Pastel Class III

Among other things, today's class was an exercise in imagination.

We were shown a painting that Local Artist had done previously "while thinking about Rothko" and seeing a landscape.  Now I had never thought of Rothko's paintings as having anything to do with landscapes, but after it was mentioned, I sort of could.  The Demo started out with EXTREMELY simple shape definitiion:  Two lines dividing the paper into three bars.

.

 Each of the bars was given an under painting to set the tone (if not the actual hue) of the section:  dark, Red and Earth.

 It still amazes me how much muscle it takes to blend - smear-rub this initial color into the paper.

 Next, related hues were swiped over each of the base colors.  The hues might be warmer or cooler or a couple of notches over on the color wheel.  Some values differences were encouraged to give a sense of depth, direction of light, and a sense of motion.

 My first effort.  11 x 14 on Canson Pastel Paper

Can you see a sun setting past a forest?

 My second effort 9x12 on Mi Tientes.  Looks like a cooler evening, somehow.

 And an unfinished beginning on Mi Tientes from a reference at Carlisle's Cranberry Bog.  Lots more layers seem to be called for.