Blog | Bob Palmerton Pastels

Jul 15, 2019
2 min

Fresh off the Easel: Muggy Morning

It was a hot, sticky July morning at the Pittsfield Preserve near Ann Arbor, Michigan. The grass was wet and the mosquitoes were circling (never mind the stealthy tics hiding deep down in the dark jungle of weeds)! I have recently been experimenting with various hues of underpainting to bring out the pastel color in a more vibrant fashion. Here is the reference photo: To convey the hazy look for the treeline, I chose to paint it with a bluish hue. Below I have created a yel

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StudioSense: Toning the Dark Pastel Surface

Bob Palmerton

Jan 4, 2019
2 min

StudioSense: Toning the Dark Pastel Surface

I recently visited Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. The day was overcast with a misty atmosphere exacerbated by the violent Atlantic. Great photo opportunity! Below is the reference photo for a newly-started pastel painting: I pulled out a 12x18 sheet of Wallis paper with a dark brown-grey tone. The challenge is to capture the blinding whites of the ocean surf and the light white-grey-green of the Atlantic, despite the dark tone of the paper. So I pulled out my

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Bob Palmerton

Nov 6, 2018
2 min

StudioSense: Starting a Pastel Painting

As the weather turns for the worst in Michigan, it is time to revisit my collection of photographs that I use as inspiration and reference points for pastel paintings. I chose an old shed photographed about 15 years ago off Judd Road in York Township, MI. There is a lot of green lawn in this photo. So I will shift the focal point, the shed in the center, off to the left, which will reduce the lawn mass, and I will also strive to leave out a fair amount of detail of this gras

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Bob Palmerton

Oct 23, 2018
1 min

Pastel Painting: Early Sun

This is the final version of Early Sun, a 12x12 pastel painting done on an acrylic underpainting. You can read the blog about the underpainting here. What better frame to go with a brilliant yellow-orange theme than a black frame! Here is the framed version of the painting (please ignore the reflections; it's not easy to photograph a glass-framed painting)! I discovered something shocking after doing this painting. The painting is based on a reference photograph I took abo

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Pastel Painting: Ocean Kayak, Breezy Point

Bob Palmerton

Aug 31, 2018
1 min

Pastel Painting: Ocean Kayak, Breezy Point

Strolling along at Breezy Point on the bay, I came across this kayak awaiting its next journey in Jamaica Bay at Breezy Point, NY. To create this painting, I decided to apply a watercolor underpainting of the OPPOSITE colors that you see here. Deploying such an approach helps the true colors to "pop." Here is the initial sketch of this scene, with the watercolor underpainting below. The purpose of the sketch is to confirm the composition, and depict and note the values. Her

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Bob Palmerton

Jun 19, 2018
2 min

StudioSense: Orange to Blue to "Green"

Earlier this month I posted this blog in which I chose among my collection of blues to complete an underpainting all in blue. Here was the initial orange acrylic and subsequent blue landscape: Adding some "reality" to the scene, the current version has a pleasing verdant cast of the Crane Creek Estuary at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge on Lake Erie in Northwest Ohio. Here is the current version: A few thoughts on the evolution of this landscape. As for the sky, which

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Bob Palmerton

Jun 5, 2018
2 min

Pastel Technique: Monday Morning Blues

I recently re-arranged my pastel palette, which revealed an abundance of blues. So I thought I would take advantage of such a variety and do an landscape underpainting in blue. Below is the reference photo. The scene is at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge along Route 2 in Northwest Ohio. This particular location is along the Crane Creek Estuary Trail. I highly recommend a visit to this wildlife refuge along Lake Erie. There were a number of bird watchers and photographers

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StudioSense: Seeing the Lake through the Trees

