Along with a fascination with the ocean’s ebb and movement, pastel artist Jeanne Rosier Smith is equally captivated by the shore’s sand dunes. Get her skilled perception on portray these “waves” of sandy soil.
By Jeanne Rosier Smith
This text seems within the Summer time 2024 concern of Pastel Journal. Get the total concern HERE.
Undulating, cresting and curving on the fringe of ocean or lake, sand dunes mimic the transferring water simply past them. In truth, the dunes are additionally transferring, simply not as rapidly or clearly because the waves. Whereas this makes them extra cooperative portray topics, they nonetheless pose their very own challenges. Low-lying sundrenched grass and sand would possibly, at first look, appear to be a tricky climb, however listed below are 15 suggestions which have made the dunes one in every of my favourite ongoing portray topics. Most of the following tips apply to work in any medium.
Picture References
Since I don’t dwell on the shore, I typically depend on picture references once I’m portray. Whereas they’re a robust device for catching compositional fodder, they’re far much less dependable for shade and worth. (They make sand shadows too darkish and blue, and sunny areas too flat and white). Portray from life at any time when I get the possibility jogs my memory of the dunes’ true values and colours—and offers me a greater sense of how one can alter my pictures digitally for a extra lifelike interpretation.
Composition
Use mild strategically. Dunes exhibit most at dawn and sundown, when their curves throw shadows and catch highlights.
Compose dunes utilizing worth shapes fairly than land plenty.
Decrease your standpoint to search out diagonals and to extend focal drama, as in Basking in Mild.
Anchor your composition with grasses; their windblown shapes supply shade, distinction and linear selection.
Underpainting (in Pastel)
Use cool reds beneath darkish dune grasses, as in Underpainting (beneath). They complement layered greens and turn into native shade for the dried grasses that kind the dune base.
Use heat, mild oranges and yellows beneath sunny patches of dune grass, as seen across the dune rim in Underpainting.
Place rosy pinks beneath sunny sand.
Use heat neutrals in shadowed areas.
Layer with heat and funky shades of comparable worth to create sand textures within the shadows. As planes change inside a shadow form, think about that their temperatures may additionally shift primarily based on what the airplane faces. For instance, in Virtually There, the values are shut, however I layered the deepest blues alongside the appropriate aspect. Including a couple of hotter, lighter strokes going through towards the lightest areas of the sky bolstered the curved space of the dune path.
Sand
Set up your values within the solar and shade first. Then, discover heat and funky variations in every worth to emphasise these temperature variations. For instance, Within the Hush of Daybreak, the blue patch helps to convey that the sand is cool.
Belief your eyes and needless to say sand displays the sky and environment. In shadow, cooler colours of mirrored sky predominate and blend with native, heat sand shade. In mild, sand displays heat, mild, and sky.
Edges
The sunshine and shadow edge alongside the crest of a dune gives a possibility for texture, stroke expression and focus. Deal with this space fastidiously by sharpening some edges and softening others, as in Summer time Breeze.
Grasses
Preserve grass plenty so simple as doable.
Search for colours apart from inexperienced among the many grass, similar to pink, peach, brown and gold. Begin with darkish areas and layer lighter.
Add particular person reeds as the ultimate step; place them sparingly amongst grasses that catch the sunshine, as in Summer time Morning Reminiscence.
Meet the Artist
Jeanne Rosier Smith, of Sudbury, Mass., is an award-winning pastelist. She’s a preferred instructor and gives numerous on-line movies and educational applications at EpiphanyFineArt.com.