Landscape Painting in Pastel by Elizabeth Mowry

Author:Elizabeth Mowry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F+W Media

For this landscape I cut a piece of sanded board horizontally with this water scene in mind. I then covered the entire surface with several layers of pastel. Although the painting process was spontaneous, the idea for it was well conceived.

ACROSS PUGET SOUND

Pastel on sanded board

31⁄2" × 15" (9cm × 38cm)

Private collection

Shallow Water

In summer, streams become shallow, leaving islands of flat rock and interesting water pools. Dry conditions provide an opportunity to reach the previously inaccessible far banks of streams whose swollen waters raged assertively over the same areas in spring. Now we can cross streams as we decide on the views we wish to sketch and paint.

Foreground water is sometimes relatively shallow and more transparent as you look down into it, revealing warm colors and the shapes of stones and pebbles on the bottom. In such cases paint the streambed first, then pull a blue or green pastel pencil of similar value over it to indicate the presence of water over the stones. If you prefer using soft pastels for this step, you might work with a tortillion to remove some stroke textures in order to maintain a sense of transparency.

As water recedes into the distance, the angle at which you view it changes, and more reflected light from the sky will be seen on its surface. In the far distance reflected light strokes in your painting will eventually close up and blend.

When you consider the color of water in your painting, remember that it reflects the sky. In most cases your painting will have more unity when you paint water a slightly deeper tone than that of the sky color. Another tip: Using directional strokes with a sky-related pastel color gives movement to foreground water in a painting.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.