Pastel Journal - USA (2019-05)

Step1:I beginwitha notan

orsimplifiedvaluesketch

andtransferit ontoUART

400 papermountedon

GatorBoard.Thishelpsme

tobegintoseethecom-

positionintermsoflarge

shapes,a focalpointand

thedirectionalmarksthat

willattractandkeepthe

viewer’sattention.I wantto

ensurethatthefallofwater

doesn’tdirectattentionoff

thepageorbegtheques-

tionofitsorigin.I don’t

needtoincludetheentire

fallfromtoptobottomin

eachcomposition,butI

doneedtodesigna scene

that’sinterestingandwill

keeptheviewerengaged.

Atthispoint,I spendtime

thinkingabouttherefer-

encesourceanddeciding

whattokeep,whatto

simplifyand,onoccasion,

whattoadd.Thisthink-

inganddecision-making

actuallycontinuesthrough-

outthepaintingprocess.

Occasionally,I mayadjust

theinitialdecisions,but

startingwitha planhelps

mebeginonsoundfooting.

Then,I sketchtheplace-

mentofthemajorshapes

onthetexturedpaper.

Step2:Next,I applydry

pastelandliquifyit withan

alcoholwash.I thenblock

inthelargeareasinterms

oflightanddark.Forthe

waterfall,thedarkness

behindthefallingwateris

significant,asit describes

therockfaceoverwhich

thewaterfalls;provides

a contrastwiththelight

water;andexplainsthe

blueshadesofthespray

toeithersideofthemain

fallofwater.I intensify

thedarksandlightsto

strengthenthecomposition

further.Atthisstage,these

areashelpanchorit.

Step3:Afterthedarks

andlightsoftherockface

andvegetationaroundthe

fallsareestablished,I use

theedgeofa lightblue

orcreamywhitepastelto

positiontheprimaryfallsof

water.I standbacktocheck

theoriginalcompositional

plan.I alsothinkaboutthe

demonstration Provence Gorge

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28 Pastel Journal JUNE 2019