Day 3 - local wildlife

 

"High Meadow Grazing"

DAY 3 of 30 in 30

These elk were grazing pretty far away, from my back deck, but I got out the PS900 camera and made a stretch across the meadow and captured them fairly distinctly.  I combined 2 photos to paint this one is PAN PASTELS and pastel pencil on Kitty Wallis sanded pastel paper.  

Here are the quick steps - when using Pan Pastel, 

the underpainting part goes very fast.

Snow Leopard

"Snow Leopard"

9" x 12"

Kitty Wallis sanded pastel paper

pan pastel, sticks and pencil pastel 

Short process photos follow...

 Source photo used by Kyle Hanson/Unsplash

Making the Most Out of a Photo

 While living 'country side' I often traveled country roads - looking for resource material for painting.  This painting has been done twice before. Why?  I loved the challenge of creating believable subjects.

Max and Major are two Belgian Draft horses - belonging to a local farmer - nearby where we lived in Kansas.  Having new Pan Pastels I have been looking for a subject - near and dear to my heart, and here was a photo that I have used before.  How could I improve it?  How could I paint it so I felt I had done my best rendition of the mood I felt when I took the photo?  Here is the final piece.  I loved how it turned out.  Kansas skies can be very colorless and bright, so one thing I did was created a believable sky beyond what I caught in the photo.

"Headed for the Barn"

9" x 12" Pan Pastel and pastel pencils

on Uart sanded paper

New Pastel Painting

"In the Still of the Forest Night"

Pan Pastel and pastel pencils

9" x 12"

on Uart 600 grit charcoal sanded paper

(deer image reference - compliments of Diane Epstein)

Merry Christmas and have a healthy New Year!