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| 'Surrounded' 18x24 pastel ©Karen Margulis click here to purchase on Etsy $350 |
So I hoped my class wouldn't be too mad at me for assigning a day to paint large! I was also hopeful that they would value this exercise! I was excited to see everyone come to class with their 18x24 paper attached to big pieces of foamcore. This was going to be fun!
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| 2.5 x 3.5 quick color study |
I have a very talented group of artists and I had faith in them. I knew that they would do well with a larger scale painting. Some had never painted larger than 8x10. I was right. Midway through the class the paintings were taking shape and looking great. And within an hour and a half, most were just about finished. The paintings were awesome and I think I have some big painting converts! Here are some of the tips we discussed:
TIPS FOR PAINTING LARGE
- Planning is the key! Don’t begin painting without a plan: concept and black & white thumbnail, then color choices.
- Choose your palette in advance.
- Do a small color study to test your palette
- HAVE NO FEAR!
- Start with an underpainting to get a head start and use less pastel. I like Mount Vision pastels for large painting block-in.
- START BIG: paint the big shapes first. Keep things big and simple for as long as possible.
- Save the details (decoration) for the end
- MOVE! Allow your arm and whole body to get into the painting. Think Big bold strokes.
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| Permission to stop after about 20 minutes |
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| Evaluating the painting and writing down the changes to make |
I have not addressed the mechanics of painting large pastel paintings.....what kind of support? To mount or not to mount? How to frame? I am compiling information for a future post so I'd love to hear from you large scale pastelists! Please share your tips if you'd like!
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| A hard working and talented group of artists! |
2 comments:
Hi Karen,
Do you mean that you use Mount Visions for the underpainting? With alcohol? I love Mount Visions but use Nupastels or Rembrandts for the underpainting.
Thanks,
Maggie Smith
I wish I could paint large like that again. I remember in the early 90s doing a series of big cats on full sheet pieces of velour board, and other large pastels on full sheets of Canson Mi-Tientes. I loved working that large. No longer possible for space and health considerations, I might do that again someday depending on situation and weather.
The family history exercise sounds like it was a hit. Though you were lucky if none of your students were estranged from their families. Sometimes, especially for GBLT students, that kind of assignment is impossible.
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