Pastel-a-Day Number 17: Chilly Sunset

January 17, 2012

Chilly Sunset, a soft pastel on peach-colored 7x10 sheet of Saint-Armand Sabretooth sanded pastel surface.

1. I did a quick scumbled sketch with the sides of pastel sticks before finger-blending to tone the paper. This surface has bigger spacing between the hills and valleys of the structure, which is typically the kind of surface I avoid...

2. I erased some of the blue in the sky to help reveal the native color of the paper, to try to give the richest oranges and peach colors in the sky. Because of the extreme texture of this paper, I continued to finger-blend colors to try to minimize the dappled effect. Isn't it ironic that I dislike the stippled effect when it gets generated by the paper, but am so proud of it when I create it with my strokes?

3. I began bringing in tree and brush between the individual fields with just simple vertical strokes in a variety of colors, and enriching the structure of the out buildings on this little farm, working to get the silo to lean less to the left.

4. After focusing on the ground for a little while, it was time to get back to brightening the sky and adding more variegated colors to the tree line in the distance.

5. With each additional layer and Spectrfix spray, the buildings in the foreground reveal more and more of the texture of the paper. In this case, it sure looks live I've spent hours stippling that roof.

6. I came back with some more pure hue in the sky, including the addition of darker blues higher up in the sky, making the oranges and yellows regain their glowing characteristics that have been cast in color onto the snow-covered fields. I'm going to let this sit for a little bit before I decide on adding another layer or calling this one done. For my eyes, this is a piece that definitely looks better from a distance than close up.

7. I used a few PanPastels in the sky and the snow, and completely worked the tree on the right side (cheating with pastel pencils to go back to bare limb basics. There isn't enough tooth left on the surface to put in more details, so I have to count this one as "done", and a lesson on using Sabretooth!