I am now ready to start my painting. Thanks for helping me pick a photo for subject. I have decided to use pastels because the lack of mixing makes me work more loosely and the paintings often come out better.
It has occurred to me that a lot of you may not get the way a painting is made. Like most things it's a series of choices. The choices reveal a lot about the painter's personality, and sometimes convey agenda, conscious or unconsciously.
We've chosen the subject and I have chosen the pastel medium. Pastels are a low binder/low vehicle medium. They are very powdery - think loose eyeshadow. I like to work on paper with a tooth. The paper I use resembles sandpaper but is a paper that's been coated with a textured product. It leaves a sandpaper like finish.
My first problem comes with the paper size. Mt support board is smaller than the paper. I could just tape it down but instead I found a piece of cardboard that with the support behind it will be strong enough. Then I realized the paper and the photo did not share aspect ratio. Below you can see where I have set up the paper on the cardboard and attached that to the rigid support. I marked the entirety off with tape to delineate the area matching the approximate aspect ratio. The two areas on either side I can use to check the pastel color and value (lightness/darkness of a particular color; sort of a greyscale for color).
It has occurred to me that a lot of you may not get the way a painting is made. Like most things it's a series of choices. The choices reveal a lot about the painter's personality, and sometimes convey agenda, conscious or unconsciously.
We've chosen the subject and I have chosen the pastel medium. Pastels are a low binder/low vehicle medium. They are very powdery - think loose eyeshadow. I like to work on paper with a tooth. The paper I use resembles sandpaper but is a paper that's been coated with a textured product. It leaves a sandpaper like finish.
My first problem comes with the paper size. Mt support board is smaller than the paper. I could just tape it down but instead I found a piece of cardboard that with the support behind it will be strong enough. Then I realized the paper and the photo did not share aspect ratio. Below you can see where I have set up the paper on the cardboard and attached that to the rigid support. I marked the entirety off with tape to delineate the area matching the approximate aspect ratio. The two areas on either side I can use to check the pastel color and value (lightness/darkness of a particular color; sort of a greyscale for color).
