I had the honor of doing a demo for the CT Pastel Society's Renaissance Pastel Show. It was a beautiful show of work and a little intimidating for me. I chose this photo so I could talk about painting shapes, not "houses" and changing colors to suit the painting...not being wedded to the photo but simply inspired by it
You say you were 'inspired' by the photo? Uh, how many of the little purple pills did you take before you saw all the nice colors you show in your picture, Aline?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Aline, this is an amazing transformation from the ordinary to the sublime! Just fantastic. You genuinely DO see differently from ordinary folks. I thought I needed to get better reference shots in order to produce more interesting work--clearly, I do NOT. I need to follow your lead more closely. Switch up the colors, choose shapes carefully, make it harmonize.
And watch values. If I do these things, I, too, can paint Tobacco Road & have it be a gorgeous pastel. Really, Aline, you can paint a pothole & make it beautiful. This makes me understand that it's HOW I paint, not what I paint. That's liberating, since I can't get around too easily. Thanks for this great blog! L&K, MaryB
Thanks Mary...but I definitely struggle often. I was seriously nervous about doing this one in front of a crowd of people I don't know. Sometimes it's easier if the photo isn't that good so I don't get tied to it.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone! Just the other day, I read a blog by a pastel painter who said she preferred using BAD photos for reference. She felt freer to change things, to make it her own. Aline, you're sweet to remind us that you struggle, too. It's easy to forget that. And it's encouraging to those-like ME- who aren't yet as proficient as you! I imagine you as having NO struggles but that's just not realistic, is it? Thanks again--L&K, MaryB
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