Day 20 Browns

"That painter who has no doubts will achieve little." Leonardo da Vinci
I don't work with browns very much but in search of other color combinations that convey light and shadow in this hayfield, I decided to try warmer colors in the shadow area which may occur on a very warm summer evening.

"Knob Meadow Browns"   8" x 12" pastel on Wallis sanded paper

Day 19 "Knob Meadow"

"Blessed are those who see beauty in humble places where others see nothing." Camille Pissaro
What is the color of sunshine or the color of shadows? Each is dependent upon one another and as long as the value is correct the colors can vary greatly.
"Knob Meadow Evening" was a demonstration piece that I created for my Saturday beginners pastel class at Artists Attic, but when I looked at the piece today, it was much too dark. I've lighten the colors and added some lavender.

"Knob Meadow Evening" demo    8" x 12" pastel

For the next piece in the series I experimented with color choices using more purple in the shadows and warm tans, oranges, gold and yellows in the sunshine areas. These colors are more expressionistic. And I left out the gate so the viewers eye can explore the foreground.

"Knob Meadow Evening Too"  8" x 12" pastel on LaCarte paper

Day 18 "The Way Home" demo

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls" - Piccaso
 "The Way Home" is a demonstration piece for my weekly pastel class for adults. Each time I create this piece for a class demo I change it and this time I increased the sunlight in the foreground and eliminated a shadow and tree area in the foreground  to focus the eye on the shaded gate area.

"The Way Home" demo   8" x 12"   pastel on LaCarte sanded paper    $185

Day 17 "Pisgah Pike"

Pisgah Pike is part of the Kentucky Scenic Highway system. It runs from Versailles Road through to Frankfort Pike and is truly a beautiful country road. 
My favorite spot is this corner beside the Pisgah Presbyterian Church. I've photographed and drawn it many time including this newest one first using an oil wash on the sanded paper before applying the pastel. 

"Pisgah Corner Early Morning"   8" x 12"   $285

Day 16 Corrections

Sunday is the day of rest, but pastels are so quick that I can make a correction in 15 minutes - that's not work. If the medium was oil paints-that would be another issue. The cloud pastel needed correcting.
I added color to the left side of the cloud and soften the top left corner which was too similar to the bottom of the cloud. And I took out the rainbow and added a few more lighter reflections in the water. I have to be careful with changes because too much can take the energy out of the piece.

"Magic Cloud"

Day 15 Olympia National Park

Following full disclosure principles, I have to admit I didn't create this pastel today because I taught a pastel workshop at Artists Attic-BTW a really fun group of people who produced some amazing pieces. So I didn't have time to create my "Pastel A Day" today, but this piece was created this past week. 
Some of the steps to create the workshop image, "Knob Meadow Evening" are posted in my pastel lessons blog at http://mcdonaldpastellessons.blogspot.com
And if you're reading my facebook page you'll see that my buddy and amazing writer/poet, Tanya Tyler, has composed a couple of poems to accompany some of my drawings, but not this yet. :-)

"Olympia National Park's Hoh River"   8" x 12"   pastel on textured pastel paper

Day 14 Magic Clouds

When I worked as a graphic designer more times than I like to remember, typos or graphic problems didn't show up until the piece was printed. Ugh! 
So as I look at today's piece after photographing it, I think, "why did I make the classic mistake of putting the cloud smack dab in the the middle of the drawing?" As my students often say when asked that same question, "Because that's the way it was in the photograph." I'm suppose to know better, but there it is! Too bad because I like the effect I got by doing an oil wash first on Uart sanded paper and then applying the pastel. This will be a good candidate for a redo.

"Magic Cloud"  8" x 12" pastel on sanded Uart paper

And the next time I"ll leave out the rainbow which is next to impossible to draw with pigment - rainbows are pure light!