Minimal Stroke Exercise - Sept. 2012

Across the Lake, pastel, 7x5

I try to revisit this exercise often in my classes, especially when I have beginners in the class. As frequently as I've done this with my classes, I believe that it's just as valuable to me as it is to my students, since it reminds me to think twice before I put pastel to paper whenever I complete these demos. Far too often, I want to finish a painting quickly, or I just get lazy, and don't put enough thought into each and every stroke...the direction of the stroke, how I'm holding the pastel, and how hard or soft I should be applying the stroke: these all will affect the look of your painting.

To see an earlier post of a previous minimal stroke exercise for more details on how I go about this in my classes, click here:  http://barbarajaenicke.blogspot.com/2012/01/creating-pastel-painting-with-minimal.html