I am finding the building of this pastel piece fascinating. Do you always start with the subject first? It looks like you started the more background horse a darker color, then lightened. Does it help to work more dark to light with pastels or was this a later concious decision to go lighter?
That is a good question, Linda. I approach each pastel differently. I almost always complete the background first before I paint the animals. This painting, however, was more about the movement and the snow around them, so I did the background last. With these horses, I pushed the darks and lights back and forth. As a rule, I paint the middle range first, then the darks and add the highlights last. But with the darker subjects, you have to be careful because if you go too dark, you will never get that "punch" with the lights. In oil painting, I always paint dark to light, but in pastel, I go back and forth, making sure I don't go too dark too soon, or too light. The paper only has so much tooth to accept pigment, so I have to be careful not to fill that up to quickly or I have no where to go.
I am an artist in San Digeo, CA. I paint wildlife and western subjects primarily in oils and soft pastels. I will be posting new works and thoughts on work as often as I can. I hope you enjoy the site!
2 comments:
I am finding the building of this pastel piece fascinating. Do you always start with the subject first? It looks like you started the more background horse a darker color, then lightened. Does it help to work more dark to light with pastels or was this a later concious decision to go lighter?
That is a good question, Linda. I approach each pastel differently. I almost always complete the background first before I paint the animals. This painting, however, was more about the movement and the snow around them, so I did the background last. With these horses, I pushed the darks and lights back and forth. As a rule, I paint the middle range first, then the darks and add the highlights last. But with the darker subjects, you have to be careful because if you go too dark, you will never get that "punch" with the lights. In oil painting, I always paint dark to light, but in pastel, I go back and forth, making sure I don't go too dark too soon, or too light. The paper only has so much tooth to accept pigment, so I have to be careful not to fill that up to quickly or I have no where to go.
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