Pastel Plein Air Painting, Rest Stop

I painted a plein air pastel while Gene was biking 49 miles day before yesterday. There is a very nice rest stop between Hurley and Deming with a nice picnic area with covered tables. It was cloudy so I just sat on the tailgate of the pickup. I taped the board, a new surface - Richeson's Unison Hardboard Premium Pastel Surface, to a piece of Foamcore like I did the Cholla Blooms. When finished, I just covered this with another piece of Foamcore and secured this with masking tape. I usually just clip them together which is neater and easier to open, but I had no clips. This is one of the easiest ways to carry finished pastels around and to store them. You can put several paintings on paper between two pieces of foam core with glassine between the paintings. (Interesting definition of glassine on Wikipedia.)

Rest Stop
Pastel Plein Air, 9 x 12 inches

I didn't take any photos while I painted and had only one lady and some kids stop to see what I was painting. The mom said, "Oh look, someone is painting or drawing." The son, about 10 years old said, "She is using pastels," in a very stern voice. She asked how long I had been painting and I told her on this painting about two minutes but otherwise most of my life. Ha.

The Richeson board is somewhat like Pastelbord, but a more textured surface. It is perhaps lighter weight as well. I put the sky on about 4 times, wiping it off with a towel and then spreading it around with water and a brush. I'm pretty satisfied with it now. In the fist couple of attempts, the texture of the board made the sky look very stormy and violent instead of just cloudy. Using water filled the tooth of the paper with the darker sky color. The board was a dark burgundy color so I felt that the board shouldn't show through. In the foreground green grass, the burgundy acts as a nice complement and I left it to peek through the grasses. Red in the green always looks more natural.



This photo is not quite the same angle I was painting and the sky had cleared somewhat. The spot in the sky is something in my camera. I noticed it some time back and wonder if it has been there since the camera was new or has appeared after my rough handling of the camera. Hmmm. I need to go check some of my first photos.