Sunday, August 8, 2010

"Solo"


This morning I watched a video demo from pastel artist Richard McKinley.  It was about doing a watercolor underpainting for pastel.  Well, I had to try it.  I started with a little sketch in watersoluable graphite...


The next step was doing a very loose, very watery, watercolor painting - right on the sanded pastel surface.  I did this underpainting with a stiff acrylic brush instead of my delicate watercolor brushes to avoid having my expensive brushes eaten by the sanded surface.  The challenge was to do this watercolor painting with the mind of a pastel artists - not as a watercolor artist.  At his suggestion I painted this on an upright easel instead of my normal flat surface - without concern for the paint dripping.


My hands were literally shaking as I started applying the pastels...it's been so long since I used them that I wasn't sure I'd remember how.   This was such a fun painting - I think I need to do more!  I find the very best thing to do when I've reached a plateau or block with my art is to try something new - a new medium or a new technique.

2 comments:

Sandy Byers said...

LOVE this!! and that looks like such a fun way to work with pastels, too. Thanks for sharing your (and Richard's) process.

hissnhowl said...

Thank you! I enjoyed it a lot - hooray for trying something new!