Work in progress – The Gion house with pine tree…

As my previous (and first) post mentioned, I’ve started a new pastel. This one is a bit of a departure from my normal work method.

You see, normally I draw my pastel paintings first, and work quite precise. This is especially true for my animal paintings (my frogs and birds for example). However, I’ve been watching some Youtube videos lately and learning how other artists set up a pastel painting. Many artists, and also many art schools, teach that you should look at fields of values (light value vs. medium and dark value areas). This forces you to work looser and also layer your work.

So I have started to try this method for myself. I now realise I probably picked a bit of a challenging picture to do this with. Most people use this method on landscapes first, because they are generally more forgiving and lines (or areas) don’t necessarily need to be exactly the way you see them in real life. The image I chose however, is a building. With a lot of straight lines. And actually not a lot of range in value; at least not in the photo that I am using as inspiration. So this means, aside from learning a new painting technique, I will also need to draw on my imagination and memory to make the painting better.

Here are some pictures of my progress so far. The painting is pretty loose so far, just beyond the stage of an underpainting. I am finding the building to be a challenge, what with all the straight lines, drainage pipes and fence in the front.  Next, I’ll be adding more lines and refining the values of the different areas.

Let me know what you think? I’d love to hear your comments.

Cristel

 

 

 

 

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