Setting Up

I found myself enjoying the feeling of nupastels.  They are on the hard end of soft pastels and come in long thin square sticks.  I like to use them because I love to draw above all and I get the chance to experiment with line and and shape.  I started this painting with a watercolor under painting in compliments.  I tend to cover up most of my original painting, so why do it?  It loosens me up.  It is rhythmic and relaxing and gets me on the map.  So when I place that first mark down with soft pastel it doesn't stand alone.  It is a mark that feels right or doesn't because of what is already down in the under painting.  Silly, maybe, but it is my process of warming up to the surface and feeling my way through.  It works for me.  Sometimes I just lay it down with strong strokes in a very alla prima style, but today I love tickling the paper and let line build slowly and securely.  It is a different style that is directly related to me and my personal feeling about the journey from start to finish.

"Setting Up", 12x12 soft pastels on wallis paper

Chemers Gallery
17300 Seventeenth Street, Suite G, Tustin, CA 92780
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