Trying Something Different

Last week I watched a paint-around where two of the four artists worked on black paper. I’d tried a couple times before but didn’t like the paper texture. I decided to try the black paper again. I had the start of a dunes scene which had been sitting on the easel for a while (original photo on the right) and figured doing this scene two ways would allow me to compare.

Yesterday, I cut a piece of black Art Spectrum Colourfix paper and did the initial layout for the painting in vine charcoal using the same original photo as the WIP painting. Yeah, this paper has a rougher surface than the BFK Rives paper, which I prefer for its smoothness. I moved the sketch to a studio table easel and started adding some color.

I noticed the layout with this new one is not the same as the earlier start. The horizon is higher, but as I work freehand, it doesn’t matter.

Today, I moved this to the DT easel to work both paintings simultaneously bouncing back and forth between them. It’s interesting to experience with how the pastel goes on each one.

River Dunes ion BFK Rives                                    Winding Dunes Trail on black Art S

The sandy areas are a challenge. I’m kind of experimenting in how to get them to look right. I am thankful I’m not trying to recreate the photo exactly. It’s interesting how the colors lay on the textured paper. I’d intended to try an alcohol was (which many pastel artists talk about doing), but I just dive right in painting and couldn’t stop… until my feet said, “Enough!”