Bob Palmerton

Mar 24, 2018
3 min

StudioSense: Seeing the Lake through the Trees

Hiking in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last November, I cam across this varied collection of trees: Since the photo above is rather bland, I took advantage of modifying the digital image to bring out more color. All of a sudden, a mix of some fascinating tree colors start to emerge. I particularly like the greenish tree in the foreground, and the contrast with the white birch and the large dark tree to the left. There are a couple of those greenish trees in this landsc

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Bob Palmerton

Feb 15, 2018
5 min

StudioSense - "One" Color Fits All

In late December 2016 I visited Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the way to Arlington TX to see the Western Michigan Broncos play Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl (my son Matt plays clarinet in the Broncos Marching Band). We arrived at our hotel at 2 am and arose the next morning to a classic low visibility foggy day. We entered the park and drove up to the visitor's center. Here are some photos taken of the surrounding woods that morning: The color (or la

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Painting Technique: Capturing the Glow of Winter

Bob Palmerton

Jan 15, 2018
2 min

Painting Technique: Capturing the Glow of Winter

Rolling Hills County Park in Ypsilanti, Michigan maintains 3 miles of groomed cross-country skiing trails. I've enjoyed skiing and gaining inspiration for paintings in this peaceful winter setting. Last weekend I skied at Rolling Hills and captured this photo. I must have appeared rather goofy skiing along with a 35mm Canon Digital SLR camera hanging from my neck. Here is the reference photo. Note how the brights of the snow are washed out (I did not have an opportunity to

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Bob Palmerton

Oct 20, 2017
1 min

Through the Trees - Pastel Painting

So often have I strolled through the local parks (often jogging with my dog Cosmo) and marveled at how the early morning sunlight would glow through a mass of leaves in the dense woods. I have tried to photograph this effect, however most of the photos are typically too dark for the leaves or too bright and washed out where the peeks of sky can be seen. So here's my pastel painting rendition of such a scene, entitled "Through the Trees." There is not much in the way of detail

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Pastel Technique: High Values at the Beach

Bob Palmerton

Aug 14, 2017
1 min

Pastel Technique: High Values at the Beach

A beach and its dunes on a sunny day convey the highest values (aka lightness) in color. I chose an acrylic underpainting to bring out the brilliant light yellow-greens. Here's the acrylic underpainting, which dried in 15 minutes. You will also notice that the range of values is rather tight (no deep dark shade here)! Here's the reference photo. I applied a cross-hatching pattern to begin the sky with pastels. #underpainting

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New Painting: Cross-Country Skiing in June

Bob Palmerton

Jul 8, 2017
1 min

New Painting: Cross-Country Skiing in June

The final version of Ski Tracks. Additional work on the shadows and scattered leaves in the snow capped off an enjoyable journey from underpainting to finishing touches! Now on to my summer's art! Due to the woeful lack of cross-country skiing opportunities this past winter in Southeast Michigan, I decided to compensate for my loss by spending quality painting time building details in my large format painting inspired by my sole cross-country adventure this winter at Rollin

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Bob Palmerton

May 22, 2017
2 min

Painting Technique: Composition

Working on the Teton painting. Here is the initial version following creation of the underpainting and initial application of pastel: In this modification, I have restructured the tall tree on the right to accurately reflect the gaps between the branches, as there was a variety of differently-shaped evergreens depending on their growth environments. I did the same on the large tree to its right, and a few others. I also added warmer mid-value greens to build depth in the tre

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Pastel Technique - Watercolor Underpainting

Bob Palmerton

May 20, 2017
2 min

Pastel Technique - Watercolor Underpainting

Here's the latest version of "Ski Tracks." The composition is established to invite the viewer to follow the tracks toward the horizon. It needed an object in the foreground on the left side to help balance out the design: to do that, I created the leftmost track that heads off to the lower left corner of the painting. The yellow glow of the underpainting can be seen in the snow; much of that will remain, maintaining the "glow" theme of the painting. Original Post: While cros

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Bob Palmerton

May 15, 2017
2 min

Pastel Technique - Watercolor Underpainting

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