CREATING AN IMAGINARY FOREST
Sep 01
Diana, our resident teacher here at Art. Uninhibited., is back with another tutorial, this time using Nupastels! She expertly navigates the world of sanded paper and boards and the effect it creates when combined with the Nupastels.
Read on for an in depth look at Diana’s latest challenge!
Recently I have been introduced to sanded papers and boards for Nupastel. The tooth holds a lot of pigment and allows me to work without much dust.
You can buy sanded papers, make your own using acrylic mediums like, Golden’s Micaeous Iron Oxide (pictured on the right) or you can take a trip down the sandpaper isle at your local hardware store.
You will also need some artists tape or painter’s removable tape and a set of Nupastels in at least the 24 color size- but the larger sets like 60 or 96 colors give you the most variety for color.
Once you start working with this medium you will think of many other variations like the aspen trees, a grove of oak trees, a row of pines, and so on…
Deborah Meyer of Wisconsin showed me how to bend the tape for the horizon line and then tear the tape to create tree trunk shapes- or you could cut it with scissors.
Begin adding colors and blend with a tortillion( a roll of paper used as a blending tool for charcoal, graphite, pencil and pastel).
If you don’t have this tool, just continue to layer color over color.
The sanded surface allows you to continue to add many more layers of color. When you have filled your paper, carefully lift off the tape and give the paper an upside -down tap to drop off the loose particles.
Add some highlights (left), a few lowlight cool shadows (right), and you are ready to sign your name.
Only you can show us what lies beyond those tree trunks- rows of flowers, a quiet lake, or a bright blue sky. Tap off the extra pigments and frame your masterpiece under glass!
You are an artist on your way to mastering NUPASTEL!
What’d you think of Diana’s tutorial? Have you tried using sand paper with your pastels? Comment and let us know!
I just tried sandpaper and Nupastels for the first time last week. LOVE IT!
Amazing as always, Diana!
Pastels are so engrossing that I have actually sanded off my fingertips before I realized it, so your warning is well received. Thanks for the tutorial – will have fun experimenting with it.
Diane,
I really like this simple exercise. Thank you for sharing.
Cheryl
This is an excellent tutorial. I hadn’t thought of masking sanded paper to use with Nupastels. They’re great hard pastels with a wonderful texture. I’m going to have to try this.
It’ll work with other shapes too, anything where you want to keep the surface color for a while and have a clean hard edge with a loose background. Brilliant technique with loads of applications.
You could do a reef this way too, building up an interesting deep background while masking out coral shapes and cutting out fish and animal shapes in tape to place where you want them. Excellent idea.
Sanded papers are abrasive on fingers so the tip to use a blender rather than your fingers is a good one.
Thanks. I appreciate your comments! It is and easy and versatile lesson to try. I will be posting a new lesson using our new colors of pencils in a few weeks so be sure to check back.