Since my comments are multiplying about this particular work (and it has sold to a patron who owns about a half dozen of my artworks), I re-post it here with a "reveal" of the technique used in achieving the vibrant electric blue of the sky. Thanks, Katherine, for asking the question regarding how I did this sky.
As noted in the image posted above, the ground is toned with a deep violet. I used the side of a Kitty Wallis hand made pastel and brushed the color in with Turpenoid and an inexpensive brush. The ultramarine is scumbled on with the side of a middle value Diane Townsend Terrage pastel, plus some other lighter colors of ultramarine or violet.
The subject is a bunkhouse at the Heins' farm, where I have picked many of my scenes from this past year. Envision plenty of sunlight, a picture-perfect farm placed in a shallow, wide draw manicured by cultivation. Their farmstead is so neatly arranged, I once kidded them that I have to add some junk to make it look realistic.
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4 comments:
Maybe the comments are telling you something?
Thanks so much for the update - I'd never have guessed that you used those pastels - and I didn't even know that Kitty made pastels as well as supports. Have you got details for how to get hold of them and what sort of colour range she does?
I did start an architectural series, but the deadlines for art fair applications, etc., have driven me crazy! My self evaluation is lacking because of too much studio pressure. So, I'll have to drop back and see what I've made that makes the "cut", and go on from there.
The reactions to this Violet Drum have nudged me to at least not give up on the series!
I have 80+ of Kitty's pastels that were hand rolled at one of her workshops. The five or six of us who participated made colors from her Moist Pigment kit. The full kit is a complete set of base colors in tubs, plus whites, all in the consistency of moist dough.
She has done the hard work for you, and all you need do is work them with water. I used to see them at Dakota Pastels, but I think you must enter a search query. Of course, you must mix colors and you may follow her recipes to do so.
I took her fine knowledge and decided to get more base and make my own pastels from the absolute scratch. I got pigment in its powdered form and began to experiment with my own consistencies, and intensities, etc. My own pastels are indispensable for my images, now.
Anyway, I call her sticks "Kitty Wallis", since that is essentially true. But you must do the work to make them!
BTW, she has been at pasteling for over forty years and is a master of the medium.
Casey - you need to go read this post - "The Fugitive" over one Lisa's blog - guess what it's about.....
I guess I'll have to get out my color charts for these brands!
Hoping Ultramarine @ Sennelier is light fast.
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