Updating a post from last year, I recently started an early spring landscape with an early morning clear "blue" sky.
Capturing the gradations of blue (near the zenith) to orange/yellow (at the horizon ) is a healthy exercise in blending. Here is the current version of my work-in-progress. The sky is pretty much completed (I may add a straggling cloud).
In the lesson below, you can see how cross-hatching and blending help create a seamless transition from the zenith to the horizon.
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Back to our winter scene. The sky, starting at the horizon, is a pinkish-orange hue. To start, I applied lines of Unison LT (light) pink soft pastel, then cross-hatched with a similar stick of pale yellow.
Next step is to work in the light blue as we move further above the horizon. Again, a cross-hatch with the plan to blend it all in the end.
Here, I add some broad brushes of darker blue for the peak of the horizon in the landscape:
Now the fun begins. I take a cloth and blend the pastel, pushing it into the tooth of the sanded paper. You can see the grains of pastel sitting on the surface. When I am done, I will push the pastel as best I can (rather than have it fall off the canvas).
And here is the early morning sky:
It looks like I need to work on recovering my trees!
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