Every few months, The Pastel Journal hosts a contest called "Creative Spark". The journal presents a challenge in pastel painting and then requests readers to submit images with an explanation of how they handle the subject. In January, the subject was "Grappling with Grays". The Matriarch won "Honorable Mention" and is shown on The Pastel Journal's Blog. My comments...
"I use grays in paintings to give that extra "zing" to the focal colors. Often I will choose a gray that is the visual compliment (not necessarily the mixing compliment) of the focal color. I try to incorporate a full spectrum of warm and cool grays by either glazing, applying the pigments adjacent to each other (which allows the eye to visually mix the colors) or just choosing a neutralized pigment to work as a "gray". I use grays (choosing either a warm or cool, not usually a neutral) for the underpainting or as a harmonizing color to give unity to a painting. I believe using distinctive " grays" add more punch to the pure pigments used in moderation."
3 comments:
Congratulations, Ariel. I love your explanation of using gray. I learned a lot reading your reasoning for color choices. The Matriarch is a fine piece!
Congratulations! Your pastels are amazing. Glad you got some professional recognition. (Rather than just my inexperienced drooling!)
Love the way you captured the roughness of the skin texture and the close crop in this piece. Really nice!
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