Sunset over Cley Marsh

Sunset over Cley Marsh. Pastel on mountboard 17" x 11"


Yesterday I attended another one of Penny Wilton's excellent workshops. Although I have tried some work with pastels I thought I would have a serious go at trying to achieve something in the medium.
I recently came across a web sight called Paint my Photograph http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/where photography and painting meets. Photographers can upload photos for artists to paint and artists upload their paintings for the photographers to see how their photo has been interpreted. Needles to say there is overlap with photographers who are also artists uploading to the sight. I have uploaded some of my own photos and have now uploaded my first painting using one of the photos someone else has uploaded.
The photo was of a view over Cley Marsh in Norfolk which I was instantly drawn to...I just thought it would be an ideal subject to interpret in pastel which I spent yesterday doing.
I am not given to doing landscapes, but I have to say I really enjoyed working on this one. It is done using a mixture of pastels and pastel pencils and is done on mountboard. To give the mountboard some tooth I first applied a layer of pumice gel which gave a slightly rough surface. I then applied a wash of burnt umber acrylic. Many pastel manuals suggest working on a darker backgrounf in much the same way as oil painters do so I thought I would give it a go and it seems to have worked. I think I will be doing more in the medium very soon.