Natural Bridge

"Natural Bridge 1"   8"x13" pastel on Uart sanded paper

"Natural Bridge 2"   8"x13" on Uart sanded paper

"Natural Bridge 3"   8"x12" on Wallis sanded paper

"Natural Bridge Vista"   8"x12" on Uart sanded paper

After the nasty weather passed I drove down to Natural Bridge State Park in Slade, KY and it was a beautiful late fall day with full sunshine.

Because I didn't get to stay overnight at the park my drawing time was limited so I concentrated on the main feature - the hugh sandstone arch.

The paper for the first two drawings was Uart sanded paper with an acrylic wash color of warm gray which I created to match the color Belgium Mist from Wallis. That is such a great color to go any direction with my drawings, (light or dark, warm or cool) but Wallis had significant manufacturing difficulties and my last order was on backorder for 3 months. Now I'm looking for an alternative "favorite". My other favorite is PastelMat but it's considerably more expensive than Uart.

The trail around Natural Bridge is steep and tree-covered and I had to set up very close to the arch. The underneath color of the arch was warm which doesn't show at all in my photographs of the arch. That's why I'm so hooked on plein air drawing. I can really see colors especially in the shadow areas. 

I'm not happy with the last drawing of the Natural Bridge vista. If I get time I'm going to try another with more expressive colors.

Natural Bridge State Park was the last park on my grant from the Kentucky Department of Parks. What a wonderful adventure of visiting all these beautiful places and I'm so grateful to Sam Devine from the Park Department for making the grant happen.