Day 30 - 30/30 Challenge - Spring Evening, Sod Farm

Spring Evening, Sod Farm

Pastel on colorfix paper, 6" x 6", $35

(Available in my Etsy shop.)

Paint Brushes Down! Hands Up!

DONE!

It was not always easy. It was not always on time. Did real work (and by that I mean the stuff that actually pays bills - I'm being realistic here) get in the way? Sometimes. Some paintings, I'm not wild about. But overall? It feels good to have started the year this way.

About this painting: I am always drawn to the flatness of the farms on the North Fork of Long Island. Spring evenings make all the colors glow and intensify. The green sod, the colors in the eastern sky against a bank of bluey-purpley-grey storm clouds combine and contrast to make something really beautiful.

On a technical note: The paper this pastel is done on is a good example of re-using and re-purposing. I had started a watercolor painting on Arches 140lb cold press watercolor paper. It didn't turn out well and I tried to scrub it down and start over again, but it was too stained. I could have just used the other side, but I received a jar of Colorfix Primer at Christmas that I've been dying to try out.

I just painted it on the paper and when it dried it had a great textured surface that pastel just clung to. Super stuff!  It comes in colors and white (which you can tint with watercolor or acrylic).

Tomorrow I'll post all the images from the month!