"Scurrying Light and Shadows"

Pastel on Sanded Arches, 18x14


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7/10/2012 - Accepted to the Degas Pastel Society's Fourteenth Biennial National Exhibition.


I started this scene from the edge of San Pablo Parkway near the Mayo Clinic.  A small tidal stream passes under the parkway and through this bay of salt marsh edged by pine trees and hardwood.  The afternoon sun passed in and out of the broken clouds sending patches of light and shadow scurrying over the marsh.


This piece was done on 140 lb. Arches hot press to which I have added a coat of acrylic gesso and a coating of pumice gel.  In an earlier blog, I documented my process, but between the beginning of this piece and finishing it today, we have moved my wife's parents from Panama City to Jacksonville and gotten them mostly situated in a new apartment.  There is still much to be done for them, but hopefully I can get back to my studio.

"Marsh at Mayo" WIP

Pastel 18x14 on sanded Arches

Work in progress.

These are the steps I take in putting together a studio work in pastel.  I document this as much to help my own memory as to share my ideas.

1. Crop photo to proportions

2. Do a formal sketch to scale to correct design and verify proportions and placement of objects.

3. Transfer proportional drawing to Arches paper marked at the intersections of the register lines.  for this I use an orange pastel pencil.

4. I rough in the sky.  Then I add the deepest values with a dark purple NuPastel - #244 which I then wash in with denatured alcohol.

5. Design issues - I'm not liking the cedar tree on the right, and I'm having trouble getting the color and value to look "right."  I've rubbed out what I had and I'm debating about putting it back in or leaving it out altogether.  In the meantime, I will go on to the foreground and the water.

6. Most everything is in - just some details in the foreground to finish.  At this point, I want to give it a rest and come back to it in a few hours.