14: Abandoned, a soft pastel

From January 14, 2012

Abandoned a soft pastel on 9x12 terra cotta Richeson Premium Pastel Hardboard.

1. Using the terra cotta of the surface, I left the rooftop as the "paper color" and brought back a rich red tree trunk on this late afternoon composition. I've mostly used just the side of the pastel stick to block in the initial structures, allowing the structural buildings to bleed through the overgrown trees.

2. One of the interesting tidbits about this house is the year-round faded wreath on the front door, which I've added in here. I've built up the shadowed textures, the weathered wood panels on the front of the house, the terra cotta roof tiles, and the overgrown lilies in the front. A few more details to add, and I can call it a day!

3. I've built up the foreground tree, using mish-mashed strokes of the sticks, pushing as much of the end of the stick onto the paper as it would take. I really like being able to get the light to dance off the foliage, and feel like the values are quite good. I could probably lighten the value just a touch more on the front of the house if I wanted it to match the color of the reference photo, but my memory of the house on that day is that the building in the back was getting direct sunlight and the front of the house getting some filtered light, so this may be closer to the details of the day.