ESP (explore soft pastel)--August 2004: scumble, glaze and feather

[Deborah Secor]

Come join us sometime, Meisie!

Heather, I didn't blend at all with anything. No blending! I layered in the reds, magentas, and purples over each other for the dish. Then I added darker versions of the same colors over them, scumbling all the while. I used some glazing for the dish, using the flat side of the green pastel to smooth it a little--but not overly much. For instance, I didn't try to smooth out the little corner areas, but left them rough. For the reflection I feathered it slightly with charcoal to make it flatter and muted looking. I left the orange rough, where the scumbling works to advantage, I think.

And color is what it's all about, isn't it? I love to combine layers that will make a beautiful and lively look.

Deborah

[lawsportraits]

Originally Posted by dee_artist

Come join us sometime, Meisie!

And color is what it's all about, isn't it? I love to combine layers that will make a beautiful and lively look.

Deborah

Oh, most certainly!!!!!! I would love to see allot more of your underpaintings. You have me hooked now!!!

I think I'll have to try exercise #1 again.

Heather

[lawsportraits]

OK, so I worked on this a bit more. I think my glazing on the apple went well.
What do you think? Should the background be mutted even more. I'm running out of tooth there though, the pastel is starting to skid around back there.

I'm having fun with this. I've neglected my portrait work though.

Heather

Here's the sketch.

[Cindy Aspden]

Dee, thanks for the additional tutorials. . . they helped alot!!! When you say color is what it's all about. . . that's primarily why I have stayed with the graphite so long. So this is exciting and scarey for me at the same time. Anyway here's my orange. C & C most welcome.

cindy

sheesh. . .lost the file.. .had called it a tomato. . . lol

[Cindy Aspden]

Here is my #2 with glazing. I am at a loss for what to do with the background. I have tried and rubbed out many. My biggest challenge is what colors and combinations. ?????

[Deborah Secor]

Originally Posted by lawsportraits

OK, so I worked on this a bit more. I think my glazing on the apple went well.
What do you think? Should the background be mutted even more. I'm running out of tooth there though, the pastel is starting to skid around back there.

I'm having fun with this. I've neglected my portrait work though.

Heather

Here's the sketch.

Looking good, Heather!! I particularly like the shadow side of the apple.

Hmmm, no kidding, a fruit fly just made a beeline for it! Seriously! Bet he was disappointed. Computer screen, not juicy apple.

No, I wouldn't worry about the background at all. It's an exercise and I think it's finished. Glad you're trying this!

Deborah

[Deborah Secor]

Originally Posted by Cindy Aspden

Dee, thanks for the additional tutorials. . . they helped alot!!! When you say color is what it's all about. . . that's primarily why I have stayed with the graphite so long. So this is exciting and scarey for me at the same time. Anyway here's my orange. C & C most welcome.

cindy

sheesh. . .lost the file.. .had called it a tomato. . . lol

You're more than welcome, Cindy. I like this one a lot! It's NOT a tomato, clearly. LOL What kind of paper is this on? If there's enough tooth, try doing a little more squiggly strokes on the orange itself. I love your green/orange contrast!

Deborah

[Deborah Secor]

Originally Posted by Cindy Aspden

Here is my #2 with glazing. I am at a loss for what to do with the background. I have tried and rubbed out many. My biggest challenge is what colors and combinations. ?????

Well, for now why not just let it be. You don't have to do a background. I love the delicacy of the sheen on the apple. How about just glazing in a bluish shadow to see how it looks? That will ground the apple.

You should be happy with these!

Deborah

[Meisie]

hmmm my effort thus far is not too promising as far as sticking to the exercises go!
I tried to 'scumble' but this side of canson is so rough! (Currys had stuck a sticker on the backside, which is what I usually use ) so I blended it in, then sprayed....and now I'm starting again. The dish need work still....that elipse still looks off.



I also scanned a close up which will hopefully show more of what I tried? Go ahead and tell me start all over again.... I don't mind....I'm learning!



