Victorian Rooftop

This is my submission for the current Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. As is often the case with the DSFDF challenge, this is something I would never have chosen to paint (if you ever see me painting a building, you can assume it wasn’t my idea). I dread painting windows, columns, staircases, etc., so it was with a fair amount of reluctance that I approached this painting. Luckily, I was able to paint it fairly quickly.

2.75" x 5.5"

Soft Pastels on Paper

I had a tiny piece of La Carte paper (a sample that came in the box with my Sennelier pastels) which I decided to use for this piece. I cropped the photo reference to minimize the number of windows I would have to paint. I started out drawing with a pastel pencil, but quickly realized I was going to have to use a regular drawing pencil and a ruler if I were to achieve a decent level of accuracy. Once the drawing was completed, the painting part was actually fun.

Choir

This one was really fun to paint. I wanted to keep it somewhat loose, so I tried very hard not to obsess about detail. It took me quite a while to get the results I wanted, but it was worth it. I'm so happy with the way it turned out!

"Choir"

10" x 8"

Soft Pastel on Suede Matboard

Jefferson Memorial

Our current challenge on the Different Strokes From Different Folks blog is painting the Jefferson Memorial at night. I was happy to try my hand at this, as I think pastels are perfect for this sort of painting. I blocked in the shapes and refined from there, finishing the painting relatively quickly. Unfortunately, I've spent many more hours photographing and playing with it in Photoshop than I did painting it, and I still can't seem to get the colors to show up accurately. It is more vibrant in person, but this is as close as I can get to the original.

5"x7"

Soft Pastels on Suede Matboard