Hibiscus

Hibiscus

8" x 10"

Pastel on tan paper

I used another of my photos from the SFGH Memory Garden for this, the big hibiscus shrub with the rich blue-violet flowers. I love their color and remembered it, the photo was way off but I could remember how they really looked. That's the benefit of using my own photos. I love the Reference Image Library at WetCanvas, but even if I'm using one of those photos I try to choose subjects that I've seen in life. A photo brings back memories and gives details, that's its best benefit. 

Proportion, perspective, color, values can all be distorted by the camera, but details and sometimes proportions on a relatively small element can be measured. Otherwise it gets very strange. Don't just copy the photo, remember as much as you can!

Two pastels today though! After I finished the Hibiscus, I did a clouds study on Aquabee Hemp Draw using hard pastels, my Cretacolor Pastels Carre'. I like those for their convenience. This isn't a serious painting but there are things I like a lot about it and may develop later in a larger, more elaborate piece. Will be playing with cloud shapes in several studies till I get it to do what I want.

Clouds from Memory

8" x 10"

hard pastel on multimedia paper