Daily Pastel Paintings

Pastel Painting: Summer Evening

Summer Evening, 17 x 17 cm pastel an art grade sand paper.

Available on Etsy

Here is todays painting and how I painted it. I wanted this painting to be a little bit dark but golden sunny at the same time. So I painted the entire pastel paper in yellow ochre. This is my empty canvas for this painting.

Fisher400 pastel paper painted in yellow ochre.

I made my own yellow ochre by mixing tiny touch of red and payne's gray to yellow acrylic paint. Here is my little Nutella jar filled with the mixed paint. Making excuses to eat more Nutella here :)))

Mixed yellow ochre in tiny Nutella jar.

I started with a rough sketch using a charcoal stick. I planned a high horizon with a large foreground. The sky is not very big so I will paint a very simple blue sky. I will add at least 3 planes to the painting. Distant hills or trees, Closer trees/bushes, foreground greens and the big tree on the right.

Initial sketch and charcoal blocking.

After the initial sketch I start putting on different colors. I usually start with darks. Then I let myself go. I choose a pastel and I make a very small mark. If I think that the color and its value is ok, I continue painting with it. If I use a pastel, I try to make marks with it throughout the painting.

Building up the painting.

I am now very close to the final painting. I will check it after I take a long break. My eyes get used the the painting now so it is now very hard for me to see mistakes.