Illusions of depth

Lavender Cascade

Pastel, 18X24

Yes, an underpainting serves as a fundamental purpose, to set the values, and overall color, tone and temperature of a painting. Used beyond the rudiment purpose, underpainting can enhance the energy and interest in a painting, creating a layered effect and the illusion of depth and volume.

Over the past year, I have been exploring the possibilities of underpainting in watercolor and applying it to pastel landscapes...some small, others much larger as this one is. The tone, value, and color are established in watercolor, allowing for the watercolor to do what it does best...create a wonderful mingle of little explosive color blossoms. Then, pastel is applied, allowing for some of the subtle watercolor creation to show through, enhancing the illusion of air and space.

I will have 10 or so of these pastel landscapes on exhibit at Kybecca September 1st through October 31st.

Ambiguity

Beginning the new year, my satisfaction has waned with the ultra-real paintings...those in which all the information is given. Where else in life is all the information detailed perfectly in order for you to exactly see the situation, draw the right conclusions and make the right decisions, and predict the future responses?...almost never...Similarly to the ambiguity in life situations and the excitement of not always knowing the outcome, curiosity and intrigue is created through an abstract arrangement of elements...visual elements in a painting that allow for exploration and personal interpretation.

For me, however, there is a point where patience is lost to the vague ambiguity, as is the case with completely abstracted paintings. Visually, I prefer some representation, allowing for degrees of abstraction in shape, color and edges. I need a few answers, some plan...some information...but not everything.

Untitled (for now), Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord, 16x20

And so, I find myself drawn to these pastel landscapes, responding to the watercolor foundation; those accidents that occur naturally when water and pigment react to the dry, pumiced surface of clay. Subjects still 'representative' but not quite fully developed, interpreted...standing just outside the rows of vines...seeing the vines, but not every leaf...appreciating the balance between the order and disorder of things...given just enough information to draw my own conclusions.

Poetic energy of underpainting

In pastel, my comfort in painting leans toward what I would term "ultra-realism" . I typically work spatially completing section by section, piecing together lines and shapes, that when completed, works as a whole.

Challenging myself for a looser interpretation (as I often see a landscape), I wanted, instead, to respond to the poetry of the underpainting, the poetry of shapes and mingled color. I began on white (which I almost never do) ampersand pastelbord that can handle alot of water, pigment, and pastel. Considering the harmony color, temperature, and with the goal of creating luminous contrasts of blue and gold, I began to add color...no worries about mess, details or representation, simply looking for a response to the energy of the landscape.

The watercolor "underpainting"

As a watercolorist, I found myself tempted to approach this underpainting as I would a finished watercolor, working light to dark, wet-into-wet, glazing layers...but then this will be a pastel, on pastelbord. The underpainting will only serve to create a base (mostly covered with pastel) of warmth and value and give direction to the pastel that will come later... hopefully a loosely interpreted poetic landscape.

The "later"... untitled

Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord

9X12