31-day-pastel-a-thon begins...

The first piece is a soft pastel composed on a sanded surface with the Smoky Mountains as my subject. Below are a set of 7 images and text that describes my progress.

Smoky Mountains. Part 1, 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (see near foreground green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. I did a quick line sketch with white charcoal pencil, filled in the main shapes, and used Turpenoid and a cheap paint brush to spread color into the tooth of the paper, and used some of the pigment left on the brush to pull down some color into the background evergreen tree line (near ground triangle). The disadvantage of using white charcoal to sketch in the lines is that they remain unless you do a bit of scrubbing with the wet brush. Off to build the next layer!

Part 2, 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (see near foreground green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. I've added wispy clouds to the sky and dappled in the tree-covered mountains the recede into the distance. I also realized that the peaks on my far mountains should be much less varied in height. After all, these are very old mountains! So much more work to do, and sometimes things get a little ugly before they make a turn for the beautiful. This piece is in that nether space at the moment. I've used SpectraFix to set the pigments in place. Back to the drawing board...literally!

Part 3, 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (see near foreground green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. I've repaired the distant mountain contour and added colors in to the contours in between. I still need to make some atmospheric perspective adjustments, as these are the Smoky Mountains, known for a hazy appearance as the hills recede in the distance. What will the next step in the process show?

Part 4, 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (a bluish green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. The foreground trees are shaping up nicely now, and the atmospheric perspective is helping push the hills further into the distance. I think I need a dinner break before continuing. Back in a bit.

Part 5, 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (a bluish green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. While I had the cooler colors in the far hills, I had them too saturated. Here I've desaturated the hills in the distance with blues and purples and increased the saturation of the near hills with pure greens and yellow-greens. Because of the pointillist technique used in the mountains, this is a piece that looks better across the room than up close. After a little more tree work, I can count the first of my Pastel-a-Day pieces as finished!

Part 6, 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (a bluish green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. I've reworked the trees to get them to look less like groomed holiday trees (yes, I said it) and a little more scraggly and irregular. Of course, creating irregularities is something that the pattern-based logic part of my brain fights me on every time. I've also made some minor adjustments to the far hills by using a brush to lightly blend and push the pastels into the tooth of the paper. I'm almost pleased enough to sign this one.

Finished (Part 7), 5.5 x 9 soft pastel on Storm (a bluish green), a sanded Premium Pastel Surface from Richeson. I added a couple of tweaks to the clouds, then signed this piece and am calling it a successful first piece for my 31-day-pastel-a-thon!

I count this as a good first day!