Glory, 20″ x 16″, UART 320 board

Underpainting with yellow ink and hard pastel

Underpainting after alcohol applied

My classes this fall have focused on light and shadow.  I did two demos to begin with but wasn’t particularly excited by either so I wanted to do something really good that had both light and shadow in it.  We took an afternoon walk in early November  and the first thing I spotted was light coming through a tree that cast shadows on the grass and walkway.  Perfect!  But I also knew that trying to do a 16 x 20 live video of the entire painting would be way too much.  So my first thought was to do the upper half first and video the painting of the shadows.  But when I started working, I started taking a lot of photos and decided that I could do a two-part demo.  The first in Powerpoint with images and discussion; the second as a video.

Looking at the underpainting and the final work, you will see that I initially had included a tree on the left.  It was in the photo (of course) and I didn’t think to take it out.  But, as soon as I saw what the underpainting looked like, I knew it had to go!  So, I used some wet paper towel to try to sponge it out of the sky, then used yellow green hard pastel and alcohol to complete a better underpainting.  (It didn’t do great things for the surface however! So I don’t recommend doing this.)

The use of ink and hard pastel was OK.  I was able to have a background set into the paper over which I could place the tree.  And if a little yellow showed through it would be OK.  But I wished I hadn’t used it in the path.  The path needed to be warm and it would have been better to start it with a cool color.  But, of course, pastel will cover anything.

The tree top was quite easy.  I used various greens for the underpainting, which I always do with fall colors.  Then I used four or more Giraults in yellow orange, red orange, and reddish brown.  Then added softer pastels on over that.  I used three Ludwig turquoises for the sky.

For the sun, I used a Schmincke light yellow that had a fair amount of yellow in it–not the whitest yellow. I used a yellow green Girault around the central part.  Then, I added a mid-toned magenta Girault to the leaves right around the sun.  This worked like magic!  It gave the look of hazy sunlight and helped the sun to really glow.

My favorite part of the painting was the background.  After I had eliminated that terrible tree, I kep it very simple with some bushes in front, painted with loose strokes of several Giraults; and blues and greens in the background.  The results now make it look like one is walking in a much more open environment than the woodsy area that we were in.  I learned important things from this!

The shadows were another story!!!  They were done as part of the live demo. I used three or four of the intense dark Ludwigs, then added lighter colors on over.  I had to keep trying to lighten.  And doing the shadows on the path was tricky also as the surface was lighter and the shadows had to be a little different in color and value — but not completely different.  And I kept having a hard time with the shape and size and where they should be. I think there are too many of them, particularly since I left out a branch on the left.   It’s more about the sun than the shadows, but I didn’t want them to be a distraction.  Again, this image is a little too dark.

So now I have just one class left and plan to take a two month break from teaching.  I’ll begin again in February with zoom and in-person or maybe just zoom.  I hope to paint with friends in January and at home in December.  But it’s also time to see other friends and do holiday things.  I hope that you too will be able to enjoy this holiday season.  Let’s not worry about the new variant!  Just get your booster and wear your masks and live life!  We will be going to the Kennedy Center this weekend and having dinner in Georgetown–both of which we haven’t done in years!

Happy holidays to you all.