Morning After the Storm

 

Morning After the Storm

 Pastel painting, 9 ½ x 14 inches.

 After dealing with shoveling 5 inches of snow, I came back inside to see Tara Holdner had posted a photo. I was intrigued by the sun on the distant shoreline of the river, and the blues of the foreground were calling me to see what I could do with this as a pastel painting. I asked and received permission to use her photo for a reference.

I printed a colored and a grayscale photo. Trying to pick out a focal point was a challenge. My eye was drawn to many aspects of the scene. I pulled out a sheet of BFK Rives white paper and cut it into sections choosing a 10 x 14 ½ inch piece, then taped it to an easel. I used charcoal pencils to start the composition, then a bigger piece of vine charcoal to add in more depths to the trees.

 

I next used soft Sennelier pastels to do the sky and put in hints of color in the river. I reworked the shoreline a bit to “flatten” the mid-range area to create better background distance.

 The beginning work is always a bit iffy as I try to figure things out.

For the next few weeks, I’d spend an hour or so at a time working on this. I struggled with the vanishing point and the distance between tree lines and shorelines. My intent is never to totally replicate the photograph. I only use the photo for reference. I constantly try to get detail better, ripples in the water, shadows, bright areas versus dark. Then, there are times when Tuli-kitty wants me to hold her while I’m trying to paint. She can be quite a pest.

By mid-February, it was all about detail. I really struggled with the two dark open-water oval pools on the right. I put in more orange in the sunlit trees, used various shades of blue pastels and a charcoal pencil on more defined lines and trees. I signed it. Is it done?

A day later, I did a couple more touch ups – worked the reflections, redid sky … why had dark dust had gotten into it? I also worked more on the foreground, water movement, and bushes.