Just a random shot out of the side of the house which faces west. Early evening, so the lights were on and the last of the sunset can be seen through the trees and windows. Not sure which camera I used for this – Trip 35 or Oly XA4. I don’t even remember taking it – but do know I rather like it.
Another series of three to emerge from this Land of Pandemica, where house arrest prevails and imagination runs wild!
I took this picture about a month ago, just as the shelter-in-mandate order came down from on high. I really like this picture because of its moodiness and the brightness of the leaves. It looks pretty mysterious, but in reality that is an effect of the editing. Still, I like it enough to give it an attempt for a number of reasons! There is a rhythm in the trees and their curves. The leaves on the ground lie fairly horizontally, while the green leaves are vertical. All these conspire to challenge me . . . So, without further ado, below is the first attempt, in pastels as today is dedicated to pastels!
As you can see, I moved the leaves from vertical to a bit more diagonal. I also added some “stuff” to the lower left corner as the original photo was pretty dark and lacking in detail. The floor of last year’s leaves are more orange than beige. I tried to pay attention to my marks – the stroke of the pastel stick – as well as to doing some negative painting to help the lighter areas stand out.
I am a fairly pleased with this painting. Pastels are more forgiving than either gouache or watercolor – especially watercolor! – and because of this, I can think about contrast and structure a bit as I go along. It may make the final one (watercolor) easier to do after the next one, which will be in gouache.
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.
I went out as the evening was coming on. The air was clear, weather warm, and the sun was rapidly disappearing over the western trees. This little creek caught the last light of the sun.
After a year of so much black and white, the richness of the natural world is suddenly so voluptuous!
As we close the lights on the last year, the last decade, let us hope that there is light to be had in an increasingly worrisome world.
Happy 2020!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 