Expanded Digital Edition Content
DEMONSTRATION: Starting With Big Color Blocks
Step 1
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Step 3
Joyce uses the first layers of pastel (Mount Vision Pastels) to make large abstract shapes on a 24 x 36-inch Ampersand Pastelbord. She paints the water at the same time as she paints the sky. “Water usually reflects what’s in the sky, so while I have that color in my hand, I paint both. I vary my strokes for water and make the marks more horizontal, as water moves horizontally.” She reflects the cloud shapes in the water with long dark side strokes using the whole side of a Mount Vision Pastel stick.
She then blends the edges, softening the light and making the tooth ready to receive more pastel. “Pastel is the best medium for capturing dramatic lighting effects because you can layer light over dark and scumble colors across each other without mixing them,” she says.
She scumbles clouds across the bright skies, then it’s time to add the darks, such as the horizon line and the shoreline. At the horizon line, she indicates that there are two parts of an island that was split by a hurricane.
Step 4 Next, the artist adds the sea foam and waves. Using horizontal side strokes of the pastel stick, she creates the illusion of clouds reflected on the water. She refines edges but saves detail work for the birds. “I’m endlessly inspired by the ever-changing light and landscape,” she says. “We artists are lucky to be able to capture this place, at this moment. We are seeing history unfold before us.”
Sandpiper’s Sunset 2021, pastel, 24 x 36 in. Studio
August-September 2021 / www.outdoorpainter.com
