"Winter's End" 18x24 Pastel

I am so proud that my painting "Winter's End has been accepted into the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod (PPSCC) For Pastels Only 2013! This is a HUGE honor and very important goal I set for myself last year. The pastel show was the only juried exhibition I was not accepted into last year and it kind of lit a fire and motivated me to paint this just for the show this year. I don't achieve too many of goals, but what a wonderful feeling to accomplish something you set out to do. Especially something so important to you.

I'd like to show you some of my progress pictures so I can share my thoughts and techniques for "Winter's End." Feel free to comment, I would love to hear your feedback!  

"Winter's End" 18x24 Pastel on Gator Foam

Exeter River, Fremont, NH

Progress image #1

Immediately when I saw this location I knew I wanted to paint this large. I contemplated going larger than 18x24. I really struggled with this. If it wasn't for the cost of glass, the frame and the gator foam, I would have painted this 36x48.

I began mounting a piece of Kitty Wallis Museum Grade Sanded Paper to a nice rigid sheet of Gator Foam. This is the first time I painted on a sheet of gator foam and I love it! It is very light, yet very sturdy...a nice surface to receive many layers of pastel.

I started with light block in with local colors beginning with my darks first to establish a nice base of color for my under painting. I lightly wet my canvas with a 50/50 mixture of water and rubbing alcohol. This will help the pastel pigment embed in the tooth of the paper. I try to layer my colors very lightly, building up layers so I can move the pastel around to create a painterly effect. The Kitty Wallis paper takes over twenty layers of pastel before the tooth becomes full. Depending on your layering technique you can acquire different textures and really give your painting a different look.

Progress image #2

Usually when I work with a pastel I paint different sections simultaneously bringing them all up to the same completed level, however in this painting the lower half was going to be dark so i didn't want to struggle with pastel dust dirtying up the bottom half of my painting. I really wanted to have the sky and clouds nearly completed before I worked on the woods and water.

I really wanted the clouds to be spectacular...I wanted them to have color, I wanted them to have motion...the purples really give them life and also the depth essential to their appearance.

I made a nice transition in the sky from left (dark) to right (light) adding interest and making the clouds pop just a bit more. I went even lighter and added some light greens to the sky near the horizon line.

I also started to form the island in the middle, worked on the perspective of the marsh edges, the lighting in the snow and I started the marsh grass over on the right and most importantly, I started to block in my tree which will be placed in the foreground. 

Progress image #3

As you can see the painting is almost near completion. I've given the clouds much more form. I've added some more purples and even some Naples to the clouds to promote the warm sun hitting the edges.

I've also brought the marsh grass up to where it needs to be. I will add some more lighter colors to show the sun hitting the grass in some areas a bit later. I love the form of the edge of the marsh grass. Especially on the right side where the tree trunks will be added. I had to complete the little water pools before I added the remainder of the trees.

I really wanted to give this piece the feeling of being a large open space, yet small and cozy. The form on the trees and the way the terrain moves backward really gives this piece the depth it needed to accomplish that. I added some really warm whites to the little snowy hill on the left where the sun is peeking through the trees. The dead tree in the middle stands alone while the warm sun wraps around the tree tops hitting the outer edge of the ice.

Final Painting

In the final stage I lightened up the tree shadows on the ice and really bumped up the sunlight hitting the ice along the edge line of the marsh grass. The grass and the bank of trees on the left also received a little lighter treatment also.

I felt the cloud was still a little bit dark so I went over some of the dark areas with some lighter purples.

At this point my main focus was to bring down the trees in the foreground on the right side of the painting. Now that the rest of the painting is complete I can focus on making the tree visible enough to add depth, but yet not too distracting. I had to make sure the trees had some nice form to them by hitting the left side with some warm whites to show the sun hitting the trees. 

In the previous step you can see I also added a little cloud behind the tree to push the horizon back even further. That is one of my favorite parts of the whole painting.

That's about it. I've been back to this area a few times and have photographed it during many different times of the day. It really is a hidden gem!

Thanks for reading!

-Jeff