After working so hard to get ready for last Thursday's Fair I'm giving myself a very short break from painting. I wanted to post my most recent pastel but found a few things that needed fixing, so I'm posting instead this one which was painted this past spring.
I have to confess that I've never been in Oregon. The reference is from a photography- aficionado friend of mine, who often sends me pictures he thinks would be good for pastel paintings. Most of the time I use my own references but in this case, as soon as I saw the house (which it's actually a restaurant), I knew I had to paint it.
It took me several months to get the courage to start it, because I had to work with two photographs of the area taken at different angles. One emphasized the sea and the beach, and the other the cliff and house. One thing I've learned is that you have to be at least 90% sure of your composition before you start, for the painting to develop well. Small changes as you work are OK, but if you start changing the focal area, you're asking for a headache. So, I needed to be sure of the composition before applying the first stroke. I visualized myself walking along that beach in order to get believable angles. The rocks were the area I ended up changing several times. Rocks are my pet peeve! So far, it's one of my few large paintings (18"x26").
5 comments:
Wow, I've never done anything that big. It turned out so well considering you've never been there and didn't take the photos. You're right - getting the composition right is so important and most of my flops are because I don't take the time to really plan.
You did a marvelous job - I can see why you had to paint it, there's something so welcoming about it (of course being from the coast maybe I'm biased!).
Donna , Nowadays, the only time I forgo the sketch is when I have studied a photo or scene in my mind for a while, and I get the feeling everything is right. I try to do my composition when taking photos, but sometimes that works, others it doesn't.
Working that big it's not hard. The only different thing I do is to constantly walk away from the easel and look at the painting to assess how the work is progressing.
Cat-in-a-Box , Lucky you! I wish I had more access to the coast.
Adriana, This painting is stunning. I love this. The greens pop against the cooler distance. I have been thinking about this painting since you first posted it on your blog. Great work.
Donna, Thank you so much! It's always nice to hear when a painting produce a strong impression on someone.
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