Winged Effigy: TO FREE MYSELF

I am working on this piece in pastels. I haven't working in pastel, or anything, for a while. Pastels force me to make bolder decisions than oils because with oils I can try to mix color to a muddy end, and I can scrape and scrape of the paint. Pastel paper will only accept a certain amount of pigment depending on how much tooth it has.

I am talking about soft versus oil pastels. But soft pastels come in various forms and degrees of hardness. My hardest pastels are pastel pencils. I use them to sketch in the basic shapes. My "Rembrandt" brand pastels are medium in hardness. And then I have a a large box of Sennelier pastels and a motley assortment of other really fine and soft pastels.

For some reason dark pastels are difficult to make. I have a few that I very jealously guard.

Working in pastel, for me, is an interesting combination of drawing and painting. In a class once I heard somewhat relate a philosophy I think they attributed to Wolf Kahn. This was that color was less important than value.

As you see above, value is easy to think of in grey scale. But if you look at the red underneath the grey you can see that red (or any color) can also go from dark to light. I interpret the statement as saying that as long as you stay within the correct value range you can play with the color.

It's easier to say it than it is to do it. Freedom in color is something I fight with constantly. And, that battle is what painting is about for me as a process. It is the attempt to free myself from preconceptions. To Free Myself.

This last picture is the piece at the end of my first session.

Monday, August 13, 2012

TO FREE MYSELF