Corona Hills

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This pastel painting was a plein air piece I did a couple of days ago in the hills in Corona at the edge of the Cleveland National Forest.  This was the first time I painted on this surface.  The surface kind of reminded me of velour with a little more resistance to the pasel as I stroked it across the surface.  The name of the surface is called Pastel Mat http://www.pastelmat.com/ I like it enough to continue to use it.  I did think that it did not hold as many layers of pastel as velour.  I did like the feel of the texture of the surface.  I did like the ability of the surface to be covered quickly.  It did hold the pastel better than velour.  This study took about an hour and a half.  The painting measures 18"X25".  I am gearing up for a my first plein air competition coming up in January.

Morro Bay

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This painting is done on Wallis paper with soft pastels over a water color underpainting.  This painting measures 16"X24".  I let the watercolor underpainting take the middle values of the piece and kept it almost all grays.  This way I could really punch up the brilliance of the cliffs with the pastels.

Afternoon Eucalyptus Stand

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This painting is done on Colorfix paper with soft pastels.  The painting measures 18"X25".  The subject for this landscape was a eucalyptus stand of trees near Santiago Canyon.  My daughter's soccer practice didn't start on time so we went exploring nearby.