Meisie

[lawsportraits]

Originally Posted by dee_artist

Hmmm, no kidding, a fruit fly just made a beeline for it! Seriously! Bet he was disappointed. Computer screen, not juicy apple.

Deborah

HaHa! Thanks Deborah! I'll try the basket of apples now, this should be interesting....wonder if I'll be able to trick that same fruit fly.

Cindy, I agree with Deborah, love how that apple shimmers. Your orange is better than mine too

Heather

[Cindy Aspden]

Deborah WOW! You don't know how much I appreciate your time and teaching. Well, that plate/background was really bugging me, so rather than add squiggles(I will though), I tried another one with more scumbling. The first one was done on brown paper and this on fairly toothy sketching paper. I see my shadow is a tad too big. Deborah, this scumbling is fun. . . it's just me getting past that need for order and neatness and all the "stay comfortable in the box" stuff. And Heather, I was chatting with a friend last night about this thread, telling them you ALL are doing such works of art and I. . . bleck!!! I like your orange better than mine! lol

cindy

[lawsportraits]

Cindy!! Finding colour a scary experience Eh!! HaHa! My arse.

Well done!!

Heather

[Deborah Secor]

Originally Posted by Meisie

hmmm my effort thus far is not too promising as far as sticking to the exercises go!
I tried to 'scumble' but this side of canson is so rough! (Currys had stuck a sticker on the backside, which is what I usually use ) so I blended it in, then sprayed....and now I'm starting again. The dish need work still....that elipse still looks off.



I also scanned a close up which will hopefully show more of what I tried? Go ahead and tell me start all over again.... I don't mind....I'm learning!



Meisie

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond here, but I had to teach a class today and since I'd never taught this particular subject before I had to prep it all last night. But here I am again... (oooo, new smilies!)

Meisie, I love your colors here! The harmony of the yellow, blue and green is lovely, and the touches of purple in the blue plate are great. The peppers are nicely done, too!

It looks like you worked on a reddish color paper, which is interesting in the darker upright plane with the dark green over it because they're the same value, but in the table plane it might distract a bit too much. It's not bad, but if it were my painting I'd continue with a couple more layers of color in there, perhaps blending first and then lightly glazing some other colors over the top. I don't know if you can do this if you've fixed it already, but if not, you might consider this method for another painting sometime. That highly textured side of Canson is a pain!

I think the ellipse only looks off because of the pepper that is overlapping it in the lower left corner, I think. By now I suspect you've worked on it, so I hope you'll show what you've done or decide to do on this one! Good work!

Deborah

[Deborah Secor]

Originally Posted by Cindy Aspden

Deborah WOW! You don't know how much I appreciate your time and teaching. Well, that plate/background was really bugging me, so rather than add squiggles(I will though), I tried another one with more scumbling. The first one was done on brown paper and this on fairly toothy sketching paper. I see my shadow is a tad too big. Deborah, this scumbling is fun. . . it's just me getting past that need for order and neatness and all the "stay comfortable in the box" stuff. And Heather, I was chatting with a friend last night about this thread, telling them you ALL are doing such works of art and I. . . bleck!!! I like your orange better than mine! lol

cindy

Cindy, such a nice GLOW to this orange! It looks good! I like the green plate, too, with all it's colors. You should be happy with this one. The only thing I'd suggest is that you darken the shadow a bit and scumble some more dark green over the purple. You really need the 'root' color of the plate, since green in shadow is still green! I like theat you're enjoying getting 'loose' here! LOL

Glad you did another one of these... It's always good to apply the things we're thinking about.

Deborah

[Meisie]

Deborah, thank you for the feedback, no problem to wait I've not worked on this today, so I'll be able to apply what you said. I'm glad you saw that the elipse is seemingly off because of the overlapping....which is exactly what is happening. I thought it looked nice like that, not realising the implications
I need to get to them no later than the weekend though, or they will start rotting , I'm sure I can add more layers enough to improve the foreground : you are right, the color paper is burgundy, I like doing bright colors on dark paper.
Those apples in the basket I did in cp on black, I loved it!
Here it is, just for fun :
I hope to have the time next week to try that landscape ref of yours!

Meisie