Finally Getting Going

It sure has taken me awhile to write again after the first post! After the holidays we started thinking about moving again, which led up to putting our house on the market. Phew, it takes up a lot of time! But, having gotten things where they should be for now, I can get back to painting! I have done a few things this winter, mostly small pencil drawings of bugs and forest floors.














oil ...................................................pastel

Today I thought I would take out some paintings that I started in the fall but haven't finished. They all need a little something more. (Can be a painting's death!) One technique I have tried in the past for solving problems in oil painting, is to do a pastel of the same thing. Here is a good example of how clearly you can see what is wrong in the oil by looking at the pastel.

In looking at these two, oil on the left and pastel on the right, I see right away the choice of more yellow in the tree is better in the pastel, contrasting more with the marsh behind, and the shadow it creates on the road a more interesting shape. But, the background trees are more interesting in the oil. The road has better texture in the pastel, but I always have to worry about putting in too much detail with pastel.

Today I am going to try using the new colour shapers I bought to see if they produce a less detailed look, but are easier to use than painting with palette knife. Let me know your thoughts about oil vs. pastels.