'Leslie in Hot tub' 40"x26" Pastel on SandpaperThis piece is about my love of painting water and people. Fun to combine them and see the distortions of the figure under water. I did a series of these paintings.
As I painted it I called it 'Handful of Jewels'. I learned a lot painting her backlit head; remembering the backlit figures I had seen in Maxfield Parrish's work. Making the skin glow with heat in the shadows was satisfying.
At the bottom of the paper you can see the underpainting. I have only a few pastel marks there. Water-based underpainting with pigment dispersions gives a transparent dimension to the opaque quality of pastels, when the underpainting is successful enough to let it show.
Sparkling and beautiful. No wonder it took "People's Choice" at Portland Open Studios!
ReplyDeleteOne of my all time favorite paintings by Kitty Wallis
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work, Kitty! I'm so glad you have a blog now. It'll be good to keep up with your work. PS Enjoyed seeing you at IAPS again.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant picture Kitty!....was it drawn on black paper??...just trying to undersand the process!....looking forward to seeing how your blog unfolds!
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoy the colors around the water in the arms.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work. The colors bring it to life with movement.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments folks.
ReplyDeleteEd,
It was done on white Wallis sandpaper with a strongly colored underpainting. The uderpainting is not an all-over tone, it was done in color areas supporting each object in the painting, the blue water, the dark shadows in the water, the figure, the tub, the green grass, etc.
What an inspirational pastel! How lovely to see the inventor of Wallis paper demonstrating how creatively it can be done.
ReplyDeleteKitty, this is my favorite one too! Such rich color, what else, but color from Kitty!
ReplyDeleteHi, Kitty...Welcome to the blogosphere! I enjoyed you for a long time through Wet Canvas. So glad that I found you!
ReplyDeleteThis great painting is full of "color jewels"!
Wonderful. Love how that hand really is coming out of the water! as well as the great colors.
ReplyDeleteThis is just splendid...love the color, movement, composition...a truly beautiful piece of work.
ReplyDeleteI love all of your work!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your palette.