Painting, Progress, and Realizations

“Softly Comes the Dawn,” 10 ¾ x 14 ½ in progress using a variety of pastels, unframed.

Original photo reference courtesy: Wanda Santti.

Yesterday, after days of intense stress, I was able to slip back in the studio. I tackled what I’m thinking is an apple tree on the left. The original photo had dark leaves, but with the all the other foliage greens, they don’t show up with the pastel. I want more vibrancy, so I chose a mustardy yellow-green to pick up aspects of the sunrise.

I didn’t like the branches on the right side of the tree and tried to redo, which meant I also had to redo the background behind it. I have too many upright branches.

I worked on background trees, too. I added darks, then used the same color as the leaves of the apple tree to highlight treetops in the back behind the small field. Then I added more highlights to the trees just behind the apple… but I think I did too much. The tops need to be more subtle.

I added darker greens to the fields. Still too early to work the closest foreground.

Oh, I’ve made quite a few notes on what to fix, ha-ha. And, too, once I get to the right-hand side foreground trees, the entire scene will really start coming together.

I realize I can’t match the pastel to the color in the photograph. My paintings tend to come out dark. I, personally, don’t mind as I like the moodiness and the mystery, but I also know, the more colorfully vibrant the painting, the more appealing it is.

How many paintings has it taken me to come to this conclusion? Oh, I’ve kind of known it for a while and have even talked about making my paintings brighter, yet I still ended up with a darker painting. I wonder if it’s how my eyes see.

It’s not my intent to match the photo exactly, but I still strive to recreate the beauty.