Water Reflections and a Sunset

Version #1 on Uart paper with pastel and rubbing alcohol underpainting

In case my Tuesday night class quickly finishes the Red River Reflections lesson I need another "Water Reflections" lesson. This time let's add a sunset to give some strong color to the water.

I'm posting 4 versions of the same sunset. 

I took the reference photographs from sitting in my kayak. That makes the shoreline totally flat since I'm sitting right on the top of the water as opposed to maybe standing above the water on a bank or maybe a bridge. 

The first version was an 8"x11" on Uart paper with an underpainting created with pastel and rubbing alcohol wash. I used only NuPastel.

The second and third versions were 6"x9" sketches on Italian clay colored Pastel Premier sanded paper made by Hand-book Paper Co. In the rest of these versions I used the much softer Sennelier and Mt. Vision pastels. 

The last version was 10"x8.5" again on Italian clay colored Pastel Premier, but it was an older version of the paper and much more textured. Why do I mention that? Because the texture of sanded paper can very much affect how you deal with the layering of colors and the pressure you use to get the pastel to stick well and cover that texture, unless you want the color of the paper to show through.

I like to work in a series especially when I feel like I have not found the form of expression I was aiming for in the first version. Version 2 & 3 are more loosely created with more expressive marks.

Version #2 on clay color sanded paper - less uptight application of color

Version #3 also on clay colored sanded paper

Version #4 - clay colored paper. New format 

This version has a focus on the setting sun and the colors of the sunset. I like this more simplified version as it's focus is more apparent and I think the format more interesting. Because the paper is more highly textured I pushed much harder with the pastel to cover the clay color of the paper.

Red River Autumn Reflections

My Tuesday night pastel class wants to have a lesson on "water". This blog will be photo heavy since I think the progression of the demonstration is the most instructive.

The focus of my painting is not only water reflections but the play of light on the creek bank. The left side of the creek is mostly in shadow and the right side is in sunshine.

When working with water especially reflections I try not to have an exact replication of the scene similar to a Rorschach ink blot test. Reflections are also closer in value to each other than what is reflected. In other words the dark colors are lighter and the light colors are darker. That creates a closer value of colors in the reflection.

Also I create most of my reflection strokes as vertical strokes since what is being reflected is growing upward in a vertical direction. At the very end of the drawing I'll add horizontal stokes to reflect movement in the water.

Final for "Red River Autumn Reflectons"

Value study

Sketch in basic shapes

Watercolor underpainting

Start adding pastel - darker colors first

Close-up of sky colors. Add similar values but vary the colors

Continue adding more details with pastel

Add more specifics in sky and trees. Left side in in shadow and right side is in sunshine

Getting close to finish but reflection shapes are too dark and edges too sharp

Wipe out reflections using a paper towel to get a softer look to the water

final version