Silver Morning

I promised my pastel class I'd write down some of my favorite mixes, so I thought I'd start with a seascape. This piece was one of five commissioned for a beach house in Seaside.  I wanted to try adding just a bit of color to my grisailles, but I still wanted to keep the overall look fairly neutral. This was done entirely with Rembrandt pastels in Bluish Gray and Raw Umber on a middle value gray Canson paper. Together they give a nice silvery quality that's perfect for early morning light.

Here's a look at the work in progress. I begin with the horizon and use raw umber tints, switching to bluish gray higher in the sky. All that gets blended and then darker bluish gray and raw umber tints are blended for the distant ocean, adding shadows and highlights as I move forward.

I did an oil sketch of this on an earlier post. It had a similar look but used totally different pigments. I really need to do more in these colors-maybe a foggy morning in the mountains or a still life with silver and white objects. Hmm.