October Colour

A few outdoor sketches

celebrating fall colour.

Again working with pastel pencils

and a limited palette.....

trying to simplify the equipment!

 

Remnants of the Past

Remnant of the Canadian Shield - Leslie Snider

Many walking trails radiate from Kingston.

These sections of the K&P trail 

feature a couple of interesting

 geological features.

The first peaks out across grassy fields

 and is an ancient remnant of the Canadian Shield. 

Limestone Outcrop - Leslie Snider

This second pastel sketch 

features one of many limestone outcrops.

More info here:

 

Winter Trees

Hanging On  - Pastel - Leslie Snider

 

 

 

A winter walk in Lemoine Point, Kingston looks like this,

The leaves of a young maple stubbornly refusing to drop.

The moody scene inspired my pastel.

Summer Textures - Watercolour/ Mixed Media

As July becomes August 

the intense summer light has peaked.

Around the edges of tree tops and bushes

 the lush foliage is beginning to

 to fade and curl back .

Hints of rich autumn colour contrast 

with the spare branches of old growth trees.

 

Old Growth Forest at it's peak

 

Woodland studies

 

Watercolour studies

Positive / Negative Space

This poor old bush struggling for survival, 

at first appeared to be a rather uninspiring subject. 

However after some cropping 

and further thought 

I started to see an idea emerge.....

the interplay of positive /negative use of space.

In the top half of the sketch 

I used the traditional 

light (leaves) against dark (background).

While on the bottom half 

the shadowy darks play against the light reflections.

I worked on a midtone pastel paper 

with watercolour pencils and crayons 

to enhance the contrast.

Although as I review this post
I think perhaps the cropped photo 
is more successful than the sketch.
In the photo the bright greens 
allow the top to be slightly more dominant 
giving the eye a place to rest 
whereas in the sketch
both halves are equally strong
making it somewhat unsettling.

Such is life!

Morning Light

Two more experiments 

(in pastel) 

of light filtering through trees.

This first is taken from a sketch based on an early morning walk.

Edge of the field in morning light.

In this detail 

you can see why I like pastel. 

It's very effective in trying to capture

 ...atmosphere.

If you watch a sunrise  (here in Southern Ontario) 

at certain times of the year (spring and fall)

you will often see the sky 

change from a dark, clear, night sky 

to one with a variety of soft, cool /warm variations.

As the sun rises and warms the air

 clouds forms high in the sky

while mists and fog form close to the ground

disappearing as quickly as they appear.

Rising Mist