Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Cumberland Falls Autumn Views

"Cumberland Falls 1" 8"x12" pastel on Uart paper with acrylic wash

"Cumberland Falls 2" 8"x12" pastel on Uart sanded paper

"Cumberland Falls 2" close-up

My Kentucky State Park adventure continues with Cumberland Falls State Park which is a beautiful spot especially in autumn.

The first image was created on Uart sanded paper toned with an acrylic blue/green/gray wash. My favorite paper is Wallis Belgium Mist which is a warm gray color but Wallis has production troubles and my order has been on back order for 3 months so I'm experimenting with recreating the color I enjoy on a sanded paper. Uart 400 has a similar grit texture as Wallis and I think it actually holds the pastel better. Then, of course, the Wallis paper arrived the week before leaving for Cumberland Falls; so now I have both papers to compare. This blue/green/gray underpainting makes a nice complementary color to the warm fall colors.

"Cumberland Falls 1" was created first and I wanted to capture the essence of the falls without too many details.

"Cumberland Falls 2" was drawn from a spot further down river and the sun was starting to drop along the ridge top illuminating the autumn foliage. This one was only 1/2 finished when it was time to go to dinner so I rubbed out some offending details and left just the impression of the bright orange trees.

So now the problem. The foliage, especially the color, is a distraction from the point of interest - Cumberland Falls. So in "Cumberland Falls 3" I cropped out most of the foliage to see if the composition is improved.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite?