Tag: stucco

The House in Back, Albuquerque

Double lots are interesting as often you find an old, beat up house behind one that looks great from the street. Such is this – an old stucco house with turquoise trim on a back lot in Albuquerque. Not a fancy house, but one which makes for a great study.

This is another pastel done on the paper I created using yellow ochre and Golden pastel medium. It works pretty good so far! I laid in values, working from large to small, adding details at the end. As with oils, the work was done dark to light. In between each layer, after knocking off the pastel dust, I sprayed it with rubbing alcohol, and used alcohol as the final sealant. As with any sealant on pastel, the colors end up becoming darker, so I worked to make this a bit lighter than I thought it should be. Some post-scan twiddling in LR, too.

As an aside, my air purifier arrived, so I have it turned on and used it during the painting process as well as wore a protective mask. I damp wiped all my surfaces the best I could as well.

Nupastels, soft pastels, Rembrandt pastels, Terry Ludwig pastels, Jack Richeson pastels on Canson XL oil / acrylic paper primed with Golden pastel ground and yellow ochre paint. 9×12.

Tomorrow I think I will prime some watercolor paper to see how it does as a painting surface.

Blue Shutters

The other day I was trying to paint a something-or-other, and realized I had no idea how to paint something to suggest it, rather than give all the gory details.  It may have been yesterday’s rocky cliffs.  In particular, I started to think about buildings and windows.  Stucco – brick – stone – how to express it without excess?

I decided lets start with just windows.  Here is one set deep into a stucco building.  I had to look at the shutters, the shadows, the casement, the small details such as hinges and cracks in the wood, as well as the shadows between the louvers.