Park Trail #26

"Park Trail #26"  (pastel over watercolor, 6x8 inches)  click here to bid

Here's a scene very familiar to me, one I've painted several times already and so this experiment was a little more successful than yesterdays.

Once again I did my watercolor underpainting of the scene, and then later finished with pastel completely without any reference photo, allowing the watercolor painting to tell me what pastel was needed. This is beginning to be fun!

Here's the underpainting:

Park Trail #25

"Park Trail #25"  (pastel over watercolor, 6x8 inches)  click here to bid

These two conjoined trees stood sentinel over this patch of sunlit path.

This is the first of four new park trail paintings that I tried something different with.  After capturing the scene with a watercolor underpainting, I finished later with pastel completely from memory and imagination. I did take photos of the scenes, but I didn't use them after the watercolor was done. Instead, I tried to let the impression I had caught with the watercolor guide me in finishing the painting, using only my experience with values and color temperature, and my memory of the place.

My underpainting:

It's amazing, for one, how freeing it is to work with watercolor when you know you can 'fix' the icky parts with pastel if you need to (lol!) I think I may have overworked the pastel a wee bit on this one, but I like the light as I remembered it, and the mood of the two central trees.

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Park Trail #24

"Park Trail #24"  (pastel over watercolor, 6x8 inches)  click here to bid

I believe this is my favorite so far. If it looks familiar, it's from the same reference as Park Trail 14. I might need to do more of these horizontal. I like how this turned out!

Here's a progression:

Park Trail #23

"Park Trail #23"  (pastel over watercolor, 8x6 inches)  click here to bid

I'm starting to get the hang of this! I enjoyed this one and how I was able to keep the underpainting visible in many parts.
I also managed to get a few progression shots, approximately evenly spaced through the process:

King's Guard

"King's Guard"  (pastel, 8x6 inches)

My very latest in the ongoing Renaissance Portrait Series, "King's Guard" has been accepted into the Pastel Society of America's 40th Anniversary Annual Exhibition "Enduring Brilliance: The Pastel Society of America at 40". It will be exhibited at the Bernhard Gallery of The National Arts Club in New York City, September 4-29, 2012. The awards ceremony is September 23, at 4:00pm.

Wish me luck!

Below are the progression photos that I managed to get while working on him:

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Park Trail #22

"Park Trail #22"  (pastel over watercolor, 8x6 inches)  click here to bid.

Another view from my favorite path (of Park Trail 16) This time a little shadier.

Here are a couple shots of the beginning of the pastel -- then I got distracted and finished it!