lilypads, pastel, sunset, waterlilies - July 25, 2018

Respite At Sunset

There was a technicolor of light that evening. The tiny tree frogs were croaking in unison and I could feel the slightest breeze on my face. I stood out and reflected upon the stressful day, while only the reflection of the sunset, trees and grasses stared back at me. I come back to the pond often at this time and soon my worries are floating out there with the lily pads.

I sketched out a few quick thumbnails in my little sketchbook and snapped some photos. But it was evening and I had dinner to cook, laundry to do and children to feed. So ... my sunset painting would have to wait.

Respite at Sunset

Many days later, I finally was able to sit down and paint my little sketch. I first put down a lovely red wash of pastel mixed with Gamsol (solvent like turpentine but with no fumes) and let it dry on my sanded, textured Uart paper.

Once I started laying in my greens-- olive, chartreuse, golden-green and rusts-- the painting began to sing! The colors of the sunset, all those beautiful colors, swirled around the lily pads and floated gently on the paper. The golden light peeking in between the silhouettes of trees, were reflected in the upper most portion of my painting. The waterlilies I painted soft pink and cream, glowing in the last bits of the evening sun.

In the way of artistic license, I added several more liliypads and glided them across the pond to guide the viewer across the scene. I painted a little more silhouette of the trees so that the golden light was just barely there. I elongated the grasses and made them taller on the left, so that the viewer's eye would travel the water at the edge of the paper, like a path to follow.

I was pleasantly surprised when I sold the painting very quickly. I was happy too to know it touched the buyer in the same way the scene moved me that sunset.

“Respite at Sunset” 11” x 14” Pastel on paper.

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