Farm in Pompey Center, 11 x 19" - reworked

Farm in Pompey Center, pastel on paper by Adriana Meiss

This is another reworked pastel. The original painting, done on location in 2009 is below, and you can read more about it here.

original pastel, done on location

 The first thing one notices is that light in the original pastel is too blue, but that was my fault when taking the photo. The real problem which, I did not see at the time, was that the rows of corn stubs in the foreground pointed to the plowed field in the distant left, thus guiding the eye outside the picture plane. Once I knew what and how to fix it, it was really fun to work on it.

The following are the main changes done:

• the plowed field in the distance was  removed 
• the color and value were adjusted in the distant row of trees 
• ochres were added to the closer row of trees to indicate late afternoon light
• blue and turquoise were added  to the barn
• the direction of the rows was slightly switched to the right in the middle ground to guide the eye towards the barn

So far I think it works and I might frame it soon.

Pompey Sunset, 9x12" - A Progression -Sold

Pompey Sunset, pastel on board by Adriana Meiss

This Friday is the opening of the St David Celebration of the Arts, and this is one of my two submissions.

When painting, I often get so immersed in what I'm doing that I forget to take photos of the progress. In this case, I was working with a very dark photo reference which forced me to work slowly and to take shots now and then to see if the painting was working. So, below are the main steps.

1. Getting rid of the white

 1. The main areas were first barely sketched with a light Nupastel. When working on a white board, the first thing I do is to get rid of the white by using broad strokes with the side of the pastel sticks; then I blend the different areas with packaging peanuts.

 

2. color scheme

2. At this stage, I took my time selecting the colors and figuring out how light I could push some of the greens.

3. The foreground, the composition

 3. If I had done a good sketch before starting, I probably wouldn't have had so much trouble with the foreground. This is the point where I can check if the composition is really working: the row of trees in the middle ground had to be shortened.  Looking back, I think that more earth tones would have been nice...well, that will have to be another painting.