Panther Creek, 2005
oil pastel on paper
I hiked in on the Panther Creek Trail in North Georgia and found this spot a ways down below the trail where the water was roaring through. You could hear it from above but it was difficult to see through the woods. I set my easel up after stepping over some tricky footing on the wet rocks and began drawing.
I started laying in some undercoat colors, ones I knew would be mostly covered up in the end but would add warmth to the scene. Sometimes I get pretty random with my early color selections.
I usually build the entire surface up with pastel and start building colors up from there. Slowly they become closer to what I am ideally aiming for. It is a long stage of the process which is sometimes a bit painful as the picture is lost to the layers of unfinished color. It gets messy and sometimes the image is obscured but it is all necessary to the making of the image.
With this particular image I began to fill in the medium tones, not quite as dark as the shadows will eventually get but darker than the earlier layers. I am starting to construct the image in line now, keeping the individual parts of the drawing; the rocks, trees, etc. in mind. I am dealing in form rather than light at this point.
Building contrasts comes quickly and easily as I use softer pastels to draw shapes and lines over the colors. I am emphasizing the composition here, making the image more solid and starting to direct the forms, create movement and choose the light. In the two hours or so that I worked in this place the light changed and I was able to select things I liked best about it as the sun rose and the scene brightened.
I finally added highlights and shadows to their fullest contrast. In finishing a piece I stand back a while and rest, as the act of drawing vigorously and being fully emersed in the act have drained me a good bit. Packing up and leaving is always a bit sad, and the climb back to the path with all of my gear was enough for me to take my lunch break up above, a mornings work done.
