Back to the big paper... make it Canson Watercolor

"Clearing" 12 x 18 Pastel on Paper
Click here to buy print:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nikihilsabeck/art/6314102-1-clearing-pastel

I used to have a brave motto for myself when it came to painting: paint big or go home. If I had to resort to something as small as 9 x 12, it was because I was out of the bigger stuff.

In recent months, particularly once I began painting regularly, I've had to cut my paintings down in size. Between time constraints, tiredness, and lack of space, I could only go for the big paper or canvas when I got the rare opportunity to spend a few hours painting at a time.

Painting small has its benefits-- it takes less time (in theory at least), and doesn't require as much energy for me to cover the paper with the media. It has a big drawback for me too though: I end up painting much tighter than I originally intend to, and end up squinting over that small paper or canvas, trying to get my details straight.

With this issue in mind, I recently bought a pad of Canson watercolor paper in the 11 x 15 size (on sale, of course). I was lucky enough to have a couple of large pieces of cardboard on hand to use as paintboards, and decided to try the chalk pastel and water combination on the Canson paper. This resulted in the piece above, a scene of a clearing in the land and water at one of the Everglades parks in Florida. The pastel blends more easily with the water on the Canson paper, and becomes almost like a tempera paint in consistency. It doesn't grip as well as the Arches Cold Press, but dries more quickly and has a smooth finish. I'm hoping to go back to painting on the bigger paper more often for my daily paintings, as it was so much more comfortable for me to keep my subject matter loose and focus more on the joy of spreading the media around on the paper.

I did struggle with the reflections in the water on this one... more on reflections in the next post, as the reflection is the focus in the next painting I'll be adding...

To see more paintings of places, click here:
http://artbynikihilsabeck.blogspot.com/p/merry-weather-places.html

To read my latest Red Bubble journal on sharing yourself as an artist (rather than copying others), click here:
http://artbynikihilsabeck.blogspot.com/p/writer-with-painting-problem-written.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Painting Cats

Image
"The Bookeeper" Click here to view auction After many years of painting cats, I've learned a few things.  Every time I start a new cat painting, it follows its own unique path, bringing challenges that I don't seem to face when I paint my more traditional material (landscapes, birds, floral and botanical pieces, etc.) For example, cats don't stay put for too long (unless they're asleep, and even then they'll often stretch and change positions when you're least expecting it).  To combat this challenge, I end up working mostly from photographs.  That means adjusting the proportions, since the camera angle causes some distortion depending on the position and location of the cat. "Eye Contact" Oil Pastel Not for Sale "Side Glance" Oil Pastel Available on Etsy  One of the reasons cats are enjoyable to paint is that they have strong facial expressions.  When I'm painting a cat, I get so focused on rendering the cat
Read more

A Hot Mess of Water Lilies!

Image
"Balboa Water Lilies" 9 x 12 Chalk Pastel on Paper Click here to view large or purchase So, every time I take great photos to paint later it turns into a learning experience for me. We took a little day trip in September down to Balboa Park in San Diego, California.  There wasn't much left of the water lilies after some recent vandalism (a bunch of geniuses decided to have a water gun fight and ended up destroying the lilypond).  It was a strangely hot day for downtown San Diego-- part of a series of heat waves that dogged me throughout the last months of my pregnancy.  I was thrilled to get some pretty photos while down there, particularly of the lilypads and turtles. I love to paint water, but I forget how time consuming it can be.  There are lots of layers involved, and I ended up using fixative as I layered in the lights and darks in this piece.  I also didn't anticipate how difficult it is to depict those peaceful, floating lilypads.  After a couple of
Read more

Inspired by Light (Pastels on Canvas)

Image
"Morning Glow" 12 x 16 Chalk Pastel on Flat Canvas Email nicolehilsabeck@yahoo.com if interested in purchasing Been trying to get back into the daily painting routine, which for me either means a small painting a day, or a larger painting spread over two days.  It's a bit of a challenge with the growing belly and a very inquisitive firstborn, but I was lucky enough to get a little extra inspiration from an odd source: Sunday's eclipse. We have beautiful views of the canyon and hills behind us, and I watched the light change on this hill as the sunlight waned throughout the course of the eclipse.  I noted how the normally stunning lights and shadows on this hill were blunted by the general darkening (as opposed to the usual sunrise or sunset glow).  I thought I would be a little more appreciative of those lights and darks and try a painting of the trees and hills the next morning. I completed this painting in several steps, having struggled a little recentl
Read more