11"x14" Soft Pastel on U Art paper
I had started this work on location during the "Fresh Paint" plein air competition in Amana, IA last year. When I dug it out from a pile of pastel papers a few days ago, I thought....hmmm....love the sky but HATE the foreground.
What I love about the pastel medium is how easy it can be to "change" something if you don't like a certain look. I had painted in a wooden fence that dominated the front lower right of this work. It was competing with the large tree in the middle plane, which made the entire painting seem busy, busy, busy........no place for the mind to understand what drew me to this spot in the first place.
Taking a piece of pipe insulation I had cut to be around an inch & a half long, I rubbed out as much pastel as possible from the area. Because this work is on slightly sanded (rough textured) surface, there was enough "tooth" ,as pastelists call it, left that i was able to emphasize the prairie grass growing in the foreground by adding stroke after stroke of fresh color.
If you look close enough, you'll notice the "RED" underpainting too. I love using a rust color as a first layer of color in a landscape. The warm undertone always makes cool greens & blues look rich in hue.
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