Monday, February 21, 2011

Just Squint - Pastel Landscape

Yeah, I'm still trying to make order out of the chaos that is my studio but I just couldn't go any longer without painting something!

I've recently been studying how to loosen up yet still keep a realistic (but painterly) look to my work.  The advice I see most often is to just squint.  Squinting supposedly helps you see the important and blurs out the unimportant. 

That's fine, I guess, but it's really, really hard to sustain a squint long enough to finish a whole painting! lol  Anyway, my first effort at just squinting!  I think this is one of those things that requires a lot of practice!

Pastel on sand colored Ampersand PastelBord, 5 x 7 inches, mostly Rembrandt sticks and various pastel pencils.

6 comments:

Sue Clinker said...

I think your squinting technique has worked well - perspective is great and the colours are beautiful!

I'd be worried about adding even more eye wrinkles if I screwed up my face for too long :o)

Jan said...

Thanks, Sue.

New technique, new subject matter so I'm trying not to be too hard on myself but I agree about the wrinkles. I think I'll try to blur a photo just a bit and see if the results are close to those of squinting. lol

Unknown said...

It's a beautiful pastel painting Jan.

Jan said...

Thanks for saying so, Brenda. I would like to do better of course. I'll keep practicing!

Christine Perry | Graphite Art said...

Just gorgeous! I like it very much.

Jan said...

Thanks so much, Christine!