An Easy Way to Paint More Natural Grasses with Pastel

            'Moody Marsh'                 8x10           pastel                 ©Karen Margulis               sold

I never get tired of painting the many moods of a marsh. I love it because it lets me play with painting grass. I LOVE to paint grasses.

Grass can be a challenge and can make or break a painting. Grass that is painted too stiff, thick or regular can not only look unnatural it can create a visual barrier. The eye of the viewer can't get past this 'fence' of grass. The trick to painterly natural looking grass is to paint with BROKEN LINES. 

There are several techniques for painting broken lines but all involve a light touch. You can use a hard pastel and let it dance on the paper skipping and then laying down color. You can roll the tip of a round pastel and you can use one of my favorite techniques: Press and Release a square pastel. 

To create the grasses n my painting I used all of these techniques. I used the press and release for the darker grasses. You need a square pastel. Of course I prefer Terry Ludwig pastels. They are the perfect blend of from softness and intense color. All you do I place the pastel on the sharp edge and press into the paper and lift the pastel back up. You will be left with a broken line and broken lines look more natural than a stiff solid line!

This painting is this week's step by step demo over on my Patreon group. Join us to follow along!

www.patreon.com/karenmargulis