Landscape Pastel - Changing Fall Colour

Another view of that same foggy morning. 

In this experiment 

I added some bright pinks

 to the original colour scheme.

I simplified the composition 

in order to play off the wildflowers 

against the dark green trees

 while keeping the atmosphere

somewhat illusive.

Landscape Pastel - Exploring Colour

This experiment began with a trip to the art supply store.

I had been using a rather basic set of student colours and felt it was time upgrade!

Starting with a limited selection of Nupastel and Rembrandt colours, 
I chose some muted tones,

white, cream and flesh (light oxide red), 
warm and cool grays,soft blue, violet,
 an expanded range of greens (from turquoise to bluish green) 
and one pure green.

This selection was based on this scene I photographed one foggy morning.

A quick pastel sketch proved successful in establishing an interesting colour scheme.

The final picture was a joy to work on 

as good quality pastels are much easier to handle and allow layering of colour.

My photography skills are rather basic 

so some of the subtlety of colour is lost.

But it was a successful experiment 

in becoming more sensitive to the

"color in the landscape".

Pastels - Spontaneity

I've worked with many types of media from glass and porcelain to watercolour.
In each atmosphere is created through light and transparency.

Although pastels don't have the same transparency
 of those media,
 the juxtaposition of one pure colour 
next to another creates energy and vibrancy.

At the same time, layering of colours and textures and/or
 blending one colour brings subtlety into play.

But first and foremost pastels offer immediate results....
it's pure joy as a colorist 
to lay down one colour next to another 
and let them play off each other.

This inherent spontaneity allows the artist  to easily 
experiment with a variety of ideas....
which is fun .......
and that's what I hope 
my explorations are all  about!

In this example of the Presquile shoreline 

I was again studying the patterns found in nature.

Pastels -Landscape Painting - a beginning

Here is an early example of experimenting with pastels....

I immediately felt an affinity with the media. 

One of the main attractions for using pastels
is the ability to softly blend colours.
Whether it's the summery beach scene illustrated below
or a cold blustery winter's day 

I'm looking forward to learning how effective pastels can be in capturing 
that illusive atmosphere.

Presquile beach in summer

One of my favourite spots for drawing/painting from nature is 

Presqu'ile Provincial Park. 

Here is a conte drawing of campsite 38.

Nature Studies

Restricting myself to coloured pencils has proved limiting 

so I will continue my experiments by exploring other media.

However I will continue the general theme of "patterns in nature".