Painting with Pastels

When you block in the underpainting using this brilliant color method, exaggerate every color—for example, paint a dull beige or brown in a shocking orange. A hint of pink becomes a bright pink; a soft yellow-green should be underpainted in lime. It’s always easier to mute a strong or intense color than it is to intensify a dull color, so start with brilliance!

When you’re working on a subject that’s a bit dull, or a subject that has one dominant color, such as a mass of green trees, a complementary color underpainting adds sparkle. Begin with a single sketch, then block in the large shapes in complementary colors.

Try picking out about twenty sticks in the color scheme you’ve chosen for a painting. As you work, if you feel you need an additional color, see if it’s possible to use a stick of the correct value and temperature instead. Most pastel artists have hundreds of pastels but use only thirty or even fewer per painting.

Orange and blue or yellow and violet are good pair choices for landscape paintings.

creating a painting based on complementary colors. That doesn’t mean every color must be a pure color (red, blue or yellow), but rather in the same color family.

Color temperature is also more important than the correct color.

matter how many pastels you have, sooner or later you’ll be working on a painting and find yourself without the exact color. Value is more important than color, though, so try a pastel of the correct value even if it’s the wrong color. You may be amazed and pleased at the result.

When you first look at a painting, where does your eye go? Usually, the eye will go to one or more of the following:
• The strongest contrast of dark and light values
• The area of greatest detail
• The juxtaposition of strong complements
• The convergence of diagonal lines

it’s a beautiful tree in a field, then everything you do in the course of the painting should be done to emphasize the tree, the beauty of its lines, the elegance of the foliage and the way the light helps to define its form.