SPOOKY PASTELS

With Halloween on its way, I thought I’d post a couple of strange paintings I’ve made lately.  Both of these are in pastel, my favorite medium.  You will note that the image above is of the same barn that I’ve been using for the color theory exercises.  For some reason, I’m really fond of this scene.  However, I tried it in a different value scheme — one suggested by Edgar Whitney in his book on watercolor.  This value scheme is a lot of dark with a little light in mid-values.  I hadn’t used this scheme deliberately before, and it ended up as a night-time painting — even a little disturbing – who knows what’s lurking inside that old barn! The painting is 12 x 16″ and is unframed – price is $175.

I didn’t intend for this painting to be spooky, either; I was merely playing around with background color – using intense watercolors for the underpainting.  The bare tree looms up into the sky, and it looks like a skeleton against the sky, pleading for deliverance!  The name of this painting is The Stoic — 24 x 28″ framed and for sale at $475.