Yesterday was Painting Disaster Day. I suppose it had to happen after a couple of good rounds. It was also nearly 100F, and even with the air conditioning on, I was hot and cranky, and that doesn’t make for good focus. Anyway!
I took this photo last month, and rather like its moodiness. The dead leaves and bright new leaves create interesting colors while the trunks create interesting lines. The first attempt to reproduce this painting in some form or another began with pastels, then gouache, and finally watercolor.
This pastel painting is rather clumsy, but I have found in doing these kinds of series that usually the first one, in whatever medium I am using, is always the starting point. I learn more about the picture as I paint it. 9×12 on Mi Teintes paper.
This is the second in the series – a small 6×8. What I did differently here than my usual gouache is I used Arches hot pressed paper and worked to keep my gouache paints thin (cream consistency) and moist while I painted. The smooth paper and smoother paints made painting a lot easier. It turned out pretty good!
Finally the watercolor. This is on the reverse side of another painting, on 16×20 Arches cold press watercolor paper. As both pastels and gouache allow for opaque overpainting of other colors, by this time I had a pretty good idea where light and dark were and could plan ahead. I used frisket on the tree trunks and in areas where the leaves are hit by the sun. Keeping these areas masked off let me apply broad washes across the paper without losing the shites.
Altogether, I am pleased with this series. I think I may redo the pastel painting as I have some new pastels to try out! Meanwhile, I am looking for some buildings for my next triad (or “try-at”) of paintings.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
I’m learning about art through your blog. Thanks! As a lay person, I would think that recapturing the photographic scene on canvas would be difficult. It is a moody picture, evoking feelings. I admire your ability to work in various mediums and have each one look so different. To me that’s amazing. I really liked the first and last pictures. I don’t understand the difference between gouache, pastels, and watercolor or how the difference in paper affects the final image. I guess I can Google that! Waiting for more education!
Gouache wins! Lovely, though, all of them. I have another 100 trees to plant, and then the garden in, and then I’m going to try oil pastels. You’re inspiring.
Awww – thanks! I’m flattered. Get started on your oil pastels now – just so you have more fun in between tree planting and gardening! Good break in between.
Anne, glad you like them! Pastels are basically a kind of chalk, but really not. They are like pieces of highly pigmented chalk, so you can draw with them, and smudge them around. They leave a powder behind. Gouache is a paint which handles like oils insofar as it is opaque, but rather than oil, you use water to dilute them. They are often referred to as “opaque watercolor” even though some argue about the term. They can be very translucent if diluted a lot. They can be water soluble all the time unless you use an acrylic (plastic) based one. Finally, watercolors are transparent pigments for the most part, diluted iwth water. Of all of them, you can paint over them with gouache and pastels, but the transparency of watercolor prevents mistakes being easily corrected. Hope this helps!
Thanks -N- it does help!
Gorgeous!
Thanks, tagpipspearl!