Plein-air pastels

  Plein-air pastels
 This is one of the many pastel paintings that I have done on site. Kings Beach on the Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia. Plein-air painting is exciting and annoying and all the adjectives you can muster. Bottom line is I love it.

There is so much information for any painter out there in the field. The colours are richer and more subtle than any photo will ever show. For pastellists its magic as our colours are mostly ready to use. We have the option to mix or layer colour and can build a painting far quicker than wet media. This has advantages such as the light not moving to far along. 

In fact painting from photos now is a chore for me. The information I need to make a good painting is missing. The darks' are too dark almost black. Shadows are dense and tone unreadable. The light areas are bleached out and difficult to read/ find the correct tone let alone colour.

Now while this sounds like a winge session its not supposed to be.  There is an advantage to us pastellists though. As we paint plein-air we have an understanding and knowledge of tone and colour in life and can apply this to the photo reference.

So if you have not tried painting plein-air, make a time to try it. Hook up with a friend and go painting or find a workshop showing you how to go about it. If it helps I have a plein-air video coming soon which explains and demonstrates all aspects. As a heads up it is a beach scene which includes water,sand treeline and buildings in a representational style.

This form of painting is invaluable to your collection of information and growth as an artist. What you record on paper, in your mind, in your heart, will stay with you far longer than a photo ever will.

Give it a try, let me know how you get on. Take pastel out into the world and #MakingPastelHappen
​Happy Days, Karol

PS If you would like to put your name on a list of expression of interest, for the release of the video please use this button. 

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Plein-air Video