One of the key elements in these exercises is knowing when to stop. Clearly an element that has yet to sink in with me. As you can see, the shadow is particularly worked nearly to death. Practice! Practice! This is about 8"x10" on Canson Mi-Teinte blue paper. I like the look of the bare paper edge when I take the masking tape off. It somehow brings the whole thing back to a baseline of some kind. It would work even better if some of the blue paper were peeping through. Better on rougher paper.
I am eager to try out the clear Colourfix Primer on the colored St. Armand very rough watercolor paper. Will it let the color of the paper shine through? Will it do so with the addition of some more pumice? With some carborundum? The "support" prep part is really fun for me too. Why is that?
The support for this is a very rough watercolor board that I prepared with a mixture of white Colourfix Primer mixed with some 100 grit carborundum. It was so rough that it ate pastel like Godzilla! It was great! (I have some finer carborundum which I will try as well.) You can see the grayish flecks of carborundum on the paper, which might be mitigated with some tinting of the primer.
As for layering and scumbling, this surface was the greatest. I could have put many more layers on it. Great fun! I can scumble like Creevy.
(Could the word 'scumble' be related to the word 'scumber"? It's certainly not far fetched. They probably come from the same root.)
This is 7"x10" on very rough watercolor paper that I coated with white 'Fine Tooth Colourfix Primer' and then toned with deeply pigmented watercolor. I put red under the green pears and green under the reddish background. I got so much into the layering that I ended up nearly smearing. I had to spray it with workable fixative often. The 'tooth' of the primer isn't as good as the that of the sandy papers. Maybe I will add more grit to the primer and see what that does.
. . . .
I think I may be getting it. This is 6" x 9", done on Wallis "Belgian Mist" paper, with Nupastels. This whole layering thing is very riveting. Also Belgium is a great place. So the paper is definitely helping.
The pastels learning curve is taking me for a ride. Pears rulz. I suppose.
Below is a page from the everyday sketchbook. Gouache+pen+ink+watercolors on darker colored paper. Quebeçiose St. Armand 'coloured' paper rulz. Although those pink legs look a tad skanky.
Q: How many days until the beginning of hockey season?
A: 27 days, or 653 hours, or 39,234 minutes, or 2,354,063 seconds
Addendum: SOON!
This is one of the barn complexes at Homestead Farms, along with one of their dragon flies.
One of the key elements in these exercises is knowing when to stop. Clearly an element that has yet to sink in with me. As you can see, the shadow is particularly worked nearly to death. Practice! Practice! This is about 8"x10" on Canson Mi-Teinte blue paper. I like the look of the bare paper edge when I take the masking tape off. It somehow brings the whole thing back to a baseline of some kind. It would work even better if some of the blue paper were peeping through. Better on rougher paper.
