Why I Love Using Prismacolor NuPastels for Underpaintings

Hello Artists!

I hope you enjoy following along with this happy and vibrant painting of a sunflower field. The reference is a photo I took of a sunflower field near my home. I think you will see that the painting is far more vibrant in color than the original photo (which is primarily green and yellow). Let me show you my technique to create an underpainting that will bring your "very green" landscapes to life with color!

 

Here are the products used for this painting:

Pastelmat / White

Sennelier Paris Collection

Prismacolor NuPastels (for Underpainting)

I decided to use a 4" x 4" piece of white Pastelmat as a surface and use Prismacolor Nupastels to create an underpainting with some lovely magenta shades.

Since Pastelmat is water-friendly, I sprayed some water with a spritzer bottle and blended the color in a bit with a flat brush. If using a non-water-friendly surface you can simply blend the pastels with a piece of pipe foam insulation, a paper towel or packing peanut.

Once the underpainting was dry, I began to add pastels, re-establishing some of the darker elements and adding the larger sunflower shapes.

It's best to keep the light source in mind, and paint the darkest values of the flowers first.... gradually adding the lighter and brighter strokes of pastel to suggest petals in the sunshine.

I sketched in the larger leaf shapes and began to add color working the same,

dark to light strategy.

Elements in the distance will be smaller, lighter in value and cooler in color temperature. I gradually begin to add lighter and brighter colors to the upper right petals of the sunflowers, since the source of light is in the upper right.

Adding brighter greens for the large leaves in foreground.

Finished Painting:

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HAPPY PAINTING!

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