Water's Path - Willochra Creek "Completed"

Water's Path - Willochra Creek
Pastel
Copyright Susan Borgas

'Completed' is part of the title but as I look at my monitor I see straight away a problem with the reflection where there is a sharp edge of light just to the left of the large curled root. I think some movement of water to take that straight edge off would benefit this area greatly.

Since my last posting the area of the shaded stones and tallish grass to the right has been completed. Also the remainder of the right hand side bank that is in light has now had dry leaf litter and grasses added. Water is finished other than a little adjustment on that light area that I spoke about. Twigs have been placed in the canopy as well as any other minor adjustments that needed doing.

There will be no further images of this painting on my blog although a new photo of the work will be placed on my website just prior to framing.

To make it easier to find the steps to "Water's Path - Willochra Creek" from past postings on this blog, the links are below.

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP"

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" two

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" three

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" four

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" five

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" six

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" seven

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" eight

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" nine

• Water's Path - Willochra Creek "WIP" ten

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technorati tags: landscape, large trees, pastel, water scene, WIP, art, artist

Mount Remarkable WIP seven "Finished"

Wrong wrong wrong!!! When I brought the branch down through the centre so that the limb was connecting to the mountain, it was placed in the wrong spot. With a gentle touch of a bristle brush I removed the layer of pastel then made repairs to the sky and mountain. I then lengthened the branch towards the right of the mountain. I think it now introduces the second large tree by leading the eye to it. If you compare to previous post I think this is much better?

Moving now to the base of the closes Eucalyptus Red Gum tree, it is time to finish that area. I used the side of broken pastels like a brush and scraped colour on; leaving some of the paper showing through. I pass over once more with another colour of similar value (the two used were a mid value of Cuput Mortuum and Scarlet Lake). I find my doing this the colours don’t look flat. Some parts of the colour will blend and yet in other spots it does not. I then start putting some of the smaller marks it that is needed to add depth to this area; using lights and darks. These old trees do have lots of nooks and crannies at the base and it is always my aim to bring them out.

Time to tweak the middle ground now. To the left of the largest tree I lightened off the smaller trees so that the large trunk would “pop” out more on the shadowed side. I worked where I thought it was necessary across the whole painting in an effort to bring the whole painting together.

I am not signing the painting yet as I am sure there will be another area that fresh eyes will consider it should be worked in one way or the other. Gee this painting has been a long winded affair and because of that, it will be good to start on something new.

Note: The purple looks very strong in the image behind the second largest tree where the mistletoe is hanging, this is not the case when standing in front of the real thing. All the same I do wonder why it is picking that area up like it does, thinking perhaps it could be toned down a bit.

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• WIP 1
• WIP 2
• WIP 3
• WIP 4
• WIP 5
• WIP 6
  

technorati tags: wip, pastel, art, artist, landscape, mt remarkable, mount remarkable

Ancient Red Gums near Melrose " FINISHED"

I have now signed this painting and it is ready to be framed.

So many artists mentioned to me that the trunk on the large tree to the right looked flat that I knew they had to be right. My eye tended to travel up the left hand side at a rush so a twiggy branch was added to slow things up a bit. I darkened the trunk slightly in from the left to help round it off but left some reflected light still coming in from that same side. Even though the timber under the "skin" of the tree trunk is red, the outer colour is very light after the bark has been discarded. I am a lot happier now than before with the final result.



And for those that enjoy a zoomed in section of the image.




Technorati tags: art, artist, landscape, blogger, Susan Borgas, work in progress, pastel, tree

Rawnsley Bluff "WIP" ten

Right from the start I do apologies for anyone that is on dial-up as there is four photos for you to have a look at plus I was supposed to post images yesterday. That didn’t happen as I have been spending some quality time with my daughter and her husband who visited for the weekend.

The reason that I am posting macro shots of this painting I want to show you that many of the marks applied are not as carefully applied as one might imagine in this painting. I will use everything and anything to get different effects. The sword play is using a long rigger that has plenty of paint on it; dotting dashing and swilling around on the canvas. Using a painting knife with a thin layer of paint on it I scrape across the surface of the canvas; once more leaving dots and dashes behind. Use the point of a knife to pick up two or three colours of paint then apply for larger stones. Use a short haired brush the same way as a knife to make stones. It then avoids the creek having the stones looking all the same as if rabbits have left there calling cards behind.

Once I am sure the paint is dry enough I am going to glaze a purple shadow up the bank of the creek on the bottom right. This will be a transparent glaze as I have used in different parts of the foreground already. I doubt that I will be posting it back here though will add it to my website.

So there you have it, until the last two recent paintings it has been some time since I have worked with oils. I am already thinking about my next painting, which will be a pastel landscape.









