Friday, March 4, 2011

Day 49 "Tuscany Town"



Pastel a Day is very humbling. I admire Alfred Montapert's determination.
Here's another loser pastel and it's story. 
I started this one yesterday with an oil wash underpainting and it was a good copy of what I thought was a dramatic photograph of the maze-like urban area of a Tuscan hilltown. Well, I didn't like it, so this morning I washed alcohol over the whole thing which gave me a darkened underpainting and new tooth to the sanded paper.
2nd attempt involved purposely keeping my stokes loose and expressive, but the composition has problems. There are too many points of interest - blue shutters and balcony, steps to another passage area, and the door on the right with blue shutters above.
"Tuscan Town" 12" x 8" 
I think the blue shutters on the top left has some promise, and this one may be cut into a smaller 8" x 10".