House of the Vestals in Pastel

Accept the things to which fate binds you,

and love the people with whom fate brings you together,

but do so with all your heart.

~Marcus Aurelius 

Staying with the theme of Antiquity (from my last post) I thought I'd share my most recent pastel.

This photo was taken in 2012, at the Roman Forum. I'd just been on the Palatine hill and the sun had begun to set as I made my way off the hill and through the Forum. They were trying to get everyone out but I managed to make my way into the House of the Vestals. Last time I had been there, there was so much excavation going on, you couldn't really see much, but from the other side of a chain. 

The photo I chose for a study was one of those frustrating moments in "point and shoot" photography, where you can get the beautiful sunset sky but everything in the foreground is in silhouette ... or you can photograph the subject matter in front and the sky becomes totally blown out and white!

Solution? Do a painting.

This was mounted, sanded, paper than can take water media. So ... I was covering the surface with water colors, to have a jumping off point for the pastels.

My little setup with my handmade Heilman box, below. It has a little metal easel that sticks into holes drilled into the box, to make it easier for working in plein air (outdoors) ... or in class.

Below, you can see I've started getting the trees, the background Roman structures and sky in, with pastels.

I like doing a pink underpainting in the sky with the watercolor and letting it show through when I go over it with pastel, especially for a painting that's during "magic hour." You can see I've started defining some of the stone of the reflecting pool, as well as some of the other greenery.

Going more into the stonework, and getting the mossy feel, as well as a bit of a reflection ...

And finally, into the statuary ... I kept the  ones in the distance softer and more loose.

And here it is! I am going to lighten the lower left corner slightly so it doesn't match so much with the right ... but there you have it!


House of the Vestals
Pastel on sanded board
9x12
 

For my photographic post of that magic hour I spent at the House of the Vestals and Roman Forum click here.

For the Palatine Hill, click here.

For the pastel demo of The Baths of Caracalla, click here.

When you arise in the morning,

 think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-

to breathe,

to think,

to enjoy,

to love.

~Marcus Aurelius 

Roman Ruins, in Pastel ~ The Baths of Caracalla

I am not an adventurer by choice

but by fate.

~Vincent van Gogh

All done! I love ruins among greenery, and here is my first piece of this combination, at the Baths of Caracalla. If you read my Baths of Caracalla post, you know that I went to the Baths, pretty much just to photograph them, for studies to draw and paint. This is the first of, hopefully, many pieces ...

The Roman Baths of Caracalla

Pastel on mounted Wallace paper, 

with watercolor underpainting

I started with a photo of the view I wanted ... This is the main photo I worked from.

I chose to squeeze it all in to a smaller space, adding the big structure in the middle of the photo below, so I'd get those side by side, tall structures. It was cut off in the above photo, but fortunately I was snapping lots of photos, to get as much coverage as possible. Mixing the two photos, I felt I got a better composition.

Then I sketched in, what I wanted, with dark blue and green hard pastels (by Nupastel.)

I wetted the drawing with a paintbrush dipped in SpectraFix. Now I had my main shapes in, with some of the major values.

After that I went in with a watercolor underpainting. Part of the idea, for me, is imagining what colors I may want to use over the top, and what effect that will create.

After that, I was ready for soft pastels. (I use a variety of brands, like Unison, Mount Vision, Girault, Terry Ludwigs etc.) I went in with the sky first, then little by little, going into the trees and ruins ... the grass... then adding more colors, with varying intensity. 

The photos are so contrasty, it's a challenge to keep it from getting to flat and graphic ... which would be ok, if that is what I was going for!

Anyway, it was pretty fun to work on, especially the brick and stone of the ruins. Right now, I'm working on a piece of the Palatine Hill. It's turning out pretty abstract because you can't really tell what anything is, except for one single tree and it's reflection, in puddle of rain water.

More Italy to come, as well as the baby birds that hatched, in a fern, next to my parents back door. So fuzzy and cute, I can't even handle it!

 I am still far from being what I want to be,

but with Gold's help I shall succeed.

~ Vincent van Gogh