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After taking photos of the sun setting over the river, I turned to see the sun dancing over the trees to lightly brush my family walking in front of me. I wanted this painting to capture warmth of the sun enveloping them during our Thanksgiving walk from the beach.
I have painted this scene before more representational in oil and have made several ink sketches. But I wanted my pastel to be impressionistic, so I decided to work with a substrate that would help me achieve it. I chose Ampersand clayboard panel because I suspected the clay surface would react in an interesting way with soft pastels.
Clayboard is very absorbent, so I soaked it in water. While the clayboard was still damp, I painted the initial layers with Holbein pastels and an alcohol wash. This “baked” the pastel into the clayboard, making it more receptive to the subsequent pastel layers. After I was satisfied with the underpainting, I added a few layers of Diane Townsend to give the clayboard tooth. I painted the final layers with Terry Ludwig, Blue Earth, and a few more Holbein hard pastels.
