"INNER SPACE"

This photo was taken in the living room of friends who have an eclectic and interesting art collection. It was of a small antique painting of a copse of trees, framed under glass. The glass, in particular over the darker areas of the painting, reflected the bright side window and other parts of the room. The framed and matted artwork appearing in the tops of the trees are reflected from across the room, and set up a wonderful juxtaposition of form and meaning on several satisfying levels.

Original source

"Inner Space"
First Prize
Pastel 16" X 12"

This pastel painting just won First Prize in a Capital Hill Art League juried show, and the prize is a solo show in July!
Coolest prize ever.

The source image was a photo of an antique watercolor hanging in the octagonal dining room of a friend, which was reflecting a window, the sunlight falling across the room, and more art on the other side. Art reflecting art!

The multiple levels of reality and space, and the multiple periods of time intrigued me, plus the colors were inviting.

"INNER SPACE" Pastel, 16" X 12"

This shot shows the initial sketch and the beginnings of the blocking in phase. The paper is a dark blue Canson, which worked very well for this subject.

Here the large shapes are more refined, the intermediate shapes are mostly established, and some of the smaller ones are appearing.

More colors (of the same value) have been added to the background to liven it up, and most of the smaller shapes are in play. The background is used to carve away the silhoette of the central shape, especially in the areas between the trunks.

Here all the shapes and elements are in play, but I've reworked the colors, values, and edges of the reflecting artwork to reduce their impact. I've also started in on the fine tuning phase.

Color Selection

A note about the color in the photographs:

The steps were photographed with my old iPhone4, which  pumped up the colors and shifted them towards blue. The finished work was scanned directly, so it has the more acurate colors.

I used a variety of pastel brands both hard and soft, but the big deep red is one that I made.