Speaking of Art Blog

Prairie Song, pastel, 10x10"

This is my latest pastel painting, of a Field Sparrow perched on some Ironweed in a prairie near my home.  For my surface, I used some handmade paper that has a beautiful deckled edge, making the whole painting look even more organic.

As usual for me, I worked from a reference photo that I took last summer while I hiked at the prairie.  One thing I want to point out in this blog is just how much I sometimes delete from my reference photo before and during my painting process.  This is my original unedited photo that I took.  I didn’t want to get any closer to the bird or it would have flown away.  Back at home, I cropped out most of the photo and chose to make the painting a square.  I like working in a square format.  It’s a little more offbeat and unexpected compared to a rectangle.

Here is the cropped reference photo on my ipad mini that I had on a stand next to my easel while I worked.  Do you see all the differences between my finished painting and my reference photo? 

• First, I really jazzed up the background.  It just seemed too boring in the photo.  The bird is pretty drab colored to begin with, so I wanted to play with color behind the bird to make it look more interesting.  Did I know exactly what I was going to do back there before I started?  Nope.  I did know what colors I wanted to use, but I honestly didn’t have a whole game plan beforehand.  I just made sure to use a variety of shapes, chromas, values, and hues back there within a limited number of color choices.  While I was not interested in achieving symmetry between the left and right or top and bottom, I did remain cognizant of balance.  I also made sure to have a change of background color happen somewhere besides right where a white reed bisected the picture plane.
• Second, I kept on deleting Ironweed buds as I worked on the flower.  I mean, holy cow, look at all those buds on that flower in the reference photo, and most of them look dead, spent.  Mentally I simply cut out the dead ones.  Not necessary.  Also, I wanted to see more of that luscious dark blue-violet background color peeking from behind the flower buds.  So, I only included as few buds as necessary to distinguish it as Ironweed.
• Lastly, I decided to punch the yellow green of the skinny leaves in the scene, and I even changed one white reed to a green leaf on the far right.  Those leaves add a pop of bright color and keep the viewer inside the left and right deckled edges of the painting.

With all the editing I did, I kept in mind that my goal was to tell one story – of a song sparrow perched on a flower in a prairie.  If something didn’t help to drive home that singular theme, I eliminated it.  Less became more.  Mission accomplished.