Pan Pastel Trees

I took two photos that my daughter, Helen took when she was out in Portland. One is a photo of a bridge and a large, possibly Douglas fir tree, surrounded by foliage. The other a path leading to a wooded area. I combined them because I didn’t like the ‘straight on’ angle of the bridge and I liked the path.

Working on a piece of 11” x 14” white Pastelmat paper I took one of the large, oval applicators and blended Ultramarine Blue Tint, Pthalo Blue Tint, and Titanium White for the sky. This way it will be down already and show through the trees. Pan Pastels, like other pastels are very forgiving and work well right on top of each other. I work background to foreground, which will physically make sense as the pastels will layer over each other.

Using Neutral Grey and the rectangle tool I sketched in the basic composition moving the tree just slightly so it’s not in the exact center of the page. To further help the composition I put the path in the foreground in place of the bridge in the original photo.

Using Raw Umber Shade with the rectangle tool I added the most obvious tree trunks in the background. Then using the round tool and Chromium Oxide Green X-Dark I put in the darkest part of the foliage and moved just a little bit into the foreground. If you aren’t sure which areas are darkest squint your eyes and it will help you see the different values. Start with bigger shapes and don’t worry about individual leaves or pine needles at this point. Leaving them fuzzy and not detailed will help pull them back so the viewer knows they’re far away.

Starting at the top and going dark to light I added more branches using different greens, Chromium Oxide Green Shade, Hanasa Yellow X-Dark, Bright Yellow Green Shade, Permanent Green Shade and then Bright Yellow Green, Permanent Green Tint, and Chromium Oxide Green Tint.

I added bigger areas to fill in the background, more of all colors. I added more definition on the tiny pine branches hanging down on the top of the page.

Using a medium sized hard edged sponge tool and Raw Umber Tint I made vertical strokes on the whole tree, cleaning off the sponge on plain paper when some of the green from the background mixed in. The reason I’m starting with the lightest color here is that the bark is the lightest and the bumps protruding out have strong shadows. I also added the same base color to the path in the foreground. I did put less of the light color in the bottom left part of the tree so the dark will go over it more easily.

Starting with Dark Brown, Burnt Sienna X-Dark, and Raw Umber Shade I put in the shadows using a pointed foam tool. The pointed edge helped me create strong edges for irregular bark.

Using Black, Titanium White, and a bit of Burnt Sienna I completed the large fir tree. I used lighter lights, and darker darks to match the strong light source in the photo of the path and to make the tree stronger and the obvious focal point. I smoothed it out to make it contrast even more from the busy foliage around it. I completed the foreground blending the two photos using Bright Yellow primarily on the left. The shadows from the foliage on the right are Neutral Grey S/Shade, Red Iron Oxide X-Dark and a little bit of black – Permanent Red for the flowers.

Jane Austen

I must start reading Pride and Prejudice today! And why haven't I read it sooner?

'The First Christmas Stocking' by Vicki Lindley Reece

Finished! - as you can see, I changed the arrangement of coins.

Vicki is SO WONDERFUL because she had no idea what anguish I went through getting the coins the way I wanted them - and she told me they were her favorite part! Success!

What I ended up using to get the sharpness I wanted was use an 18 kt. Gold leafing pen by Krylon - it worked right over the pastels! The metalic-ness of the coins shows a lot more and I felt pretty happy in the end.

Although the book and dvd are not for sale yet, email me and I can get you in contact with Vicki if you're interested. This is what Vicki wrote:

"The First Christmas Stocking is based on one of earliest
legends of St. Nicholas, where he saves three girls who
were destitute. Nicholas hears of their plight, and under
the cover of night drops a bag of gold through the window.
Legend has it that it fell into a stocking hanging to
dry. Yes, that is the source of our tradition of hanging
stockings at Christmas!
I took the few paragraphs from "The Golden Legend" and
made up a storyline...and an evil character who steals
their money. Then I did alot of research about the
historical Nicholas, and did my best to stay close to who
he was and what scriptures about giving would have shaped
a young man who later became a priest and bishop and
developed an amazing reputation for giving.
This summer we recorded the voiceovers, and then children
from the town of Jesup, Iowa drew pictures ! We had guidelines
for the characters so that there was continuity from page
to page...with 30 illustrators!
We even found some pictures that my daughters (the
original illustrators) had drawn 10 years ago and
surprised them by including them in the DVD. All the
illustrations are with markers.
Of course I was so thankful that my best friend, and
favorite artist Mary Telfer Holden illustrated the
cover--even on short notice! :) Oh to be so talented!!
I am currently editing a short book to accompany the
story...which is all about giving. The discussions will
be be geared to memories about Christmas, giving, our
hopes, fears and feelings about money and giving.
Included are brief scriptures and prayers, written to
gently transform our hearts as we allow Spirit to work
within us. I believe there will be healing and
generousity released through this project.
I've bought the domain www.thefirstchristmasstocking.com
and hope to launch the story there...
not sure of a timeline yet!
It would be fun if others listen to the story, and create
pictures too!
By the way, I was pregnant when I wrote the story, and
named my daughter after the heroine in the story!"

-Vicki

blended

I blended the colors and values together, imagining the light coming from the left.

Now take a look at changing the composition of the coins.

the Stocking

I then chose a dark, rich red for the stocking. I knew she didn't want it 'too Christmassy' but it seemed like the right color - red and green are complimenary colors, Christmas or not! I added a few values and white to show form.

The composition of where the coins fall bothers me.

Started with the background

So, I used 140# Richeson watercolor paper and Unison pastels.

I started with the background because then the foreground can literally lay over the background to show a little depth. I was thinking neutrals. I like the foresty green because it's subtle, but suggests it's laying outside. And the stone wall has to be there, but not overpower the stocking and pouch.

A commissioned pastel - with not much time

A week ago my best friend, Vicki, who wrote a story called 'The first Christmas Stocking' called me and said she needed the cover artwork for the dvd - in two days! She would never have thrown this on me without much notice without a very good reason.

The reason was her producer said 'I need the artwork by Wednesday night.' and Vicki's response was 'What artwork?' - that's what friends are for! I was coming back into town so basically I had less than one day to do this - but she is worth it!

She wanted a stocking (not too Christmassy) and a pouch with gold coins. She wanted the stocking draped - but she didn't know what it should be draped on.

I had to use my imagination and combine Vicki's vision with my vision and hope for the best since there was no time.

Here's my pencil sketch.