Sundown, Pastel from a Photo

This little pastel painting is from a photo I took a few years ago here in New Mexico.  Artists have to be careful when using a photo reference.  In this case, the shadow areas were very dark.  The mountain and houses were almost in silhouette.  In real life they wouldn't be that way unless it was almost dark.

I used the computer to lighten up the shadows.  The painting is only 8 x 8 inches so there couldn't be too much detail in the shadows either.  I like my compromise.  Plein air painting (outside) has helped me to see how photos can flatten and put things out of sync.

I started on a white piece of Pastelcard.  I used pastel and wet it with water and let it drip.  I planned on using the drips in the foreground, but the painting was small and didn't have much foreground.

Sundown

Pastel on Pastelcard

8 x 8 inches

I received some compliments on my sketch of the tree in the previous post.  It was a fairly accurate sketch of the tree.  I thought you might like to see a photo of the tree and big rock.

It was good to get out the pastels today.  It was a bit warm, got up to about 80 degrees.  I painted in the garage, out of the sun and wind.  Gene rode his trike to Eagle Nest.  He rode 21 miles.  He has been riding about 10-12 miles so he was pretty tired.  I went to pick him up and we had a glass of wine at the Saloon.  They have a couple of recliner couches in the back so we sat and relaxed for a while.  Nice.

We stopped in there a while back to see if they were open and if the restaurant was open.  The hostess/waitress said they were, but to be sure and call before we came as they sometimes run out of food.  Hmmm.

We will see what tomorrow brings.