I am home from an amazing camping adventure and back in the studio! We spent a month traveling around the western US and while I didn't paint as often as I planned I came home with thousands of reference photos! I will be inspired by these photos and memories for years to come!
One of the first paintings I did since I have been home was not inspired by the trip but rather a photo I took in the South Carolina Low Country. I selected this scene because it was the perfect subject to demo for our Patreon topic this month....Foregrounds, Transitions and Depth! Painting a marsh teaches us so many landscape lessons. One of them is how to create the illusion of depth. One thing we can do to create depth is to have more clarity and detail in the foreground to middle ground and use less detail as the landscape recedes. How can we do this?
If you know me then you know my go- to pastels are Terry Ludwig pastels. I couldn't paint without them! But one of the wonderful things about pastels is the ability we have to layer hard and soft pastels even of different brands. Lately I have been incorporating both harder sticks (Nupastels) and super soft pastels (Sennelier and Schmincke half sticks) into my paintings for the finishing marks.
Both of these extra sets give me the flexibility to make a variety of marks. The hard pastels allow me to make thinner linear marks which are perfect for grasses. They are also great blending tools. (look in my sky to see how my linear marks blended the sky colors) The super soft Sennelier sticks are great for thicker textural marks. The brighter more intense colors make the perfect spices! Below is a close up of my foreground detail.
Have you considered joining my Patreon group or returning to us? This month we are focused on foregrounds, transitions and depth. The low $4 monthly pledge gives you access to almost 4 years of content! I appreciate your support! www.patreon.com/karenmargulis
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