KEY TAKEAWAYS
-^ Don’t be afraid of the dark.^
A lot of artists are afraid to
put in those super darks, but
they’re what add dynamism
to a painting. Extreme con-
trasts draw the viewer’s eye.
-^ Know the consistency of
your pastels. It’s easier to
work the harder pastels first.
A soft, creamy pastel will go
on nearly anything for those
last touches of light, but fills
the tooth of the paper much
quicker. I favor Unison and
Rembrandt because they’re
in the middle range in terms
of consistency.
-^ Avoid overfilling the tooth of
the paper. Sometimes less is
more. It’s what you leave out
that makes a painting.
-^ Composition is key. Ensure
it’s accurate before you begin
painting. Also, keep in mind
that angles create energy
and movement.
—Les Darlow
paper specifically for a cer-
tain painting [as in Skyscape,
on pages 32-33, and Sky
Moods, on pages 30-31]. I
can put really dark darks on
the paper before I have to
add any pastel. This means
I can add less pastel and
work on creating more tex-
ture. I’ve found that I can
achieve a lot more light and
vibrancy this way, which
gives me more control.”
For a seascape such as
Breaking Waves (opposite)
featuring rough water and dark cliffs,
Darlow uses white Canson Touch
paper as the surface. “It’s a pastel
paper with a microabrasive surface
on which I’ll do an underpainting
by coloring it with inks, adding all
the really dark blues and turquoises
of the sea, and the dark colors of the
rocks,” he says. “That way, when
I apply the pastel, I can focus on the
lighter colors and the surface texture,
which is what a seascape or landscape
is all about. This process makes it
much easier to paint.”
He prefers this technique over a
toned paper because it enables him
to paint looser. If he were to paint
on a more abrasive surface to depict
dark objects, he’d have to paint those
first. “Then it’s really hard, because
I’ve started to fill in the tooth,” the
artist says. “This way, those colors
are already on there.” It also means
that, as long as all the darks are in
the right place, he can remedy any
mistakes at this stage. Once the inkArtistsNetwork.com 35