Pastel Strokes - September 2009

[artist_pw]

Welcome to the September Pastel Strokes!


Those who have participated in previous months already know the guidelines. For all newbies to this monthly challenge, they are as follows:

* An individual volunteering to host the monthly project proposes to a guide or a moderator a new photo reference near the beginning of the month.

* The guide or moderator approves the host and reference photo(s) and the selected host posts the project in Pastel Talk and also a thread in the Soft Pastel Studio with a link to the Pastel Talk project.

* Interested participants create a painting from the photo(s) and upload it to this thread for viewing and discussion.

* The image may be cropped, rearranged, and interpreted in any manner! Use different effects in your software program and try painting something different, tweak the color, add or subtract things.

* You may paint as many versions and as many photos as you like, and they may be any size.

I hope you are pleased with the photos - these were taken from one of the paintout spots at a nice farmlike area in Kansas during the Albert Handell and Anita Louise West workshop here in the Kansas City area in 2007. I tried to select photos that you might crop to find a little jewel area to paint. Have fun!

[rgb]

Thanks, Paula. Very interesting photos.

[Winny Kerr]

Love those photo's and thank you for hosting, hope to get time to do at least one of that. Winny

[bchlvr]

Love the photos! Plan to do 2 of them if not all 3.

[CM Neidhofer]

Thanks for hosting, Paula! I hope I'll have time this month to actually work on something.

Christine

[PETE K]

Hi Paula, these are great, kink of feel like i'm over in the LS Challenge, and Paula has posted her greens again. you both even have the same first name. WOW! I sure will have to try at least one.

[creatividee]

I must warn the experienced pastelists that the following isn't the greatest. This is my first "real" attempt and it definately has issues. So have fun with the critiques as I definately can handle them. For most areas I used my Pan Pastel painting set (20) and then some Faber Castells, a few Rembrandts, and some other cheapies. I cropped the 2nd photo to try to make it a bit managable and it looked fine. But as you will see the 2 trees definately need help. I think by cropping I made 2 very strange trees. I have had this sitting on my easel for 2 days looking at them and have come up with a few possibities so I thought I would post for your look sees and recommendations. I was also hoping that someone else would post their version so I could see their take. My ideas are: 1. "paint" in the tops a great deal more to make them a bit thicker like the bottom sections, or 2. paint trunks behind the 2 existing and make the tops into 2 trees towering in the background, or 3. say the heck with them and leave them as is; or 4. scrap the whole thing and "chalk" it up to experience. Your advise will certainly help this odd piece. Thanks!!!

[kentiessen]

Originally Posted by creatividee

Your advise will certainly help this odd piece. Thanks!!!

I'm no tree expert, but you should continue working with it. You only need to give the leaf areas more substance. In doing this, simplification and designing the shapes is important. You might even try a simple black and white pencil in your sketchbook to make those decisions. Here are clips of the trees from #2 and the same using a photoshop blur to eliminate detail. See the big shapes? The pastel will, of course, will have softer edges here and there:



(The great thing, is that there is no real right or wrong, and being too literal is not as good as your own designs.)

[rgb]

Did one!



9"x12", Canson Blue Mi-Tientes.

Paula, thanks for the photos!

[Donna T]

Dee, that's really quite good for your first 'real' attempt! You definitely have a good start on those trees - keep going! Ken has some good ideas and I'll add that I squint to see the big masses.


Jenny, Beautiful!!! I love the colors and the softness of the whole piece. It's wonderful how you kept the foreground a little darker and quieter and let the color of the paper work for you.


Donna

[rgb]

Thanks so much, Donna! This is one that came out to be pretty much what I had in mind (though happy accidents do happen). At least my trees are improving, and I was able to skim on color of pastel over another.

[bchlvr]

Dee...you did very well on your first real attempt...your colors are great!

Jenny...you achieved depth and light...great job!

[Tracy Lang]

Thank you, Paula for the great photos! I especially love that they were taken at a Handell/West workshop. They have the ability to make any scene sing.

I am totally landscape challenged and far from my comfort zone...
I really encourage hard C & C...I know that I've messed up parts...and the painting is no where near what was in my head (glorious landscape...), but there are parts that I like. I want to become a better landscape painter!!!
Adding that this is on 12 X 16 PastelMat...various sticks and pans.
Thanks much! Tracy

[rgb]

Tracy, love the colors and the lightness of your scene.

[bchlvr]

Love the colors Tracy!