Thankfulness

Grace

Soft pastel, 8x10"

This is a painting I've had for a while but I love the simple expression of gratitude. One of the pastors from our church 'posed' for my camera when I asked him to show me how he prayed. I think I captured the sincerity and fervency that characterize his life and walk with the Lord Jesus. May we all be so sincerely and fervently thankful!

Coronado Sky, 9x12"

pastel on R-tis-tx panel

$200 delivered to your door

This one was painted a while ago but I shot a good photograph of it yesterday, and I love that it shows the delicate color built up in the clouds. This is an area north of Albuquerque along the Rio Grande, at Coronado Monument. It has all the elements of a typical southwest view--miles of vistas, mesas, mountains, cottonwoods and that seemingly endless sky!

In this season of thanks I want to note how grateful I am to the Lord that He has given me such beauty to enjoy and share. It's a great blessing to be an artist!

Welsh Springer

Welsh Springer

12x12"

pastel on Wallis sandpaper

This one was done as a demonstration for my class. If you'd like to see the progress of it you can go to a thread I started on WetCanvas! Welsh Springer- portrait demo

You can also check out my newly designed web pages to see more animal paintings at http://www.deborahsecor.com/!

Complementary Underpainting

There's a lesson I like to teach in which I show my students how to find the value (or tone) of a color by underpainting in complements. If you force yourself to carefully choose the closest opposite color in the closest possible value match to what's there, you can't help but learn a lot about color and value.

This is my photo:
I use a color print and a grayscale version of it.

I start with Wallis paper, toned a pale neutral color, and draw the values in charcoal, as well as using a white plastic eraser to establish the whites:

I then use the color photo and carefully select the correct value in a complementary color. Here you can see that the pale blue sky is a pale orange sky:



I fill in one layer of all the correct values in complementary colors:

Then I use the grayscale print, so I don't get confused looking at the 'real' colors, and continue painting with the complementary colors, which results in this:

And for my final painting, I go back over the entire thing with the colors of nature, the 'real' colors, to create a lovely tonal painting with wonderful, rich color:

Mesa Meadow

pastel on 17x11" Wallis sandpaper

$500 delivered to you ready to frame