Technorati tags: art, artist, oil, landscape

Elder Range, Central Flinders "FINISHED"

The light isn’t the best today for taking a photo but did want to post today.

I feel that this is now finished though as usual the work will sit for some time before framing it just incase I see something that needs altering.

A close up shot will give you more idea of the texture in this painting. One thing I did do that may not be altogether noticeable I faded off the contrasting colours on the right side of the mountain so that it heads off into the distance more.






Technorati tags: oil, art, artist, landscape

Window with a View - WIP Completed

With all the excellent feed back that I have received I did make some adjustments. My heart wasn’t in my mouth while making these changes but my husbands was. Once done he could see that it was the right thing to do.

Ok what adjustments have been made!

* The base of the branch coming from the peppermint box tree was thickened plus some lights introduced into the foliage and limbs. That tree is what is throwing the shadow across the foreground.

* Some blades of grass were added to the foreground.

* I darkened the row of trees in the middle ground. Also I scraped some pale lemon across the paddock behind this same strip.

* I greyed off the reds in the stonework, especially the right hand side.

* The darks in and around the stonework was smudged with a mid value while the bottom lighter areas were scraped with a dark.


The full size digital photo I spent quite a bit of time editing the colour and values with a freshly calibrated graphics monitor where I couldn’t say the image looked different to the original painting. Of cause once the image is shrunk for the web, some changes do take place. All the same this image is much closer than previous postings.

So there you have it, signed, not sealed with a buyer yet but hopefully delivered one day soon. :D


Technorati tags: pastel, art, calibrate, monitor,

Flinders Range Wattle WIP (still life) Revisited

Using Art Spectrum Blue Grey I very gently scraped some colour on the porcelain handle and knob of the lid and now “fits” much better with the rest of scene. I just wish it would show up on the image that I am posting but instead you will have to take my word for it.

It was suggested to me that I put some shadow on the table cloth on the right hand side to take away the sharp edge. I did this and promptly brushed it off again. It didn’t do anything for me as I felt that I couldn’t justify why that shadow was there plus I personally liked this area as a restful part of the painting. What I ended up doing was blunt the sharp edge off by lightly blending some of the colour from the table into the wall and vice versa. I also added a gentle rise in the fabric as if the cloth had been disturbed and made untidy at some stage.

On the left of the table I did add some shadow against the wall plus a few faint light areas on the wall near the table. I also blurred the edge of the table in the same way as the right hand side.

Even though the adjustments are minor they still make a big difference with the final end of the work.

I would like to thank you for your patience; this long drawn out WIP is now signed and finished. My brain (right side of cause) is already working on a new painting and there will be no further revisiting of this one.

Cheers!!!!

Brachina Gorge (WIP) Completed

Well unless something comes to my notice that I need to make an alteration, this work is now finished.

The creek bed was actually a lot of fun to do.

I had stained the paper with darker pastels before putting the mid and lighter values over the top. Few flicks of grasses here and there plus a couple of fallen twigs. I could have put more of the fallen timber under the tree but thought it was busy enough already without additional debris.

The close up of the creek bed is blown up larger than the actual painting even though I have shrunk the pixels. It will give you a pretty good idea what the pastel marks look like



Now for the completed painting.

Willochra Creek, Melrose (Work in Progress) Completed

Well the big question has finely arrived, is it finished???

Smaller branches and twigs have been placed in the trees as well as the odd sky hole. I spent quite a bit of time completing the water. The bottom left corner was quickly completed as I didn’t want detail in this area though the pastel marks give a good impression of lots of litter on the ground.

For now it is more look than put. There maybe a tweak here and there but nothing major with no further posting on the blog with this work. When I get a chance I will organize a pdf file of this painting as a Work in Progress, which then can be downloaded at my website.



Thought you might like to see a close up of the stones under the water.

Butterfly Pastel "work in progress" Completed

I have now reached my “More look than put” stage. I am undecided if I should do anymore work on the foreground or leave it as it is. I really don’t want to draw anymore attention to it so I am thinking the less it is worked the better.

I did touch up the two bottom daisies where tone was bugging me between petals. I also added more blue to the shadow on the bottom daisy.

The remainder of the butterfly was completed. I concentrated on light showing through the wings to bring them to life. Without the light they tend to be flat in colour.

The body of the butterfly I scraped the merest touch of pastel to depict hair. This helped to give the body more contour as well.

Mmmmmm….. more look than put!!! Is it finished? The next posting will be on my website, which will show changes that are done, if any at all.

Central Flinders in Pastel "part two"

Well I think this pastel painting is nearly finished. There are usually some adjustments to be made and sure this one will be no different as the days pass.