tomatoes WIP continues

Here is the piece now. I didn't work too long on it yesterday as we are getting some delicious, very warm, Indian summer weather here in Ottawa. I couldn't resist the opportunity to don a T shirt and shorts once more, so I spent two hours in the afternoon taming the garden in the rear yard. As many of you know, I had to be away this summer so my poor flowers and shrubs have struggled along with much neglect. I made a bit of a difference and I shall continue later today.

One thing I need to remind myself with this Pastelbord is that I don't have the luxury of building my colour up with lots of layers. This surface doesn't hold much pigment, despite the sanded surface. I found that as I tried to lay down bright colours in the tomatoes, colours that would later glow through the red, the surface was quickly getting slick. Yikes...this works well on Stonehenge but here I have less oportunity to play around and experiement with colour. I don't have the option to just keep adding colours.

I love the look that paper gives as it allows my layers to be visible and this adds such wonderful nuances to the colours - the work gets more and more interesting as you view it closer. With Pastelbord, you get more of an immediate wow factor, good when viewing from a distance. It is easy to make objects 'pop'. I absolutely love being able to add the white highlights rather than saving them as you must with paper. Anyway, I am really enjoying this tomato piece. I especially love drawing all the negative space that is required in and around the shadows and the stems. Just juicy!