm trees by painting the sly behind them. I did the same thing for the distant tree line.

• After developing the trees it was time to work on the grasses and dirt path. I liked the mauves in the original demo painting. It was a great color for the dirt. I then layered some greens trying to create a bit of depth.

• I added a few spices and called it done. Just in time. I hear some of the troops returning!

I will be busy for the next few days but if there is a chance to sneak away to the studio you can be sure I will. My thoughts and prayers for everyone touched by this hurricane.