I wanted to give this a romantic name, like Last Light Before the Storm, but the fact is, this is just a disaster! The only thing I like are the bright trees and the sky’s gloom, but altogether, it is overworked and definitely not very good.
‘Nuff said!
The California coastline varies from top to bottom. Some areas have wide, flat sandy beaches, and others are at the base of rugged cliffs, sometimes accessible, sometimes not. State law says the beaches are for everyone, and must be accessible. People in Malibu and some areas south of San Francisco have rich people who won’t grant access, and lawsuits have been fought long and hard. There is even an app for your phone that tells you where you can access beaches in Malibu, in spite of the fake “No Beach Access” signs put out by land owners on the coast. Funny, but not funny.
Hendry’s Beach (often called “Henry’s Beach”) is a long-time favorite and a popular one in Santa Barbara. At low tide, you can walk a long distance, but if you are not careful about the tides, you could get caught! The ocean is sometimes out enough that a lagoon is formed, and then disappears when the tide comes in.
What caught my eye here are the shadows across the roadway. I just recently read that shadows are essentially the color of whatever is beneath them. Thus, shadows on green grass are darker green; shadows on a sandy path are darker shades of sand. The blue sky also impacts shadows, as does the sun, such as filtering through the leaves. Distance is demonstrated (as always!) by less detail and lighter, perhaps bluer, things in the distance. Here, I was interested in the cast shadows along with trying to catch the flickering sunshine through the leaves.
Pastels just feel so natural. Get your fingers into the colors, dust, papers, blending. So tactile. I can’t tell you how many times I washed my hands here, but more than I would even with Covid-19 lurking around . . . . !
By far, this is the best of the 4 pastels I have done thus far. It sort of came together. Watching a YouTube video helped, too, to get an idea about how to proceed.
I used my fingers for most of the blending, and used a baby wipe in between to clean up dirty finger tips. I also worked the primary background and foreground first, working around the pears before doing the pears themselves. For the Saguaro painting, I had done the cactus first and then the sky – not really successful as the sky became a bit smudged with the greens. Live and learn! I used a torchon / stump for the areas closest to the pears and in the shadows to help isolate things. I cleaned them off with rough sandpaper – 100 grit.
Another thing I did was consider color and complementary colors in the painting. I simplified and did big areas before moving into smaller and more defined regions.
Of course, not all paintings will be this successful! It’s fun to compile knowledge and start using it when creating a picture or painting. The simplicity of this painting pleases me, but it was a more complex process than may appear because of the multiple layers of color put down.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 