Fort Willoughby

Oh the rains! So I paint inside.

In the spirit of my ambitious underpainting demo at Fairfax Art League on Saturday, here's a bit of step by step as inspired by a recent Pastel Journal demo by Robert K. Carsten. I enjoy painting rock formations and his first demo really caught my eye.

On a piece of Gessobord, I began with a thick and textured layer of Golden's Fine Pumice Gel. Some parts were made fluffy with my brush, others shaped with a palette knife. Then it dried overnight.

I chose several values to force in the tooth as a preliminary layer of pastel.

Next, I brushed on rubbing alcohol.

Finally, I worked in foliage with additional pastels and used the texture to catch bits of pastel in order to create extra depth.

Fort Willoughby, USVI
pastel with alcohol underpainting
8x10